In just a few short weeks, I\u2019ll be boarding my first flight to Central America and I barely speak 3 phrases in Spanish.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve got my travel sized life all packed away in 3oz containers that fit haphazardly into a clear zip lock.\u00a0\u00a0As I spend my last few weeks in Athens prior to departure, I\u2019m sitting in a classroom wondering what this experience will be like.\u00a0\u00a0I have my preconceived notions, fears, and hopes packed up like luggage too.\u00a0\u00a0The big question is what did I forget?<\/p>\n
To prevent my fears from growing bigger and controlling me, I like to imagine funny situations as the direct result of my fears becoming reality.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t speak Spanish at all and one of my fears about this trip is not being able to communicate well to people around me.\u00a0\u00a0The situation I can imagine to make light of this, is me struggling to find or ask where a bathroom is.\u00a0\u00a0Venturing on my first international trip alone includes the very realistic probability that I may get lost.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve imagined myself falling asleep on a bus and winding up in the complete wrong city.\u00a0\u00a0The point is, whether you\u2019re afraid of getting bit by a spider or not, if you imagine yourself becoming the\u00a0Costa\u00a0Rican Spiderman, suddenly that fear seems less scary.<\/p>\n
I genuinely hope to gain a lot from this trip.\u00a0 My appreciation of coffee is part of what inspired me to return to college as a non-traditional student and pursue a degree in Food Science.\u00a0 The rich cultural history and the science behind coffee promises a unique learning experience that I know won\u2019t soon forget.\u00a0 I also hope to gain an understanding of the food industry on a global scale and not just from the side of a finished product.\u00a0 Seeing a commodity I enjoy every morning as a livelihood for many Central American farm families will give me a deeper appreciation for the food industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In just a few short weeks, I\u2019ll be boarding my first flight to Central America and I barely speak 3 phrases in Spanish.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve got my travel sized life all packed away in 3oz containers that fit haphazardly into a clear zip lock.\u00a0\u00a0As I spend my last few weeks in Athens prior to departure, I\u2019m sitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,33,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coffee-from-bean-to-cup","category-costa-rica","category-faculty-led"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3165,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions\/3165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}