I love arthropods. Perhaps to an unhealthy degree. But I realize that many people do not (and for the record, they are wrong), so I am trying to contain my enthusiasm to a single post. There may be a part II later, though. First, a small dose of unsolicited education: bugs, insects, and arthropods are not the …
Category Archives: Academics
Peak Experience
After the last couple of weeks at Palo Verde National Park, we packed up our sunburns and headed off to a new location. Destination: Cuericí Biological Station, high in the Talamanca mountain range of Costa Rica. Much of the area is a recently restored montane oak forest, courtesy of landowner Don Carlos who works to …
و (“wow”), I’m a Preschooler Again
I have started an entirely new subject from scratch. Language is always tricky, and Arabic is known as one of the more difficult languages to learn. I’m fortunate enough to have patient teachers and dedicated classmates that spur on my learning here in Ibri. As a result, on the ten-minute bus ride home, I’m in …
Mud, Glorious Mud
Today, the classroom was a mudpit. And a most pretty mudpit, at that. We spent the better part of the day hiking through a mangrove forest occupying the brackish swamp where the freshwater Tempisque river meets the salty Colorado gulf. We took our first quiz of the semester whilst sitting in a semicircle on fallen …
Back to Business
Friends, I’ve moved! The city lights and seaside views are no more in this small, interior town called Ibri. The desert dust seeps into my apartment and my sense of direction is all turned around – although if you know me, it may not have been there in the first place. I know that Saudi …
Another Semester, Another Campus
My morning began with a beautiful hike through the tropical dry forest here in Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica. It’s surprising how quickly that became a normal part of my routine; between the nature walk lectures, the field research, and the insect identification assignments that force you far afield in the name of homework, …
Que será será
I have always been that kid who reads the syllabus online before the instructor goes over it in class. I’m the kid who buys all the textbooks early to get an early start on the reading. I’m the kid who has her course schedule printed out and memorized well before the start of a semester. …
My First Assignment: Getting to Class
Before I left for Hyderabad, India I did everything I could to brace myself for a good deal of culture shock. I was prepared for the food to be different, I was prepared to wear more conservative clothing, and I was even prepared for the wild traffic. What I was NOT prepared for, however, …
Disability from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
Part of my course load abroad was an internship to finish up my psychology major at Hope. The placement process began months before my arrival in which I was able to express my desires and qualifications for an internship in Santiago. Quite honestly, I did not feel equipped to actually contribute to a workplace environment, …
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Study in study abroad?
Wait, what? There’s studying in study abroad? Yes, there is! Let me assure you that school does not go away. However, even though I still have homework, projects, and exams, it is definitely different from Hope College. To begin, all of my classes are in Spanish. This was a big transition for me. During the …
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