Learning SOOO much...
Wow. I can't believe that I haven't posted at all this week because I have had more consistent internet than I have previously on the trip. We're at Las Cruces Biological Station now which is really, really nice. We have a really nice little lodge to ourselves with a common room where we all sit around doing our homework. We also have wireless internet here so I can be on the internet all the time that I'm not in class. And... the food here is absolutely amazing!
On Monday we drove to Las Cruces from San Jose which was supposed to take about 7 hours with a lunch break... but about 2 hours out our bus started making really bad sounds. We made it to a restaurant up in the mountains and then hung out there for about 3 hours until a replacement bus came along. Because of that we didn't get to the biostation until 8:30pm.... and when we got here everyone was tired.
Since Tuesday we have had class about 6-8 hours a day... but it hasn't felt like that at all because each day a significant part of our classes are either walks in the garden (Las Cruces has a botanical garden) or in the woods. We have had classes on statistics, plant and insect taxonomy, and reforestation stategies. We did a lab where we caught bugs with butterfly nets and then looked at them under disecting scopes in order to classify them to family. We also cut apart flowers to look at the carpels and stamens. There are some really really cool flowers down here - especially Passaflora.
The coolest thing is that I have already learned how to identify a bunch of different plants to family. Wednesday we walked around and learned a whole bunch of families and I can already tell the difference between Araceae and Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae. I'm sure that means nothing to you but it actually means something to me now.
We also went on a hike yesterday afternoon and another one today. I think I will actually wind up being in shape after this.
I am absolutely loving this program now that we have started the science part. It is so much fun but at the same time I'm learning so much cool stuff. I already have a way bigger appreciation for bugs.
Everyone on the program is also getting a lot closer now that we are together 24/7. One of the girls sprained her ankle on the hike last night and people piggy-backed her out for about an hour of walking. It was really cool how we all supported each other. People have also been playing games every night, such as Catchphrase and Set (which I brought) and trivial pursuit. Right now a bunch of people are playing balderdash.
On Monday we drove to Las Cruces from San Jose which was supposed to take about 7 hours with a lunch break... but about 2 hours out our bus started making really bad sounds. We made it to a restaurant up in the mountains and then hung out there for about 3 hours until a replacement bus came along. Because of that we didn't get to the biostation until 8:30pm.... and when we got here everyone was tired.
Since Tuesday we have had class about 6-8 hours a day... but it hasn't felt like that at all because each day a significant part of our classes are either walks in the garden (Las Cruces has a botanical garden) or in the woods. We have had classes on statistics, plant and insect taxonomy, and reforestation stategies. We did a lab where we caught bugs with butterfly nets and then looked at them under disecting scopes in order to classify them to family. We also cut apart flowers to look at the carpels and stamens. There are some really really cool flowers down here - especially Passaflora.
The coolest thing is that I have already learned how to identify a bunch of different plants to family. Wednesday we walked around and learned a whole bunch of families and I can already tell the difference between Araceae and Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae. I'm sure that means nothing to you but it actually means something to me now.
We also went on a hike yesterday afternoon and another one today. I think I will actually wind up being in shape after this.
I am absolutely loving this program now that we have started the science part. It is so much fun but at the same time I'm learning so much cool stuff. I already have a way bigger appreciation for bugs.
Everyone on the program is also getting a lot closer now that we are together 24/7. One of the girls sprained her ankle on the hike last night and people piggy-backed her out for about an hour of walking. It was really cool how we all supported each other. People have also been playing games every night, such as Catchphrase and Set (which I brought) and trivial pursuit. Right now a bunch of people are playing balderdash.