"My second day in Costa Rica, my host family took me out to lunch at a local snack bar. Far from being hungry, my stomach was a nervous wreck. I was feeling very much like a fish out of water as the large group around me happily clucked away in unintelligible code. My only saving grace was a fellow LASP student who was with his host family at the same restaurant. He knew more Spanish than I and for one hour he was my link to sanity. But as the two groups parted ways, I knew the training wheels were off.
I have to admit, the first week of LASP was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. I was thrown into a foreign culture for the first time in my life without the safety net of family and familiarity. I understood five percent of the words that came out of my host family’s mouths. I had to learn directions in a language I could barely speak. I was given food I wasn’t used to. I was expected to navigate a culture I had only read about until then. And on top of that, I had a full semester course load to carry. Those are only a few of the reasons LASP was the best semester of my college experience.
Sure LASP is challenging, but it’s rewarding as well. I learned from the culture. I bonded with my host family. I saw life from another perspective. I grew from each new challenge I encountered.
Near the end of the semester, I accompanied my host family on a trip to a famous volcano and we stopped on the way back home for some strawberries at a roadside stand. There were two tourist there looking rather out-of-place and confused. They were asking directions of the shopkeeper, but neither one spoke the other’s language. I was able to stand in as translator and help them on their way. I smiled at how the semester had changed me."  -- Matt Carmany, Class of '04