One impression that I had of Costa Rica is that it seems many places are heavily influenced by American culture. This seemed to be especially prevalent in the mall we visited. Many of the brands in the stores are the same that we have in the United States. In addition, the labeling on many of the items we saw was in English. Some of the stores in the mall even had English names. When we went into a clothing store, we saw t-shirts bearing the names of American sports teams and American cities. I did not expect English to have such a heavy influence on the stores. Instead, I expected stores with mostly the same items we have in the United States but all Costa Rican items to be designed more specific to Costa Rica (labels written in Spanish and items with completely different packaging or of a different brand). There are also some similarities between the Costa Rican and American malls. It seemed the malls have many of the same types of stores as they do in the United States and the same multi-layered format with larger, more open spaces designated for children’s play areas and food courts.

Additionally, while walking around Costa Rica I noticed the layout of the town is significantly different in the United States. I expected things to be a little different based on pictures that I have seen on the internet, but I was expecting more space between buildings and for the buildings to be taller. All of the stores and houses along the streets are very close together and also very generally one story (which I now know is because shorter buildings limit earthquake damage).

Furthermore, there are many little things that I did not expect and automatically assumed would be similar or completely opposite compared to the United States, for example, the cars. Costa Rica and the United States have the same car manufacturers, but there are a lot of models on the streets in Costa Rica that are not available in the United States. Similarly, I was not expecting the prevalence of motorcycles on the streets. It seems it is a very popular way for transportation and the delivery of food (it is also interesting that in some stores they sell motorcycles along with other items: in the United States there are usually specialized stores for the sale of motorcycles). Also, I expected most people to only speak Spanish, but many people in stores and restaurants in Heredia are able to speak English.