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Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Hi, my name is Kara. I'm kind of a nerd. But I like to think that that's a good thing. Anywho, welcome to my thoughts.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I really need to figure this out...

So, I started school. I love my classes. I'm going to do well in them and stuff.

Since my "I'm about to start school" post, I've made up my mind. I am absolutely, positively going abroad next year. The problem is, I keep bouncing between different destinations and it's confusing and I just don't know. Moo.

I figured that it would help to write this out. Get some ideas out of my head. So I will give you (does anyone read my blog?) an idea of what I'm thinking about, and in the process, maybe help myself decide.

First, I have a few different options of what I could do while studying abroad:
A. I could do a program that is centered on a specific topic, where I'm there just with other international students, possibly all UC students.

B. I could do an immersion program, which would mean I basically become a student at a foreign university for a semester. Within this option, I'd say there's two sub-options:
     B1: Take classes that will count toward my major.
     B2: Take GE's and/or electives.
    Or, of course, with a lot of programs I would end up doing some of each.

I keep thinking that I want to do an immersion program, except there's one topical program that I keep wanting to consider, even when I think I've ruled it out. That is:

1. Costa Rica. There's an awesome Tropical Ecology research program done with the Monteverde institute. As an Ecology and Evolution major, it kind of sounds perfect (+), though I don't have much of any specific interest in tropical ecology over other areas (-). It has an independent research project for credit as a big part of the program, which would be great experience (+). It's in a Spanish-speaking country, and includes a Spanish class and a short homestay, which would be great for furthering the Spanish I've already taken at UCSB (+). That seems like a lot of plusses. I'm going to add to that a few more minuses: I wouldn't be in classes with students from other countries (-), and it's probably the shortest program I'm considering, lasting less than 3 months (-). The fact that it is shorter than some other programs does mean that it's also cheaper (+).

The other programs that are in the running at this point are all immersions:

2. Canada. I could spend a semester at the University of British Columbia. It does seem a little too close to home (-), especially since I lived in the Pacific Northwest for a long time and have family in Seattle.  However, it would be nice because I could take biology courses that would be similar to the ones I can take at my home campus, but might have some Western Canadian edge to it (+), like we get a lot of California examples. Also, I just like Canada(+). I'd be taking classes with foreign students (+), though they're not as foreign or whatever as people that are from, say, Europe, or Africa (-).

3. Ghana. The Ghana program is a semester at the University of Ghana. I get the feeling, however, that my mom doesn't actually want me to go to Africa (-).  This would definitely be the most intense cultural experience (+/-?). Yeah, I can't make up my mind whether that's good or bad.  It could end up being the most life-altering amazing good thing ever, or traumatizing and miserable. On the good side, they have some decent Ecology course options (+), and I could do some really awesome volunteer work while I'm there, making it a mission trip-type thing within a study abroad (+). But yeah, Africa. That's daunting.

4. Barbados. The University of the West Indes. This one has been on my list for a while, but never a strong first choice. Again, some nice ecology course offerings (+). It's in the freaking Caribbean, so that's cool, and not just the Bahamas or somewhere else everyone's gone to (+). And... I don't know what else to really say about it. It might have become a sort of Ghana lite in my head. Have I read the program guide? I'm not sure. Maybe I should reread it and maybe my opinion will get stronger.

5. The Netherlands. Specifically University College Maastricht. For a few weeks there, I thought I'd settled it on this one. I would end up taking most, if not all, of my classes there outside of my major, as it's a small school without an ecology major, so their biology classes are mostly aimed toward the  biomedical end of the spectrum (-?). But I think I'm actually okay with that. What I could take is some great electives and GE's in a college environment completely different from the one I'm used to- It's tiny, and has an academic focus of problem-based learning in teams of students (+). It's an international school, which means that I wouldn't just be meeting Dutch students, I'd be meeting students from everywhere (+). Also, a European program would mean that I could use it as a home base to do some great traveling (+). That is, if I can afford to do that traveling- it's by far the most expensive program I'm looking at (-).

Okay, I'm leaving it at five. The UK was high on the list for a while, but if I go for Western Europe I'd rather be in a non-English-speaking country, even if I am still going to an English-taught school. Plus, if I consider England and/or Scotland, then that means narrowing it down between a lot more schools.  I also was looking at programs in other parts of Africa, but Western Africa (Ghana) sees like the least intimidating.  And at one point I was thinking I might want to take enough Spanish to do immersion in Spanish, going to Chile or maybe Mexico. But, um. No. No quiero estudiar la biología en español.  Es demasiado dificile. (I'm not even sure that's right.)

It's so much to think about! I guess I need to go to all of the info meetings and see what they have to say. And probably talk to my department advisor. And just let it sit and stew for a while (yummy... stew). Pray on it. Talk to other people. Do research on all the programs.

Or I could just be a square and not go anywhere. But that's no fun.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

I start school again in a week...

And I'm really looking forward to it... I mean, the most exciting thing I've done in the last 3 weeks or so is go to Ikea. I'm moving into an apartment in IV next monday, if I ever hear back from the rental agency- I'm adding on to a lease, replacing another girl at the last minute, so we're still waiting on a final approval. Which is a bit stressful, but I'm sure it'll work out.

So I'll have about 3 days to get settled in and all that, and then suddenly, CLASSES! I'm signed up for five classes right now, but I'm definitely dropping one of them, I'm just not sure which yet. The problem is that which one I should take depends on what the entire rest of my college career is going to be like.

Last spring, I decided to stop fooling myself about being a premed- biochem major, and to do the ecology and evolution major instead. So still in the biological sciences, but pretty much the other end of the bio spectrum. I still need to officially make that change, but I know for sure that's what I'm doing. So I'm signed up for two classes from my major's "core curriculum"(Intro to ecology and genetics)- those are for sure. Then I also have an environmentally-based literature class I'm taking for a GE.

The two I'm debating between are a freshwater ecology class that would be a part of my major, and a multimedia writing class, which would be part of a writing minor, if I decide to do that. If I don't do the minor, I'll probably go study abroad next year, in which case it would be a good idea to get more of my major done sooner. So I need to decide between a minor and a study abroad in order to decide what my schedule is going to be. Big decisions. Can't I just go back to the beginning of college?