Tag Archives: pre-departure blog

2022

Belize->Soon!

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Hey this is Elena (aka ers10). I can’t believe that the trip is happening so soon! Technically for me it’s starting tomorrow, since I have to fly to Houston from California. I just finished packing, which was a relief since I really wasn’t sure if everything would fit in one carry-on-sized bag and a backpack. I definitely think I forgot something, but I have faith it will work out.

I’m so excited to see everything I read about in real life. The reading of the textbook was super informative, as was the research I did for the presentations (for the reef I researched brown algae, and for the rainforest I researched orthoptera, the name of the order to which grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids belong). I’ve been to the tropics once before, but I don’t really remember it, and it definitely was not an experience like the one we’re about to have, although I realized the professors left much of the trip as a surprise. What I do know is that we’re going to see so many cool plants and animals, and I absolutely cannot wait.  I’m also super excited to spend the days hiking and snorkeling while looking for the different organisms. I love spending time outside, although I’m a bit nervous about the heat and humidity because I’ve gotten used to the nice weather at home. I’m also a bit nervous about the bug situation, both with regards to being bitten and to not being able to find/identify any of my taxa! I’ve never done field work before, so I don’t really know what to expect.

Overall, I’m more excited than nervous. I’m looking forward to learning about the organisms and topics that I didn’t research, as well as hopefully seeing the taxa I chose. I also can’t wait to get to know everyone on the trip better!

Next time you all hear from me, I should be in Belize, so see you all then!

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It’s Almost Time!

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Hi! I’m Liliana, and I’m so excited for this trip and the chance to learn and explore someplace I never would have gotten to go otherwise!

I can’t believe that we’re going to be there so soon! At the beginning of the summer this trip felt like it was ages away but the time flew so quickly and now it’s only 2 days away! I am expecting this trip to be pretty intense, a whole course in such a short time sounds like a lot, but I think I’ll be so caught up in the excitement of everything we’re going to learn that it won’t even feel like work. I’ve done the pre-trip readings and presentations and everything I’ve learned about from that makes me even more excited to finally see what we’ve been reading and learning about in real life. I am especially excited for Glover’s Reef, I’ve always loved marine biology and the ocean but I’ve never been snorkeling before. I have some basic familiarity with ocean ecosystems and organisms from being an intern at the New England Aquarium, but my knowledge is pretty limited to New England, since I live in Boston. I can’t wait to experience a whole new part of the world and everything new that lives there! My taxon is crustacea for that part of the trip, so I will probably be digging through sand and looking under rocks to see if I can find anything cool, I especially love tidepools, looking into a tidepool is like staring into a portal to an entirely different world!

I will admit I’m a little bit nervous to travel internationally. I haven’t been anywhere but Boston and Houston since COVID started, and before that I hardly ever went outside the U.S., and if we did it was probably driving through parts of Canada. I’m not too worried though because even if I’m nervous I think there will be plenty going on to distract and interest me. I can’t wait to meet everyone else on this trip and get to know them better, and to learn from our professors and guest speakers and from everyone’s presentations! Also shout-out to my high school teachers who really pushed my love of the ocean and ecology! I hope you’ll follow along with us on this adventure!

2019, Uncategorized

Pre-departure Blog

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Tomorrow morning I leave for Belize, where I will spend a week at Las Cuevas Research Station to explore the tropical rainforest and a week at Glover’s Reef Research Station to explore the coral reef. Even though I started getting everything I need around a month ago I still had to run to the store for the last item today. Now I finally feel like everything is reading to go for my time in Belize.

I have spent many hours researching different aspects of Belize to prepare for my trip including Orthoptera, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Anemones, and the geological and biogeographic history. I will hopefully be able to share this knowledge with others and use it as a base to learn more while I am there. It would be extremely exciting to have learned about something sitting at my desk at Rice and then be able to see it in real life. I am worried that I have missed some important Orthoptera species during my research and will not be able to identify the common species that I find in Belize, but even identifying one species will be exciting. 

