Important aspect about my trip: Where am I exactly going and what will I do overthere? Good question! To be simple and say: Costa-Rica + CPI + Volunteering. But as you all know, a good question deserves a good answer, so I will develop a bit my answer ;-)

A bit of history about Costa Rica… Thanks Wikipedia  :D

Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

Costa Rica, which means « Rich Coast », constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world’s 22 older democracies. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index, ranked 62nd in the world in 2010, and is cited by the UNDP as one of the countries that has attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels. The country is ranked 3rd in the world, and 1st among the Americas, in terms of the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.

In 2007 the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021. According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the « greenest » country in the world.


Now that you know a bit about the country, let’s see where I’m going to work!

A bit of history about CPI

From the 5th of March to the 12th of August I’m going to work for the CPI… No it’s not the Centre for Process Innovation nor the Crisis Prevention Institute and even less the Crazy Prevention Insitute (they didn’t accept me, they said I was too crazy to enter ^^' ), it’s the Centro Panamericano de Idiomas ;-)

CPI was founded in June 1991 by Romy Morales and her family in the small town of San Joaquín de Flores. Their mission was to create the best language program in Latin America. Today, with three campuses across Costa Rica, each operating independently with the same high quality service, CPI is working to achieve its mission.

CPI makes every effort to offer its students options that meet their individual needs and interests. In San Joaquín de Flores, where the Heredia campus is located, students learn Spanish in a truly immersive environment – a typical Costa Rican town, relatively free of tourists. A safe and peaceful community, San Joaquín is just a 30-minute drive from San José, allowing students easy access to the activities and nightlife of Costa Rica’s capital city.

They opened the Monteverde campus in 1996, largely in response to the students’ interest in learning Spanish in the Costa Rican rainforest. Monteverde is a cherished part of Costa Rica, becoming world-famous for its incredible biodiversity and successful efforts in environmental conservation and sustainable development. After seven years of operation, CPI Monteverde has become an integral part of this unique community, working with local organizations to place CPI students in volunteer positions throughout the region.

In 2000, CPI opened its third campus, giving students the opportunity to learn Spanish in Flamingo Beach, a beautiful Pacific coastal town in the province of Guanacaste. CPI Flamingo allows students to combine intensive Spanish instruction with a beach vacation, with plenty of opportunities for swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, fishing, and sailing in one of Costa Rica’s most beautiful beach communities.

Today, CPI is the only Spanish immersion school in Costa Rica with campuses in three diverse regions of the country.
 
History taken from their website: http://www.cpi-edu.com/about.htm

Some information about my job

I’ll be chaperonne of American students coming to study Spanish in Costa Rica. I’ll help the CPI team and give them a logistic support. I’ll be in charge of transfers (thanks Smara for the training ^^ ), excursions, administrative tasks, day to day support with students…etc The « hardest part » will be to travel with the students between the three differents centre (city center, beach and rainforest) depending on the lenght of their stay. The groups can come for 1, 2 , 3 or more weeks. On the paper they should change campus every week between beach, rainforest and city center….verrrrry hard! Well on the other hand looking after groups of American teenagers can be very challenging!

I know what you are all saying « lucky you!! » and I must admit… « Lucky me » :-D