Laura Maneri

Year: Senior
Major: Professional Communications
Hometown: Tivoli, NY
What I love about FSC:
The small classroom sizes make for a personal learning environment and professors are always willing to make time outside of class to talk. It’s a beautiful tree lined campus and I especially love the teaching gardens, it’s a great getaway.
Campus Involvement:
Backstage Theatre Company, Yoga, Golden Key International Honor Society
Interest & Hobbies:
Hiking, Running, Yoga, Photography, and Drumming

Interview with Sarah Schlunter- German International Student

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Laura Maneri

Laura Maneri International Blog 1 e1462194454584

Sarah Schlunter grew up in Central Germany, specifically the suburban city of Herdecke, which is close to Dortmand. She has a love for traveling; all of her money pleasingly goes to it. She’s been to 30 states, many countries such as Europe, Costa Rica, and Tunisia, and would ultimately like to stay on east coast of the United States after graduation. Sarah’s family initially introduced her to the idea of traveling. Her dad likes to travel, her family always went on a trip once a year during ...

Shaped by Farmingdale

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Laura Maneri

Growing up in a small town in upstate New York, which lacks diversity, I realized I needed to experience new people and cultures. For this reason, I decided to attend Farmingdale State College. Since it’s located on Long Island, there are so many diverse people from all over. As a senior, I don’t regret my decision one bit. In fact, I am grateful for my decision and the experiences I have had for my four years here. Something I’ll never forget from Farmingdale is the friendships made with the...

Everything Beautiful Comes to an End

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

I'm actually sad to say that I'm finally home. It was a very hard process to leave the home I've assimilated myself into for four months. It was especially hard to say goodbye to my host mom. She told me I can come any time and stay with her which was extremely nice- I know I always have a place to stay in Costa Rica. Seeing family and friends has been great, but getting used to my normal life again hasn't been easy. I still think about my home and host mom, and in Costa Rican friends all tim...

The Last Trip

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

It's sad that my time is coming to an end here in Costa Rica! To take advantage of my last days here, I went to Uvita this weekend, a more laid back place than most of the others. The bus stopped many times for people and stopped in the middle of no where most of the time! We were a bit worried because we weren't sure where our stop was exactly, so I clarified with someone sitting near me. When we got there, it seemed like we were in the middle of no where! We found the hostel we were goi...

El Sanatorio Duran

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

Since so many people at my University here have told me to check out this creepy place, I had to! Yesterday, my friend and I ventured to the Sanatorio Duran. It used to be a hospital that was founded in 1918, and now is a place to visit for fun! Sounds odd, but it was worth the (long) trip. We caught a bus to the city over, Cartago- a very pretty and historical city. It was a 45 minute drive through the mountains. We arrived and thankfully saw Las Ruinas- a landmark that we needed to find to ...

Birthday in Costa Rica!

Posted on February 1, 2016February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

It was definitely a different experience spending my birthday here in Costa Rica! I decided to stay in San Jose with friends to go to a Cheesecake Factory-but that didn't exactly end up happening. Since Costa Rica doesn't have actual addresses, it was harder than I thought to find the restaurant! We gave the taxi driver an accurate sense of where the restaurant would be since he didn't know where it was. "200 metros sur de Fresh Market en Barrio Escalante," we said. But, he ended up bringing ...

Feria Verde

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

Hey Dalers! Hang in there, the semester is almost over! I myself am trying to keep calm as my studies are continuing this semester. I just finished my third Spanish intensive class. It was a struggle because my professor was not as great as my past two, but I made it work and passed the very difficult intermediate 2 class! Next I am luckily taking an intermediate conversation class which will be very helpful, since so far I learned mostly grammar, now I will be able to practice my speaking...

Poas Volcano

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

Hey everyone! Hopefully you are all surviving the end semester craziness (and coldness)! I myself experienced being very cold here in Costa Rica yesterday. I went to visit the Poas Volcano with one of my Tico friends. It took us about two hours with two buses-not bad! Unfortunately, it started raining on our way- it's rainy season! Poas is usually a little chillier than normal Costa Rican temperature, so with the rain it was even colder! (About 65 degrees, which to me was cold since ...

Manuel Antonio

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

This weekend, some friends and I decided to take a small trip to Manuel Antonio, where a famous national park resides. We took a public bus from San Jose to Quepos (the city next to Manuel Antonio) at 1pm. It took about 3 and a half hours, not too bad! When we got dropped off at our hostel, it was pouring rain. We checked in and decided to go get food because we were starving. Our hostel had a beachfront so we walked on the beach to get to a restaurant, and it was high tide. The water was so war...

A Typical day in San Jose

Posted on February 1, 2016February 1, 2016 by Laura Maneri

It may seem that I’m not actually studying here in Costa Rica based off of my blogs, so I thought I should describe my daily life here in San Jose. I wake up every day at 6:30 am. Que torta! (How awful!) I eat breakfast with my housemate and Tica mom at 7:30 and walk to school which takes about 5 minutes. Spanish class is 8-12, but I like my schedule because then I have the whole day free..to study. I am dedicating much more time than I had thought to my studies here. Even if I don’t have...