THE LATIN AMERICAN CENTER

LOCATION

The Latin American Center is located in the Northeast part of Heredia City, across the street from the National University.

First Year Students will take a plane from New York after their general induction to Global College in New York and arrive in the same flight into San Jose. They will be picked up at the airport and taken to the LAC.

HOW TO REACH THE CENTER

Students not arriving with the Foundation Year group need to reach the LAC on her/his own, she/he needs to take a taxi at the airport. Airport taxis are very safe and inexpensive. You will recognize the official airport taxi drivers by their brown pants and white shirt uniform. Ask the driver to take you to the city of Heredia to the following address: From Copymundo 50 meters west, white house on the right. Our telephone number at the Center is: 011-506-260-6672. You should contact the center once you have made your travel plans to inform us of when you will be arriving.

FACILITIES

The Center’s facilities include an administrative area, computer room, a small library, a garden, a hall for Community Meetings and rooms for seminars, Spanish classes and academic advising.

The LAC has eight (computers) IBM compatible computers for student use, and two (laser) printers connected to all of them. Students can access internet from any of them or their laptop through our cable network. Students also have access to a multimedia projector, digital camera and a video digital recorder for their presentations and projects.

WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU

- LIGHT CLOTHES (T-SHIRTS, SHORTS, SKIRTS, LIGHT PANTS AND BLOUSES, ETC): This is a tropical environment and it is usually hot during the day. In field trips in Costa Rica and in the trip to Nicaragua it is very hot.

- JEANS AND SWEATSHIRTS: It gets kind of chilly in the evening, so you might need a sweater or light jacket. It is cold in certain mountainous areas of Costa Rica.

- RAIN GEAR: The rainy season is from May to the end of November. It usually rains in the afternoons during these months.

- TRAVELGEAR: swimsuit, towel, sun block, repellent, small backpack, hat, sleeping bag (if you are planning to do some shoestring traveling), water bottle, sandals, hiking shoes. Camping is not recommended in Central American countries due to safety reasons.

- DRESS CLOTHES: We will visit some places where formal dressing will be necessary. We suggest you bring one or two formal outfits.

- COMPUTER: We strongly recommend you bring your own laptop. If possible, it should be insured.

- A MOSQUITO NET CAN BE VERY USEFUL IF YOU GO TRAVELLING ON YOUR OWN.

- BRING A GOOD SUPPLY OF SUN BLOCK AND OF NATURAL REPELLENT.

- ALARM CLOCK (very important)

- HIKING BOOTS: We recommend bringing a pair of hiking boots preferably TALL hiking boots. TENNIS SHOES AND SANDALS WON'T DO FOR HIKING.

- PERSONAL MEDICATION: If you take any medication regularly make sure you bring enough supply.

LOCAL SERVICES

1. BANKING

The currency in Costa Rica is called the Colon. Although the exchange rate fluctuates, the New York Times publishes the current exchange rate in the business section of the paper. In addition, you can get assistance calculating conversion rates on the web at http://www.xe.net/ucc/full.shtml

Changing dollars (cash or traveler's checks) to colones is not difficult in Costa Rica, and can be done at most major banks. Please do not bring ripped bills. If, for some reason, you want to cash a traveler’s check and receive dollars, you need to visit a local bank and have them cashed into dollars. There is always a commission charged by the bank.

Cash advances: You can withdraw money (in colones) from local ATM’s with any major credit or debit cards.

If you need to have money sent you can easily access a local Western Union Office.

2. MAIL

Your mailing address while you are in Costa Rica will be:

Global College - LAC
Apartado 8496-1000
San José, Costa Rica

center e-mail: lacfwp@racsa.co.cr

Letters from Costa Rica to the United States usually take from one to two weeks to arrive. Letters from the U.S. to Costa Rica usually take between eight days and two weeks.

It is not easy to receive packages from home. Packages that have been sent third class take a long time to arrive. First class packages can arrive in a shorter time. In any case, the recipient has to go to a branch post office twice to complete the paperwork necessary to claim any large package. Duty is charged on everything, including clothing (new or used) and gifts, and it can be more than 100% of the original cost of the item. The cost is often evaluated based on what the price is here, rather than what was paid for it. (Books are sometimes an exception.) Because of this, many students choose to tell their families and friends not to send them packages.

