On January 2nd I will be leaving for San Jose, Costa Rica for 6 months then traveling around Central/South America for the 7th month! As part of Northeastern University's co-op program I will be working for 'Trackit,' a GPS company in San Jose, Costa Rica. Trackit makes the maps of Costa Rica for GPS's. I will be taking calls/questions about buying the Costa Rican GPS maps from the US and Canada. My boss said that there are only about 8-15 calls a day and it is mostly people asking if the map will give them directions in Spanish (all I could think of when he said this was Spanish Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3). I will also learn how to help make the maps of Costa Rica for GPS's and add "points of interest" to the maps. It could be kind of cool to learn how they make the maps but it has nothing to do with my career goals. Therefore, the whole point of this experience is to (fingers crossed) become fluent in Spanish, or as close to fluent as a non-native can get. I have a hard time grasping Spanish in a classroom environment so I'm hoping that 'throwing myself into the ocean' in Costa Rica will do the trick to help me learn Spanish.
I do not know a single person in CR and I am a little nervous/excited about that. My boss, Wirlan, who I have had a few phone conversations with, speaks pretty decent english so I am hoping that he can help me a little with the bare essentials but I do not expect him to hold my hand. I will be living in a two bedroom apartment (in a safe neighborhood) with another "Tica"(tico is what they call a native Costa Rican, tica for a female) who I am not even sure if she speaks english, which should be interesting! For now this is about all I know! I am going to try and keep up with this blog to update my friends and family so more to come once I get there! Adios!
