Hello from Chicago! After a long 2 and a half months, we’re all back home from Costa Rica. It’s been great to be back home to sleep in my own bed, eat homecooked meals, and see family and friends. Here is the LAST recap from our lovely time in CR:
This last week was spent in San Jose. As far as work went, we just did some more maintenance in Hospital Mexico. On our final day, our boss and coworkers took us out for a last lunch (pictured down below!) and we went back to the Meditek office for some last goodbyes and parting gifts. I’m genuinely going to miss everyone we worked with this summer; they were all very welcoming, kind, and understanding (especially when I didn’t understand things in Spanish — oopsie).
Last Meditek lunch!
In terms of fun activities, last Saturday afternoon, the girls and I had a picnic in La Sabana park. On Sunday, Sarah, Hannah, Travis, and I went to the Breakfast Club for brunch. Later in the day, one of my friends from UIUC arrived in Costa Rica, so she came over to the hostel and we got dinner and did painting night at Selina. Monday night, she came over to Selina again and joined the GMI crew for one last karaoke Monday. The week was spent doing lots of “lasts” — last karaoke Monday, last movie night, last cooking class, last “Pizza Thursday”, last Selina breakfast. Before leaving for the airport, I went on one last walk around San Jose. We really made the best of our final week and tried to say yes to any activity or opportunity that arose.
“Toast Duo” at The Breakfast Club
Paintings at Selina Paint night
Hopscotching my way to the future
Overall, this summer in Costa Rica was an incredibly valuable experience that I will never forget. I learned a ton about various medical devices through taking them apart and fixing them, and also gained insight into how devices fail; this knowledge will help me make better design choices in my classes and future career. I navigated the Costa Rican healthcare system both in clinical observations and during the internship. I met a ton of people in GMI, coworkers, and people in passing, that I will cherish interactions with. Most of all, I had sooo much fun trying new foods, seeing the beauty of the country, and (hopefully) getting better at Spanish.
This is the end of the summer Costa Rica blog. Because I refuse to say adios, hasta luego!