Danique in Costa Rica

My story

I had known for a long time that I wanted to do the minor international internship and go abroad for a while, but I didn’t know where to go. Then I heard about the Power of Sport and got in touch with Ruben, who told me about different projects. His story about Costa Rica made me the most enthusiastic, and I arranged everything to go there.

Before I left, I was very excited. I went alone and found it difficult to estimate what to expect. The first day in the house I was alone and I wondered if this was the right decision. But when the whole group came back in the evening, that feeling immediately disappeared. I loved seeing how the composition of the group kept changing, but was always good.

During the week I was a gym teacher. The first few weeks I worked alone at a primary school and later also at a secondary school. I loved being with the children and enjoyed being outside all day, even though it was sometimes very hot, haha. In the weekends I almost always went on trips. The country is not very big, so you could see a lot during the weekends. Before the weekend we would sit down with the people who wanted to come and plan an outing.

What I really liked is that at some point you really make contact with the people there. People start to recognize you and you get a fixed routine in your life there. For example, on Thursday evenings we always went dancing. It was nice to notice that as my Spanish improved, there was also more contact with the ‘Tico’s’.

As scared as I was before I left, I am so happy that I went now. I really enjoyed the people, the nature, the weather and especially the Pura Vida Lifestyle!