Development Dilemmas in Nicaragua (and in myself)

As a student of International and Intercultural Communication, a significant focus of my graduate education has been learning how to understand and work together with individuals from other countries and cultures. I came into the IIC program conversational in Spanish yet sometimes apprehensive about speaking, and I found myself challenged by the concept of truly connecting with people who don’t share my same background or language. I’ve always been interested in international volunteer work and have a passion for Latin American culture. So when I heard about the International Service Learning program in Nicaragua over Winter Interterm this year, I packed a guidebook and my courage into a backpack and set off for a month-long trip through Central America.

The International Service Learning course I took through the University of Denver was called ISL Nicaragua: Development Dilemmas. The four-credit course examined how increasing tourism development and political changes in a post-revolutionary society have affected the livelihood of Nicaraguans.

Students were able to observe the inner workings of various organizations on the southwest Nicaraguan coast, including a privately funded charity foundation, a luxury tourism resort, a vacation home community, and a local educational nonprofit. We were encouraged to befriend and interact with locals as much as possible, and stayed for the majority of the time at a small fishing village that is slowly and perhaps undeniably transforming to become a gringo surf town. The number of foreigners developing infrastructure on previously undeveloped landscapes in Nicaragua is growing at a really fast rate, so it was interesting to study the dynamics between the outside developers and the affects of these developments on the local people. The course also had a service component. Some students spent time volunteering for a US-based nonprofit doing ecological conservation and construction projects, while others taught English at a local school.

I spent nearly two weeks with DU classmates as a part of the course, but also backpacked independently through northwest Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama for a few weeks after the class. There, I was able to do some adventure travel activities, spend some time on the beach, and continue to practice my Spanish communication skills. Throughout the course of my time in Central America, I had several nights where I spoke entirely in Spanish. After having dinner and watching a futbol match one evening with my new Tico friends, I had an epiphany—I had just spent the entire night actually engaging in international and intercultural communication. It really felt amazing to be able to actually bond with others in a foreign environment and to be able to share small parts of our worlds with each other.

I’ve learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn in both cultural and language fluency. However, I definitely believe that cultural immersion is an incredibly valuable experience for those of us who are studying international communication, and for me, this winter in Central America made the world a little bit smaller and more deeply connected.