This spring break, while most students at The Morgan School stay within the boundaries of the U.S., 29 students will trade the Connecticut shoreline for the trip of a lifetime into the beautiful country of Costa Rica. This week-long expedition promises students a trip to three key destinations, ranging from cities to volcanoes, capturing Costa Rica’s natural beauty.

“Costa Rica is a very peaceful country…So they are really welcoming, loving, open, and tranquil people,” explained Mrs. Luther, a Spanish teacher at The Morgan School, who has been to Costa Rica many times in the past.

The students will leave the U.S. early on Saturday, April 11th, from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, and return to the U.S. late Friday, April 17th. The group will first fly into Guanacaste, located off the coast of Costa Rica’s north side. Here, they will experience the tropical climate directly in the Costa Rican jungle. The tour will then move inland to La Fortuna, in the Arenal region. Situated in this region is the Arenal Volcano, a true staple of Costa Rica. Then, the group will enter San José, the capital of Costa Rica, and experience firsthand what a city is like in a foreign country, until finally flying back to New York. This experience will last 7 days, moving from location to location by bus, and staying in local hotels.

However, this experience will not be enjoyed solely by the students. Teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Luther, Mr. Bean, and Ms. Rivadeneira have played a huge part in organizing the Costa Rica trip, and are all very experienced. In particular, just this summer, Mr. and Mrs. Luther visited Costa Rica with their family and experienced the culture firsthand in preparation for the upcoming trip. It was here in Costa Rica that Mrs. Luther discovered one of her favorite things about the country, the food.

“It’s always fresh,” said Luther, “whereas we (in Connecticut) are used to microwaving things or heating things, you know, reheating. Everything is made fresh.”

Beyond just the food, Mrs. Luther finds the impact the trip leaves on the students who visit to be very special. Though the food is truly exceptional, Mrs. Luther’s favorite part is seeing how much her students enjoy the cultural shift of Costa Rica.

“One of my favorite parts is seeing my students enjoy the culture that I love,” said Mrs. Luther.

And enjoy it, they certainly do. Since the Costa Rica trip has been implemented as a school trip for students taking high-level Spanish courses, students in the past have expressed their love for this trip. But this year will be a little different. In previous years, only juniors and seniors were allowed to go on this trip, preventing sophomores and freshmen from attending. This year, however, for the first time, sophomores in Spanish level 3 classes are being allowed to attend the trip to Costa Rica. Out of the 29 students attending, more than half are sophomores.

¨It is the first time that we extended it(the trip) to Spanish 3 students from last year. Usually, it is for upperclassmen, but due to a lack of enrollment from juniors and seniors, we decided to make it available to Spanish 3, and then we got all the people we needed,” explained Ms. Rivadeneira, a Spanish teacher at The Morgan School, and the group leader of the trip. Ms. Rivadeneira has been key in organizing the trip, and has loads of experience traveling abroad, even going to Spain when she was a student herself at the Morgan School in 2015. She is also very excited to share this experience with the sophomore class.

One sophomore at The Morgan School, Declan Haverkampf, saw the opportunity and instantly took advantage of it. “I just wasn’t certain that I was gonna get another opportunity to go somewhere, so I wanted to hop on,” explained Haverkampf. Though the reason for the addition of the sophomores is due to the lack of attendance from the seniors and juniors, Haverkampf had a different take: “But it feels like recognition, because, obviously, they think we’re good enough at Spanish to go on this trip.”

When asked about personal concerns on the upcoming trip, Haverkampf admitted to having a few worries. “I wouldn’t say I’m too worried, but, just in case I get sick, that’s probably the worst thing that can happen, or if I do something, when we’re hiking or something, if I, like, hurt myself somehow.”

Problems on school trips are common. Just last year, the French program here at The Morgan School, along with a few extra Spanish students, went to France for a week. Though the trip was considered very fun, it had a few problems and unexpected things that arose.

One student who went on this trip, Robert Wininger, gave his personal experience of how he thinks the trip went. Though overall he enjoyed the trip, he encountered a few problems, such as the fact that in some hotels there was only “one bed for two people,” along with a cramped bathroom.

“I wish I knew the expectation of Paris… And that it kind of smells, like a cigarette smell, smelling like crap,” Wininger recounted when visiting the capital. Wininger was also surprised by the number of scam artists in Paris and

how he and others would get chased down to buy their goods. Wininger had always heard of Paris as “The City of Love” and known for its beauty. However, the smell along with the scam artists made the experience at times unenjoyable.

Mrs. Luther, though, never mentioned running into any of these problems on her previous trips to Costa Rica. She did, however, convey how important sleep is:

“I would say students lack sleep because they think that they don’t need it when they’re away from home, but they do. So I would suggest to everyone going on the trip that they get a lot of sleep every night when they are sent to their rooms.”

With so much going on in an overseas trip, so much can also go wrong. However, Haverkampf concluded that he has full confidence in the staff to make a perfect trip and that the future of this trip is undeniably bright.

“I know we have good teachers who are gonna be watching us all the time, and I think I will be fine.”