{"id":3182,"date":"2017-12-07T15:36:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T20:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=3182"},"modified":"2017-12-07T15:36:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T20:36:44","slug":"coffee-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/2017\/12\/coffee-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaving Costa Rica was as bittersweet as coffee.\u00a0 \u00a0On one hand I was ready to eat something other than rice and beans again.\u00a0 On the other I was going to miss the one-on one interactions with the local farms and the firsthand experience with the coffee.\u00a0 If you had asked me before this trip, I would have said that I thought I knew a lot about coffee.\u00a0 Now I realize how little I knew and the scope how much I still have to learn.\u00a0 To Costa Rican\u2019s coffee is a drink that is shared with family.\u00a0 Its more than just that hot cup of caffeine that gets you out of bed in the morning.\u00a0 Through the adventures of zipping in the jungle, hiking to the top of a volcano, and careening around the side of steep cliffs I made my Costa Rica family of friends that I shared this trip with.<\/p>\n

This was the first Thanksgiving I spent away from my actual family.\u00a0 I would be lying if I said that was easy.\u00a0 I knew it wouldn\u2019t be when I signed up for this trip but I thought the experience would outweigh my sacrifice.\u00a0 Thankfully the faculty, the naturalist at UGA Costa Rica, and my fellow peers all came together to make sure this was as traditional a Thanksgiving as possible.\u00a0 I even streamed the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade to my phone while we ate.\u00a0 In a way the people I traveled with on this trip become my surrogate family.\u00a0 I am very thankful and grateful for the experiences we shared.<\/p>\n

Now that I am back in the United States my view on the global production of agriculture is changed.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen the large scale production operations, the farm families, and even the effects of outsiders trying to come in and shake up the way things have always been done.\u00a0 The take away I got from all of it was it doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re big or small.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a local or a gringo.\u00a0 What matters is if you\u2019re going to put in the hard work and the passion into it.\u00a0 I think that lesson extends beyond coffee.\u00a0 But if coffee is symbolic of family, then the hard work needs to be put into maintaining those close relationships.\u00a0 I really hope I\u2019ll be able to stay in touch with the friends I made on this trip.\u00a0 I very excited to see how each of us is impacted by what we learned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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