It’s honestly crazy that we as a school are able to send more than 100 kids halfway across the continent for a weeklong trip. So when I packed my bags for Costa Rica, I knew I was going to do as many things as I could there that I wouldn’t do anywhere else.
The Class of 2028’s voyage marked the 12th annual President’s Sophomore Trip to Costa Rica. As a freshman, my Spanish teacher had been hyping up the trip to the sophomores in my class, and I wanted to go with them so badly. But I knew I had to wait for my year. And when the time came, I couldn’t have been more excited.
The trip began for me as soon as I placed my phone on the kitchen counter and got in the car without it. The entire trip is device-free; only digital cameras were allowed. It may seem like an insurmountable task to part with your beloved iPhone 17 Pro Max, but most people have forgotten what an iPhone even is by the end of the trip.
The first new thing that I tried was in a grocery store. When we made a pit stop to see crocodiles (who had inconsiderately migrated from the viewing bridge to find food), my buddies and I went into a nearby grocery store to shelter ourselves from the tropical heat. Inside, we found a salsa tasting station, complete with a bowl of chips and eight different salsas lined up in front. I tried one kind, and it was super delicious. Then, an employee came over to warn us of what the spiciest salsas they had were. So naturally, I covered half a tortilla chip in the hottest one they had and tossed it down in one bite. I ended up crying in the grocery store, but it was worth it because that experience has become a great story to share.
The next new thing I tried was surfing, something I’ve always wanted to miserably fail at trying. While it is something one could learn in the Bay Area, high schoolers notoriously bombard themselves with busy schedules. I am no exception to this, so I realized that if I didn’t snatch the opportunity to surf now, I would realistically never learn the sport. When we got to the ocean, we had a couple of instructors waiting for us. We first practiced the motions of standing up on the sand before heading into the water to try it out for real. I actually got it on the first try, something I wouldn’t recreate for another half an hour. But the perfect temperature of the Costa Rican bay was very forgiving for a beginner like myself. I stood up on the board on a couple more waves before the sun sank beneath the ocean and we had to return to the lodge.
On Tuesday night, the evening of our second day of activities, we watched a cultural dance presentation. Four professional performers of traditional Costa Rican dance came and gave us a beautiful show. It was especially mesmerizing to watch the women create waves and shapes with their dresses. It also raised a couple of eyebrows when the performers started creating yodel-adjacent sounds in the middle of their routine. Once the dancers had finished their show, they beckoned the audience to jump onto the stage. I leaped out of my seat. Our small crowd of brave volunteers watched the professionals and tried our best to copy their moves. But slowly, more and more of my classmates made their way to the stage until the entire Class of ’28 was out on the dance floor. It was the first time I felt a true connection with my whole class at once.
The moral of the story? If you’re a freshman reading this getting excited about your trip of a lifetime, take my advice. Do everything. Hit the dance floor in front of everyone, jump off the 20-foot waterfall, go on the night hike. If you’re brave, eat the termites (yes, really. Earthy with a minty aftertaste). If everyone participates in the discomfort together, you’ll create the real bonds that last us the rest of our lives.