Last day of SIE!

No one knew what to expect. Even the professors did not know where we were going for our farewell dinner. All the girls wore dresses or nice tops and the boys wore their new famous Costa Rican shirts. We all got on the bus and did not know how long the ride will be. After over an hour in the bus, through bumpy roads and various traffic problems (one where we were stuck on the road because we were going against another big tourism bus trying to get through the same small road), we finally made it to the “surprise from Esteban”. Our farewell dinner was held at a restaurant in the mountains that oversees four different cities in Costa Rica. The view was absolutely amazing and everyone was going camera crazy.

Even though we’ve had the same type of Costa Rican food all week (a plate full of rice, chicken, beef, salad, and plantains), we still enjoyed the meal and loved our last Costa Rican meal. After our buffet dinner, we enjoyed a performance filled with various traditional dances.

Several of our fellow students even joined the dancers!

Here are some pictures of the performers and students dancing together:

After dancing, we all spent time taking pictures of the amazing view from the restaurant. Not long after that, it was time to say our formal good byes to Esteban, our beloved tour guide but most importantly, our great friend. Mike and Brian prepared a short speech for Esteban and Madan said, “they nailed it”. Their speech expressed our love for Esteban and afterwards, Esteban also said a few words and told us Costa Rica is our new home and we definitely need to go back to Costa Rica someday.

We got back to the hotel at around 11p.m. and everyone was busy packing and getting ready for bed. We had to be ready to leave the hotel at 5a.m. the next morning for an early flight from San Jose, CR to Miami, FL. Our flight was delayed unfortunately, but we all landed safely in Boston’s Logan Airport.

Even though most of us agree that Manuel Antonio was one of the best parts of the trip because of the beaches and zip lining, we still learned a lot during our visits in Panama City and San Jose, Costa Rica. We had great experiences and learned many valuable lessons through our visits from the Panama American Chamber of Commerce, the Panama Canal, the Doka Coffee Estate, the Free Trade Zone, the Dell Corporation and many others.

-Margaret Wong & Maria Tsekeris '14