A month away

Hello out there!

This is Tiff Shao, blogging for the first time. The Costa Rica program is only about a month away and I already know it’s going to be the highlight of my summer. I’m excited because this kind of experience… hands-on, in the field, utilizing all the senses… it is truly the best way to learn. They say the moment you become a scientist is the moment you ask a question and feel it, the feeling that tells you, "This is what I want to study for the rest of my life!" I’m not sure what my calling is yet, but I’ve felt it in Yellowstone, in Mexico, and even in the woods near my house. There is just something so intriguing about the world outside what we know. And I know I will feel it in Costa Rica. Maybe I’ll even find that question that will make me a scientist (no, a Wildlife Ecologist!), or perhaps I already am one.

Man, the 15^th of June seems so far away, but I know it will jump up on me. I try imagining what it will be like to be in Costa Rica, and all that seems to come up is a blast of rainbow colors. I can't wait to meet my peers and my professors. I can't wait to see all the different plants and animals and to experience such a different culture. I can't wait to enter that state of mind... when I'm inevitably covered in bug bites and possibly have blisters on my feet... it could possibly be raining... But I will smile and I will know, this is Pura Vida.