As of tomorrow I will officially be able to:
1. Drink water out of the tap
2. Throw toilet paper in the toilet
3. Eat salads without worrying about getting a bacterial infection
4. Pay for something that costs $3 with a $20 bill
5. Not get cat calls every 5 steps down the street (well, maybe)
6. Feel safe walking around with my camera/more than $40/any other valuable items
7. Not eat ham, rice, or beets all the time
8. Sleep in my own bed
I'm pretty excited. I have to be at the airport at 5:15 tomorrow morning, but two of my friends are on the same flight as I am so I'll have some company while I wait to actually take off. I'm really sad to leave and say goodbye to the great friends I've made over the past three and a half months, but I'm also very excited to see my family and get to be in my own house!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The beginning of the end
Hi Everyone,
On Sunday morning our whole group reunited for the first time in a month and headed to La Hesperia, which is located about two and a half hours south of Quito via a very, very curvy road. A few people got carsick, but other than that we all made it to the farm safe and sound.
When we got to the reserve we settled in to our rooms, had lunch, and then started ISP presentations. I was the first to present, which wasn't nerve wracking at all because I had written and thought about the same information for about two weeks at that point. My presentation went really well, everyone had good questions for me, and a lot of people told me I did a really good job afterward. It felt nice to get it over with early so I could enjoy the other presentations, and after presenting I also felt a lot better about my project and the work/analysis that I did.
It was really interesting to hear about everyone else's projects because they were all so different. Everybody did really cool things, and the presentations were all really good too. It was also just fun to all be together again, hanging out, cracking jokes, and telling stories from ISP. While we were at La Hesperia we also had a session about re-entry and what we were excited about and worried about in terms of going back to the U.S. I think it's going to be a little weird to go back, especially because it's going to be such a drastic climate change, but I'm excited all the same.
We got back to Quito mid-day on Wednesday, and we're all staying in the hostel where we were during orientation week. We have a lot of free time now, which is nice because we have time to run errands and buy last minute presents. This morning we had Spanish interviews to see how we've improved over the semester, and we have the rest of the day free to do whatever we want. Tomorrow we have a goodbye lunch with the entire group and our Academic Directors, which will be really nice but also sad. It's hard to believe that three months here went by so quickly, and that after Saturday I won't be seeing many of these people ever again. This trip has been absolutely amazing, I've had so many great experiences and met so many great people. I'm excited to go home and see my family and friends, but I'm definitely going to miss it here.
Hasta luego,
Caroline
On Sunday morning our whole group reunited for the first time in a month and headed to La Hesperia, which is located about two and a half hours south of Quito via a very, very curvy road. A few people got carsick, but other than that we all made it to the farm safe and sound.
When we got to the reserve we settled in to our rooms, had lunch, and then started ISP presentations. I was the first to present, which wasn't nerve wracking at all because I had written and thought about the same information for about two weeks at that point. My presentation went really well, everyone had good questions for me, and a lot of people told me I did a really good job afterward. It felt nice to get it over with early so I could enjoy the other presentations, and after presenting I also felt a lot better about my project and the work/analysis that I did.
It was really interesting to hear about everyone else's projects because they were all so different. Everybody did really cool things, and the presentations were all really good too. It was also just fun to all be together again, hanging out, cracking jokes, and telling stories from ISP. While we were at La Hesperia we also had a session about re-entry and what we were excited about and worried about in terms of going back to the U.S. I think it's going to be a little weird to go back, especially because it's going to be such a drastic climate change, but I'm excited all the same.
We got back to Quito mid-day on Wednesday, and we're all staying in the hostel where we were during orientation week. We have a lot of free time now, which is nice because we have time to run errands and buy last minute presents. This morning we had Spanish interviews to see how we've improved over the semester, and we have the rest of the day free to do whatever we want. Tomorrow we have a goodbye lunch with the entire group and our Academic Directors, which will be really nice but also sad. It's hard to believe that three months here went by so quickly, and that after Saturday I won't be seeing many of these people ever again. This trip has been absolutely amazing, I've had so many great experiences and met so many great people. I'm excited to go home and see my family and friends, but I'm definitely going to miss it here.
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Friday, December 4, 2009
Dear ISP, we're over.
Today, after chopping up half a forest with my machete, hugging almost 100 trees to measure their DBHs, sticking a light meter in endless vine tangles, trying to analyze data with statistics I forgot how to use, and two straight days of writing, I am finally done with my ISP.
While it does feel like a great accomplishment to have done all I did in a month and I'm proud of myself for problem solving out in the jungle, collecting all of my data, and using it to write a solid paper without any help, I'm left feeling a little disappointed. My results really weren't all that conclusive which was frustrating because it was hard to interpret and draw conclusions from them. I also feel like I could have collected more data, and that that would've raised the caliber of my project. I'm also feeling disappointed because after planning on writing my paper in Spanish for the two and a half months before ISP started, I ended up having to write in English for two reasons, the first because I didn't have enough time to write my paper in Spanish and then get it corrected by a native speaker, and the second because I don't know how to say "standard deviation," "Bonferroni's Multiple Comparison Test" or "statistically significant" in Spanish. I think my paper turned out to be of a higher quality in English than it would have been in Spanish, but I'm still a little bummed that I didn't get to write in Spanish after having my heart set on it for so long.
But what's done is done, and I just have a few small things left to do before I officially finish up all of my ISP work. Last night I took my paper to get copied and bound, and it was pretty cool to get it back looking all official. Tomorrow the entire group leaves for La Hesperia, which is a reserve/farm to the south of Quito. We're going to be there until Wednesday morning doing ISP presentations, having group meetings, and filling out lots of forms for SIT. I'm really excited to see everyone and for us all to be together in a big group again. On Wednesday we return to Quito to stay in the hostel where we were for orientation week, and on Saturday I'll be flying home!
I posted some pictures from ISP on the photobucket website, so check those out to see what I was up to!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
While it does feel like a great accomplishment to have done all I did in a month and I'm proud of myself for problem solving out in the jungle, collecting all of my data, and using it to write a solid paper without any help, I'm left feeling a little disappointed. My results really weren't all that conclusive which was frustrating because it was hard to interpret and draw conclusions from them. I also feel like I could have collected more data, and that that would've raised the caliber of my project. I'm also feeling disappointed because after planning on writing my paper in Spanish for the two and a half months before ISP started, I ended up having to write in English for two reasons, the first because I didn't have enough time to write my paper in Spanish and then get it corrected by a native speaker, and the second because I don't know how to say "standard deviation," "Bonferroni's Multiple Comparison Test" or "statistically significant" in Spanish. I think my paper turned out to be of a higher quality in English than it would have been in Spanish, but I'm still a little bummed that I didn't get to write in Spanish after having my heart set on it for so long.
But what's done is done, and I just have a few small things left to do before I officially finish up all of my ISP work. Last night I took my paper to get copied and bound, and it was pretty cool to get it back looking all official. Tomorrow the entire group leaves for La Hesperia, which is a reserve/farm to the south of Quito. We're going to be there until Wednesday morning doing ISP presentations, having group meetings, and filling out lots of forms for SIT. I'm really excited to see everyone and for us all to be together in a big group again. On Wednesday we return to Quito to stay in the hostel where we were for orientation week, and on Saturday I'll be flying home!
I posted some pictures from ISP on the photobucket website, so check those out to see what I was up to!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
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