Being back at UCLA feels different. Again, there’s that word I keep using. Different. Now that I have experienced what it is actually like to work in the field conducting my own research, it’s going to be difficult to go back to a regular class schedule in the Spring. A regular class schedule with discussions and midterms. With multiple-choice tests. With three-hundred other students.
Being home and sleeping without the need of a mosquito net and not having our clothes covered in crusted mud, is a luxury I think I have not appreciated as much as I should. I think everyone needs an eye-opening experience to realize there are many things that we have, which we sometimes take for granted.
I think this experience has truly allowed me to grow as a person. To appreciate the small things. To overcome obstacles quickly and efficiently. To enjoy every sunny moment, because literally they can be gone within seconds, especially in the rainforest. Lessons I will take with me through all other journeys life will lie out before me.
Through this entire experience, I have realized that if I pursue a research career, I would want to conduct field research. I loved experiencing what it is like to catch dragonflies and sit in a meadow, painting them individually. The excitement you feel when you see that a marked dragonfly returns to your site is almost indescribable. Especially when said dragonfly returns for more than one day. I liked standing in streams, the waves almost entering my boots, while trying to catch multiple sizes of fish that inhabit the stream. I liked trekking through the rainforest finding new streams to analyze for our water project. Finding new species we hadn’t noticed before (especially the water scorpion. That one was by far my favorite). I am actually enjoying writing about my research and being able to determine if what we found is actually significant. Of course, data is data, regardless of statistical significance or not.
As I said originally, my personal goal by participating in this FBQ pertained to me looking for a revelation. An “Ah-ha” moment indicating things falling into place at exactly the right moment. Indicating that I know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I don’t know if three weeks was enough time to permanently stamp my future into stone. However the small taste of this type of research I did experience, I can honestly say was quite addicting. Hopefully I will be able to return to Central America soon. It most definitely is a place I would like to visit again. Maybe the next time I venture there, I will be conducting my own research project pertaining to my PhD.