My previous experiences in the tropics were family vacations to Panama and Costa Rica. These trips were not dedicated to researching and learning about my surroundings like I expect this trip will be. I am particularly excited and nervous for the week at Glover’s Reef Research Station. I am excited because it will be a completely new experience. I have snorkeled when I was younger, but never paid close attention to what I was seeing. I am nervous because I have never snorkeled much below the surface and sometimes have trouble equalizing the pressure in my ears. I am sure I will have plenty of practice throughout the week, so hopefully I’ll feel comfortable by the end.

2019, Uncategorized

Pre-departure blog

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Super excited for Belize, which will be in less than 24 hours!! I am expecting to meet new people, ready to learn more about the diversity of the rainforest, and to experience firsthand fieldwork. I am ready for this humidity to hit me since I am from Memphis, TN, and Memphis weather is crazy. It is very unpredictable but never really humid. So you can say I have prepared by drinking LOTS of water. Overall, I hope to gain an insight on what the fieldwork life is like and to see if it is something I would be interested in continuing forward.

Not having been to Belize makes this more exciting, and as I am packing right now, all I can think of is whether or not I have everything. I just finished my shopping today and let’s just say it was a journey. Oh and I promise I did not push this aside.  I am excited to see hundreds of species of life, and experience something that I have yet to do.  The readings did provide LOTS of descriptions, but I am ready to firsthand see these beautiful species. More of a visual learner I would say.

In preparation for this course, I have learned about identification of species from looking at images from multiple sources, and I can say that there are thousands of species and variations among both epiphytic plants and segmented worms. I looked at many pictures of epiphytes and annelids and let’s just say that both are extremely diverse, extreme as in like the phylogenetic trees are just crazy!

On a final note, I hope my blogs will become more interesting, but for now, time to meet up with the gang and head to Belize. Hope to see you for day 1!

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Pre-Departure: Belize here I come!

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This morning I got the notification that our flight to Belize is less than 5 days away. I have never been to Belize, and in fact, I have never really been out of the country on a trip like this before,  so I am definitely excited. Ah! My first trip to the tropics!

Sitting on my couch watching Blue Planet episodes of the tropics in HD has given me some pretty high standards for the beauty of these places, so I have high hopes for what I might encounter. Also, I totally plan to channel my inner David Attenborough for this trip. However, I am still a little nervous about how it’s going to go.

I am the taxon expert for arachnids and green/red algae. My family thought it would be funny to make me watch the 1990 movie Arachnophobia in preparation for my trip. Let’s just say that I found it…. a little… less funny. I have never really been scared of spiders before, but last night, I had a dream I was attacked by a giant spider,  so it is safe to say I am a bit wary.

I have done my best these past few months to ensure that I am prepared for this trip. Aside from the packing and organizing of all the snorkel/rainforest gear, I prepared myself through the taxonomic research, the readings, and the creation of the presentations. I am hoping that I can identify both arachnids and algae in the field.  My biggest worry for the trip is that either Dr. Solomon or Dr. Shore is going to ask me about a certain organism and I am going to stare blankly back at them like a deer in headlights. I have my fingers crossed that this won’t be the case! Not to mention, I have had to mentally prepare myself for the humidity we are going to endure. For this trip, I am most excited about experiencing fieldwork for the first time. I have always been limited in learning about the natural world from books, videos, or short field trips, so 14 days in the tropics is something I am looking forward to. It feels like it has been centuries since I first started dreaming about doing fieldwork. Overall, I hope this trip will give me some insight into what a career involving fieldwork might be like, and if this could be a career path for me. I think it will be, but you never know until you try it.

On a final note, I grew up on the Texas coast my whole life which makes me accustomed to one thing: murky ocean water (Thank you Mississippi river sediment!) So,  I cannot wait to put my feet into the ocean and be able to see my toes clearly!

 

Wish me luck!

-Bella