Since our first introductions amid the crowds of Miami International Airport, friendships have quickly developed among the participants of the Latin American Studies Program. It didn’t take long to realize that our group is as diverse as the country we’re studying. Forty-seven members strong, we represent 26 different Christian colleges nationwide. Seven males have decided to brave the odds to study with forty females for an entire semester. So far, they have responded patiently to our frequent requests to be our “Kodak moment” photographers. We also represent a variety of majors, most popular of which are biology, Spanish, and social work. Our different interests have put us in unique positions within the group. Musicians have decided to lead our weekly worship service, organizers of the social club plan group activities, and writers update the website with current happenings. A women’s prayer group has also started meeting weekly as a way to uplift each other and worship God together. In a few weeks, we will be divided into our concentrations, where we will be studying issues that pertain to our individual interests. Within the whole group, 9 students are in the Environmental Science concentration, 14 are in the Advanced Language and Literature Concentration, and the remaining 26 are part of the Latin American Studies Concentration. Our Tican families have been a blessing and the source of many entertaining stories. Not only are we engaging in relationships with them and other Costa Rican friends, but we’re also creating a family-like community of our own, as a group of North American students whose only certainties of this semester are in knowing that God has much in store!