Training Season’s Over (Final Weeks in Escazu and Swearing-in)

Following our site visits, we all regrouped in Escazu as a cohort for one final week and a half. Honestly, this felt a little bit like the final weeks of school: a lot of the hay was in the barn and everything felt like a blur. However, it was fun cherishing some final moments with the cohort before we headed our separate ways throughout the country. As many of you probably know, one of my favorite subjects is sports diplomacy. One of the highlights of PST was playing the Municipalidad de Escazu team in soccer. We’d lost a previous rendition of the “Escazu Derby” earlier in training, but fortunately we were able to leave Escazu with a win in our final week there.


On September 25th, we said our goodbyes to our host families in Escazu. From Escazu, we made the short trek to San Jose for a quick two night stay at the Holiday Inn La Sabana. There, we spent a jam-packed couple days alongside counterparts from our prospective sites. As part of the Counterpart Workshop, we addressed things like Peace Corps policies, problem-solving, and brainstormed ideas for future community projects. I’d be lying if I said these weren’t a long couple of days, but as a first-time volunteer at my site, I feel like this time was critical in order to properly communicate to my site what the role of a Peace Corps volunteer will entail. Away from the conference room, and in addition to the pool and the food, a major highlight of this hotel stay was the location. The hotel was located only a couple minutes’ drive from La Sabana Park, a huge urban park that is probably the most famous in Costa Rica. I’d been itching to run there since arriving in Costa Rica, so thankfully I was able to sneak a run in on Thursday morning with a friend in my cohort.


Friday the 27th was a big day for our Tico 44 cohort. Our group dressed to the nines (or whatever we’d brought to Costa Rica) and got sworn in by U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, Dr. Cynthia Telles. Although we’d been living in Costa Rica for three months prior, on this day, we officially became Peace Corps volunteers. It was a cool moment to celebrate this milestone with my peers in Tico 44, as well as Peace Corps staff, our language facilitators, our Escazu host families, and our future counterparts. However, the celebration was short-lived as many in our cohort immediately had to catch transportation to their sites. There was important work to be done.




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