Experience of a Lifetime: Zip-lining in Monteverde, Costa Rica

Brandi Gallaher is a student at Oklahoma State University and an ISA Featured Blogger. Brandi is currently studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica on an ISA Fall 4 program.

Upon coming to Costa Rica, I knew the one thing I had to do here was go zip-lining. Costa Rica is famous for zip-lining through its gorgeous rainforests, and I knew there was no better place in the world to go than here in Costa Rica. One of the best zip-lining places here is in a place called Monteverde, which is in the heart of the cloud rainforest in the province of Puntarenas. Most of my other weekends here have been filled with visits to the different beaches here, so I was ready for a good change of pace, since Monteverde is a more mountainous region and the climate is much cooler than the beach regions. So, on Friday after classes, three of my girlfriends and I caught a bus from San Jose to Monteverde.

Ziplining in Monteverde, Costa Rica

My 5 Favorite Things about the Tico (Costa Rican) Lifestyle

Brandi Gallaher is a student at Oklahoma State University and an ISA Featured Blogger. Brandi is currently studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica on an ISA Fall 4 program.

Mangosteen

1. FRUIT!

My favorite food I’ve had since being here is definitely the fruit. There are so many more different kinds of fruit in Costa Rica than in the US, and they’re all SO good! I’ve tried mamon chino, guanabana, mangosteen, papaya, guava, oranges (different than in the US, they are green), fresh coconut, carambola (star fruit), sweet lemons, and cas. My favorite fruit here is probably the bananas though. In the U.S. I don’t really eat many bananas, but here I LOVE them. They’re so fresh and they taste so much better, probably because they’re grown here rather than imported.

My Top 3 Excursions in Costa Rica

Brandi Gallaher is a student at Oklahoma State University and an ISA Featured Blogger. Brandi is currently studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica on an ISA Fall 4 program.

Parque Nacional Marino Ballena.

This past weekend marked the end of our organized excursions with ISA. To me, it’s a bittersweet ending. I’m sad that I won’t have a completely planned out vacations every weekend, but I’m excited because this marks a new beginning in my study abroad experience. For the past month, although I’ve had the time of my life seeing the different regions of Costa Rica and relaxing by the beach, I have felt more like a tourist than a resident of Costa Rica. My ultimate goal of studying abroad was to be completely immersed in a new culture, and now I feel like the process of full immersion in the Tico lifestyle will truly commence.

First Impressions of Tica Culture in San José

Brandi Gallaher is a student at Oklahoma State University and an ISA Featured Blogger. Brandi is currently studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica on an ISA Fall 4 program.

Plazoleta BBQ

Well, I’m not from Kansas, but I am from Oklahoma (close enough, right?), and I just arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica this past Saturday afternoon. I just finished my first week abroad, and I only have one word to describe it: OVERWHELMING!