Students from Farleigh Dickinson University, including South Brunswick resident Whitney Potts, sixth from the right, traveled to Costa Rica this month to study tropical forest biology and sustainable tourism development. SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Students from two colleges at Fairleigh Dickinson University sponsored a joint study abroad program to Costa Rica this month, and one township resident got to take the trip.
Senior Whitney Potts, who is majoring in sustainable tourism, was one of the students who went on the trip from Jan. 2 to Jan. 15, the first study abroad that combined colleges. Students studying both tropical forest biology and sustainable tourism development visited Costa Rica.
“It was a great experience,” Potts said. “It was definitely worth every single penny. Friends would ask me, ‘How was your vacation?’ It definitely wasn’t a vacation. The professor planned everything – talks with professors, hikes in the rain forests.”
Professor Aixa Ritz, who is from Costa Rica, organized the study abroad with her colleague, professor Alice Schumate.
“We feel at Fairleigh Dickinson that travel abroad is a great opportunity to see things in practice,” Ritz said. “Costa Rica has been a poster child for sustainable tourism and eco-tourism.”
Potts said she loved actually participating in the things she has learned about.
“I’m a very hands-on person,” she said. “I love to experience what I learn in class, every single aspect of class.”
Potts said that there were six weeks of class before the trip, so she could better understand the things she was doing in Costa Rica.
“Sustainability is how to preserve and conserve the culture and environment,” Potts said. “Mass tourism can come in and Americanize other countries. It’s so they don’t destroy the environment.”
“We wanted to determine in which areas tourism was good from an economic perspective and how it harmed the environment and culture,” Ritz said. “We met with people from government and met with people from the industry [hotels], and they have opposite perspectives.”
Ritz said the students had the opportunity to meet with some students from the University of Costa Rica.
“They spent four hours together exchanging ideas,” Ritz said. “They were very inquisitive.”
Even though Potts is majoring in sustainable tourism, she also was able to visit the rain forests that the tropical forest biology students were interested in.
“Even if you weren’t in the other class, you could still experience and learn with the other students,” Potts said.
One of her favorite parts of the trip was the visit to the Four Seasons Resort in Peninsula Papagayo, where she was treated almost like royalty.
“The general manager of the Four Seasons had 15 golf carts lined up for us and we got to drive them around,” Potts said.
She also said it was great to be given a tour of the property, instead of just seeing the front desk and lobby of the hotel the way she usually does. They also participated in a couple of back-of-the-house tours, where the hotel staff explained their waste disposal practices.
Potts loved experiencing the rain forests, such as the Tamarindo Estuary, where they traveled by boat through the mangrove swamp observing birds, crocodiles, iguanas and monkeys.
“I’ve never done that before,” Potts said. “It was a first-time experience, seeing the different biodiversity.”
What was Ritz’s favorite part of the trip?
“To hear their questions to government officials from tourism institutions, it made me very proud to see they had very intelligent questions for them,” she said.
For their end-of-trip meal, the students went to the home of a cousin of Ms. Ritz’s, who lives in Costa Rica. Traditional Costa Rican food was served. There was also traditional Costa Rican music being played by a guitar player and xylophone player.
“I thought it would be a good idea to let them see how Costa Ricans really live and how they really are in social situations,” Ritz said.
“That was a blast,” Potts said.
As an overall experience, Potts couldn’t have asked for more.
“If I had a chance to do it again, I would,” Potts said.