Packages small enough to fit in a post office box (cassettes, manila envelopes, photos, etc.) can be claimed at the main post office and there is no duty charged on them.

For Federal express mail, include our telephone. (011-506-260-6672)

3. TELEPHONE

When calling Costa Rica from the United States, the number must be preceded by the code: 011. If you are calling from another country, you will need to find out what codes are used by the phone system of that country.

Our telephone number is (506) 260-6672 and the fax number is (506) 260-9656. There is usually someone at the center from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Costa Rica time. It is not hard to make international phone calls, and the cost is about the same as in the US.

AT&T offers a "USA Direct" service by dialing 0800011-4114, which allows you to use your domestic AT&T calling card number to call the States. MCI offers the same service by dialing 0800012-2222. Other calling card numbers, collect calls, person to person, etc. may all be done through the international operator.

The least expensive way is direct dialing from the US if you can arrange a time for your parents or friends to call you. All home stays have telephones, but you cannot make international calls charging them on their telephone due to previous problems.

Cell phones are available at a cost of $50 for connection plus the price of the device, which fluctuates between $100-$300. This does not include the monthly rate.

4. ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS

Your electrical devices will work exactly the same way they do as in the United States. You do not need to bring any kind of adaptors. We do strongly recommend bringing a protector for electrical fluctuations for your laptop.

5. EMAIL AND INTERNET

E-mail and access to internet is available at the LAC for all students, either through our computers or through your laptop. Through our cable network, students can connect their laptops to the wireless system. We provide a wireless card in case your laptop does not have one. In order to connect to internet at the LAC, laptops must have: Pentium III, Ram memory of at least 128Mb, Windows 98, Me 2000 or XP and a PCMCIA Type 2 slot. If you do not have this in your laptop, you can use the desk computers available to students at the Center. Students will be provided with a pop account while studying at the center which will facilitate communication with the Center’s faculty, staff and other FWP centers in the world.

IMMIGRATION CONTROL:

A. PASSPORT

Please make sure to bring a passport. You will need your passport to enter Costa Rica and to travel to other Latin American countries. Make sure your passport is valid for at least one year, that it is in good shape, and that it has at least 10 empty pages. When you enter the country make sure that it gets stamped at the airport.

B. VISAS

United States citizens don't need visas to enter Costa Rica. If you are not a US citizen, it is very important to check with the Central American Consulates (Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica) to see what the requirements are in order to get a visa. If you are not a US citizen, please, contact the LAC administration. When you stay in Costa Rica for three months, you will need to leave the country for at least three days to renew your visa. We will remind you of this.

C. EMPLOYMENT

Costa Rican laws prohibit foreigners from working in the country without special permission. In order to work here, foreigners need to get a green card and, just as in the United States, the procedure to get it is very long (several years.) Even then, it is only issued in very special cases, for example if there are few professionals in a given area in Costa Rica.

EXPENSES

You will receive a bill from Long Island University for tuition, center fees and room and board. LIU will wire the Room and Board and Center fees money to the LAC. The Center Fee includes both all expenses for field trips planned by the LAC in Costa Rica and the region as well as the expenses involved in the center’s functioning such as Field advisors, Spanish teachers, Lectures and so on.

Your Center Fee does not include personal travel nor does it include personal expenses.

It is essential that you arrive at the Center with your funds for personal expenses (or a credit or debit card to withdraw money). At the end of the semester you will receive a detail of your expenses and a refund of whatever money is left.

ACCOMMODATIONS

A. HOMESTAYS

Living with a Costa Rican family is an important part of our program. It plays a key role in practicing Spanish and in learning about the culture.

Home stays are located in urban neighborhoods close to the LAC. The houses where students stay have all the facilities needed (electricity, running water, telephone and access to public transportation).

All students will be asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding housing preferences and from that each student will be assigned a host family. The first day of class, a family member will show you the way to the LAC in the morning and will pick you up in the afternoon to show you the way back home.

While living with your host family you will be provided with breakfast and dinner during weekdays. On the weekends students will be provided with three meals. Laundry is also provided by the host family.

ORIENTATION PROGRAM

During the first two weeks of the semester, students are introduced to the LAC Academic Program and their new cultural setting through several sessions and one or two short field trips. Furthermore, students are exposed to health and safety issues and other practical matters. Lastly, during this week students meet their academic advisor, choose the seminars they want to take and are placed in their corresponding Spanish level.