Paula:
My favorite part of the IGL was when our entire group of students in Nicaragua went out and rented vehicles for a day of adventure. The boys all rented motorcycles or scooters, but my best friend Mia and I decided to share a “side-by-side” (a small off-road vehicle). As a large group, we headed out to try and make our way to a nearby volcanic island, Ometepe. Even though due to complications we never made it there, we decided to not let our vehicles go to waste and make our way to a local beach instead and then the large “Chris of the Mercy” statue that overlooked the town of San Juan. This involved our group driving through the nearby areas of San Juan del Sur; getting away from the touristy area and seeing how the people of Nicaragua truly lived. It was such an adventure and so eye-opening to all of us. We made our way to a local beach that had only one beach hut restaurant and only a handful of homes. We all enjoyed a swim in the quiet ocean before heading up the mountain to the large statue. Of course, because neither Mia or I had an experience driving a side-by-side, we managed to stall halfway up the extremely steep mountain road and decided to walk the rest of the way. Though it was hard in the extreme heat, it was completely worth it when we reached the top and had the uninterrupted view of the town of San Juan in the sunset. Overall, this was a day where we learned and experienced more than we could have imagined, all because we decided to adventure the backroads.
Abdul:
My favourite part of the IGL was the first week! We arrived in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, after a week in San Juan Del Sur and proceed to join our host families and start our IGL journey. During the first week of IGL we shared accommodation with a local family and took daily Spanish classes. It was a great way to truly dive in and immerse ourselves in the local culture.
Spanish classes skyrocketed my proficiency in the Spanish language. Despite having studied Spanish for four months at Ivey, I didn’t feel comfortable with speaking the language at all. I feel that to truly improve in a language, you must immerse yourself in it and speak it daily with native speakers. By the end of the first speaker I was comfortable having casual conversations in Spanish, and the homestay alongside the daily lessons catapulted that evolution.
We immediately felt very welcomed by our client company, Invercasa as well! We met our manager Julio at a coffee shop and he immediately introduced himself and gave us a tour of the office. I was awestruck by the size of the building, and I’ll remember that first day for the rest of my life.
Mia
There were a few moments of my IGL that were great but one, in particular, would be one of our first nights in San Juan Del Sur. The boys went out and made dinner for all of us, we ate together on our balcony with the most amazing view of the sunset while listening to music. I felt very grateful to be in such a beautiful country and to be staying in such an amazing place with 10 great people that I would be working with for the next few weeks. We enjoyed our dinner and went to the town for the night and ended up spending most of it on the beach together. We had all known each other for a few months now being in the same class but this trip brought me a lot closer to them and I am grateful for that. I was happy to be able to have the opportunity to be able to travel around Nicaragua and Costa Rica and get to know the country a little better before starting my IGL and also to get to know my classmates and make some amazing friendships along the way.