Costa Rica: Classes @ Conversa
Tomorrow officially marks my last day in class at Conversa - and I have to leave early in order to get to San Jose to catch my bus to the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio tomorrow. I'm really going to miss my classes. These past two weeks have gone by so fast, especially when you take into consideration that by the time I leave my last class, I will have spent 53.5 hours in Spanish class in just 10 weekdays, not to mention the hours I spent speaking and studying and reading in Spanish while in Costa Rica.
Being able to learn Spanish intensively in a small group setting is what really sets places like Conversa apart. I mean, aside from the fact that for about $760 per week, you get to live, eat, and have 4 hours of class per day in tropical Costa Rica, you get support for any weekend excursions (or even post-class excursions) you may take, airport pickup and drop off, four helpful grammar/vocabulary books, and wonderful teachers and staff who really try their best to help you learn. And for $90 more per week, you can even have an additional hour and a half of instruction, and because most people do not choose this option, there is a good chance that your last hour and a half will be one-on-one, something invaluable for a language learner at any level. I would really recommend Conversa, and other similar immersion programs, to anyone who wants to brush up on their Spanish and/or fulfill a college credit.
I can already tell that from just two weeks in my super-intensive class, I have recovered a lot of the Spanish I lost since graduating from college a year ago. I also learned words and concepts and grammatical structures that were completely new to me. I have lists upon lists of words that came up either in conversation or while reading that I've been really good about studying. I have some of the best handouts I've ever seen on using the subjunctive mood. And I have regained the confidence in Spanish I lost somewhere during the past year.
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Tomorrow, I'm off to a beach in a rainforest. I hope the monkeys don't try to steal my bag, something they are famous for!