Today’s visit to Café Monteverde made renewable energy feel less like a random idea and more like something that affects real businesses. Coffee production depends on a lot of resources: land, water, transportation, roasting equipment, and electricity. Today I was on group one and we learned about their roasting process. They use a greenhouse to…
Category: Plus3 2025
May 19th – Gardening is Harder Than it Looks
Today we visited a coffee farm in Monteverde and learned about Costa Rica’s renewable energy system. The coffee farm felt a lot more genuine than Cafe Britt. There were no sample stations everywhere, the gift shop was small and had prices in colones instead of dollars, and the tour actually took us through the real…
I Want Wind Turbines in my Backyard!
During our travels from La Fortuna to Monteverde we had the chance to see one of the many ways Costa Rica produces renewable energy, with windmills. Here we learned how Costa Rica generates almost all of its electricity from renewable energy sources including hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, wind turbines, and biofuels. Also that hydroelectricity is…
Blown Away by Sustainability
During our stop at the wind turbines, I learned how much Costa Rica depends on renewable energy. There were many giant windmills spread across the mountains and the land, making it easier to understand how seriously Costa Rica takes environmental protection. Unlike many countries that still rely heavily on fossil fuels, Costa Rica generates almost…
1% Fossil Fuels and 100% Humid
Costa Rica has been setting the standard for renewable energy since the 1970s, and after today’s visit to the wind turbines near the continental divide, it is easy to see why this country takes so much pride in its energy infrastructure. The country currently generates around 13,000 kilowatts of energy through renewable sources, with roughly…
Day 9: Pagoda and War Museum
As someone who has always been into learning about Asian religions, I can say that I was really looking forward to see an authentic Vietnamese Buddhism temple, because I would be able to put my knowledge to use, and experience Buddhism through my own experience. Growing up Catholic, I feel like I wasn’t able to…
Day 9: Whose war was it?
Today was a lot of learning in a meaningful way. We started the day with class at UEF where we spent time learning about Buddhism. From there we then took what we learned and went over to the Ngoc Hoang Pagoda. The first thing I felt walking in was peace. It was special to watch…
Day 11: Big Lessons, Better Deals, and Mimi the Shop Cat Watching Over All of It
ANDD was another really interesting look at how entrepreneurship support can show up in different ways. On the surface it felt familiar, there was mentoring, training, networking, and workshops, which has honestly been a running theme throughout this whole trip. But what made ANDD stand out from everything else we have seen so far was…
Day 11: Social Medi(n)a
The day I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived: my site visit!! We visited ANDD, an association that focuses on digital skill development, particularly for women. They have three main programs through which they help stay at home mothers, university graduates, and other young women on how to create and sustain income-generating activities. I was…
Day 9: A Look Into a Complex Past
I think it is fair to say that today was certainly one of the more emotionally engaging days of the program, especially given the content that we viewed in the second half of the day. I started the morning by grabbing breakfast with my friends Olivia, Reva, and Rachel at Merci Bakery, which I know…
Day 10: More Lectures With Astral
Today we went back to Astral’s downtown campus for more lectures relating to the public sector and the social security system. The campus is only about a 10-minute walk from where we are staying, making early wakeups not needed. Today we learned a lot about how Federalism has an effect on healthcare and how healthcare…
Day 11: Finding a voice at ANDD
Today we were able to visit the ANDD center, and it was a very rememberable experience. We were able to hear from women who took classes at the centers and their genuine appreciation for that they had learned made me even more interested in ANDD and the services/classes they offer. We heard from one woman…
Day 2: Arrival in Augsburg
I slept basically the whole bus ride to Augsburg which was about an hour ride because I knew it would be the only sleep I would get that day. The students that did this program before said you need to thug out on the first day, so you can get up to speed on the…
Day 1: Planes, Layovers, and New Beginnings
From the buildup all the way to the 15 hour travel day to Munich from Pittsburgh, this trip already felt different than trips I have taken in the past. For those who do not know, I traveled to Tanzania in Africa with my family in the summer of 2019, and if you think 15 hours…
Day 9: Temples and the Tragedy of War
Woah. I have to take a few breaths after a day like today. Today felt emotionally heavy in a completely different way than the previous days of the trip. The morning visit to the Ngoc Hoang Pagoda was calming and very peaceful, while the afternoon felt completely different. The War Remnants Museum forced me to…
Build ladder and Breaking Doors
Today started at 9:30 after having a delicious piece of shortbread, a croissant, and some Moroccan tea. We then got onto the bus and headed to our first event, where we met with ANDD. Their focus was on supporting women entrepreneurs through workshops, training, and community building. In that way, they were similar to a…
Sai to the Rescue…Maybe
They decided to save the best for last and put ANDD the final site visit destination on the list. The ride there felt like the Super Bowl, giving me butterflies as I was walking into the building. Overall, I was very proud of our group for the questions we asked, and also our answers to…
Door of Doom and Despair
Today we visited ANDD, which is for helping women’s digital skills. I found it interesting how new of a program ANDD was. ANDD has just started and is looking for any possible sponsors. This is similar to Anou Cooperation in a way because it started in 2018, I believe. To me, this demonstrates progress. Morocco…
Day 11- Adventuring in Regensburg
Today’s earliest morning started at around 5am for me so I could be ready to go at 5:45am for Aumovio in Regensburg. We got there easily and were even early for once. We didn’t get to see much of the corporate building, but the room we were in for the presentation was nice. Aumovio just…
Day 9: Faith and Fatality
Our day started with a trip to our beloved UEF building. There, we learned about Buddhism and how it started in Vietnam. Being Indian, I have a very good understanding of Buddhism and Buddhist teachings since some of my friends are Buddhist and Buddhism originated in India. Our lecturer kept asking me questions (I think…