Reading Period

As you may have noticed, I've fallen off a bit in my blog posts and picture updates over the past few days. There is a simple explanation for this – I had a busy reading period. First reading period that is. Rather than taking classes concurrently, like a normal school semester, my courses here are digested in intense three-week chunks. As it happens the first of these chunks is further divided in two, with separate teachers and syllabi for each 10 day section (but one theme throughout). This first 10-day mini-course, which began last Monday, was completed yesterday (Wednesday), with a 15 minute powerpoint presentation on our projects (mine was on dust transmission from roads) and a 2 hour exam. All the tell-tale reading period signs were there, albeit a bit compressed: procrastination took most of Tuesday morning/afternoon (with small productive spurts), followed by slight desperation and a mini-freak-out after dinner. Composure regained, the last minute work began – and although I wasn't forced to pull an all-nighter, I did stay up past 1am working (3 hours past my bedtime!). The presentation and exam went well, and in celebration us three students, our former and future teachers, and some others went out to a small earthen dam in the middle of the conservation center, watched the sunset and the stars, shared a bottle of wine and chatted. Intersession lasted for just over 12 hours, and now we are about to head out on our next adventure.

A side note – while the block schedule that we follow here isn't as flashy as the wildlife or fieldwork, I think it has the potential to be one of the most exciting aspects of program. The beginning of each course is exhilarating – meeting a new professor, and beginning work on a new and fascinating subject. As the course progresses the excitement begins to fade, but it is replaced by a true interest gained from a deepening understanding of the various concepts and idea. The end of the course is somewhat frantic – condensing and connecting everything that's been done over the past few weeks and preparing for some kind of final evaluation. And finally once things are beginning to feel a bit stale the process restarts and you dive into a fresh unexplored topic. All the while your attention and focus are directed towards getting the absolute most out of the one subject you're studying. It's really a thrilling way to go about learning.

Anyway, the course I am embarking on this morning is a continuation of the "Conservation in African Savannah"s course. We will be on the road for the entirety of the course, traveling to various national parks and private pro-conservation ranches, talking to managers and land-owners and evaluating different methods of maintaining natural wildlife populations in Kenya. On the way we'll be stopping at and examining some of Kenya's most famous and beautiful areas – Lake Nakuru and Lake Beringo. While I hope we will be able to get an internet connection at some points during our trip there is no guarantee; however I will be writing regularly and I will be sure to post stories and pictures as soon as I possibly can.

Until next time!