At First Glance

Now when you hear about Latin American countries, one of the first things you learn is how important family and personal relationships are. Now I don't have any personal experience in the rest of Latin America, but from what I've seen this is definitely true about Costa Rica. Here the emphasis is on the relationship, and they value preserving this, sometimes over being honest. The emphasis on this and some geological differences result in many visits to the house by family and friends.

I recently had a Tica in one of my classes approach me about a survey she had for her class about cultural differences. One of the questions referenced what I saw as cultural differences between the U.S. and Costa Rica and these visits were one of the first things I thought of. Due to distance and an emphasis on individualism, visits such as these in the U.S. are reserved more for special occasions and holidays.

One of the things that surprised me when she was interviewing me, was how accurate her views of the U.S. were solely based on films. For instance, we discussed how many kids in the U.S. have jobs to save up their money, to buy cars or other things that they might want. Here, those with jobs are the adults and summer and after-school jobs just are not common.

You always here about culture shock when you first get to a new country. They make it sound like you're going to get a knocked over the head with culture. Honestly though, I feel as if it were less of a culture shock and more of a gradual cultural awareness. When I first got here I was more surprised as to how similar it was that I didn't really notice the differences. However, as I settled in I began to notice subtle differences between the U.S. and Costa Rica, like the emphasis on maintaining relationships, or tico time, even if I am still learning how to adjust myself to them.