Whoa. I’m starting to get into the nitty gritty of this semester. After a week of orientation and a field trip to the jungle, we started out last Monday with a bang: 7 classes pretty much back to back, all with readings to do. Ug. As a friend said here, we had a bit of a honeymoon period before the real deal set in. I’m still really glad I came, but it is definitely hard.
I am learning a lot though I hope! We wrote our first scientific report last week about our research measuring carbon storage in a pasture. It was definitely a struggle to get through, I wasn’t exactly sure if I was writing it correct. I guess I will find out when I get it back. I am still wrestling with Excel and how to work it, especially since it is different on Macs. We have another lab write-up to do this week so hopefully that will go well.
Its boring to write too much about school work, so I will move onto the other highlights J Don’t get me wrong, schoolwork is interesting, but I am learning a lot and doing a lot outside of that. Last week we went to Manuel Antonio National Park, which is on the Pacific Side of Costa Rica, kind of near the middle. The first day we were there we had orientation hikes where we learned about the plants and animals that live there and a bit of context behind the park. Then, we got to go swim in the ocean: I have never swam in an ocean that warm! I couldn’t believe it was the Pacific Ocean, it felt almost like pool water except salt water. There were some good waves to body surf on and we also played some Frisbee. Being in the ocean adds a whole other level to Frisbee; it was intense J.
Hike with Prof. Achim - I can't remember what he was explaining in the picture, possibly about how a lot of plants there had spines on the leaves and trunks to keep away herbavores
Playa Blanca: us playing in the waves!
After this, we had to set up our tents for the night…in the rain. I have never had to do that before, it was quite the adventure. We ended up with not too much water in our tent, which was good. However, after an evening of classes, we had to go back and squeeze 5 girls in our tent. It was definitely cozy. It was cute though, all around our tent were these hermit crabs, I have never seen so many in my life! Some were tiny and some were huge, I don’t know why they all congregated on the beach we were on. Anyway, back to camping. So we got all snuggled in and tried to sleep, but unfortunately the howler monkeys in the trees above us decided that they wanted to howl and make a bunch of racket. So, we didn’t get much sleep. It was kinda funny though, to wake up and know that there were howler monkeys right near us. I felt like I was in a nature film. I wanted to get my camera to record the sound, but it was outside the tent and I was too tired/was the farthest from the door so would have to climb over other people. Oh well.
So the next day we had to go survey visitors to the National Park. So basically what we split up in pairs and wandered around for a hour or so and have to ask people to do a survey. For an introvert, this was a bit difficult, especially in another language. Me and my partner managed to get one survey, all the rest of the people had already done it or didn’t want to (this is the low season for tourism, so it almost seemed like there were more of us than the tourists, which was a bit frustrating). Afterwards we got to go to the beach again though, so it was good to be able to relax after having to talk to strangers. However, the jelly fish were out…and I got stung L A wave crashed on me and must have had jelly fish in there, because I felt the electric bolt of their sting on my hand, shoulder, and chest. It hurt a lot!! I got out really fast and was able to get some vinegar on it to ease the sting. It swelled up a lot though. I almost hope it scars a bit though, it would make a good story if anyone asked me about it J
The jelly fish sting on my hand = epic :)
Well this is getting long, so more later!
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