Hi there! My name is Mariel Williams, and I've got a big summer ahead of me thanks in part to the awesome folks at the U of A study abroad office. I just finished my sophomore year as a Fulbright honors student studying anthropology and Spanish, with a minor in psychology. This summer, I'm participating in two study abroad programs, one with the U of A, and one independently.First, I'm going to Costa Rica and Nicaragua to study and research primate communication through a program known as the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy. I'm really excited about this, because primate research and conservation is actually my primary career goal, so getting my first real experience in the field should be incredibly eye-opening. It will give me a real sense of what spending long periods of time in the rainforest with monkeys for company is really like! I actually leave tomorrow! I'll be on a plane in less than 12 hours! Aaaah! I'm mainly excited, with a little nervousness thrown in.
I look forward to meeting my professors and my classmates, and I'm definitely very excited about seeing new places. Getting to exercise my Spanish will be great. And of course I can't wait to learn a lot about primate communication and find out what field work is really like. The whole five weeks should be a blast.
But that doesn't mean I'm not worried about little things, like getting sick from the changes in diet and from the water (I've packed A LOT of Pepto Bismol). I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and do my best not to worry about it now though. I'm also just generally worried about how well I'll do away from the country and everyone I know for five weeks. But, I think this is a very good test of my adaptability. If I can spend five weeks in the jungle with no air conditioning, no hot water, sleeping under a mosquito net, and getting rained on every day, I can do anything, right? I'll tough it all out and laugh it all off, and I'm sure at the end I'll be insanely proud of myself of beyond happy that I got to experience the highs and lows of it all.
I've had to do a lot to be rainforest-ready. There was a lot to buy, which I was running around town taking care of until just a couple hours ago. This included clothing and gear and bag spray and all kinds of stuff. My last purchase was a very nice water bottle which filters water for me and kills bacteria and viruses, so I can scoop water up out of a dirty rainforest stream, filter it, drink it, and it'll be just fine. Pretty handy! There were also vaccinations out the wazoo---typhoid, yellow fever, a tetanus booster, hepatitis. That was no fun. Plus, I'm on malaria pills that I'm remembering to take once a week. Because if there's one thing I don't need, it's malaria.
I fly back from Nicaragua on June 27. I'm home in Fort Smith all day June 28, and then on the morning of June 29 I fly to Madrid, Spain with the UA summer in Madrid program. With one day in America between my two programs, I'll probably be battling some tough jet lag and weird bouts of culture shock, but the whirlwind will just be another part of the fun!
I'm sure the hustle and bustle of big city life in Madrid will be much different from the rural rainforests of Central America. I'll bring an entirely different set of clothes and other items. For Costa Rica/Nicaragua, I've packed a very, very large duffle bag with all my gear in it (compass, binoculars, recording device, lots of fast dry clothing, etc). But in Madrid, I'll just need clothes for class and life in the city. Our host families will do our laundry once a week, so I figure I can pack light and get by with about ten outfits. I'm hoping it will all fit in a large backpacking pack instead of a rolling suitcase, because I'll be traveling a lot by train, and the backpack might make that a little easier.
It's weird to me that even though my two programs are incredibly different, they're both perfect for me and I'm insanely excited about each of them. I can't wait to get started on them both! Between the study abroad office at school and the Honors College, they've made it incredibly easy and accessible for me to get to study abroad. I'll be gaining twelve hours of credit this summer, and the Honors College is even helping with the funding, which makes it a lot easier. I like to say that together, the Honors College and the study abroad office have done just about everything but pack my bags!
I'm very glad to have this opportunity to blog about my experiences and share them with other students. I'll be sure to keep the updates coming as I find out what studying abroad is really all about!
