A letter to next year's BRI

Dear Future Borlaug Ruan Intern,

If you're reading this, congratulations! You have been given the experience of a lifetime. EARTH is a great place to conduct research and just an overall place to be. This is just a little bit of advice that I have to share with you. I hope you find it useful throughout the process (which, although it is wild and crazy, is more than worth it).

• Remember to keep your mind open throughout the trip.

 Don't come into this with an attitude of superiority, you're here to learn from others. Try new things. Do something that scares you. Remember, you came here to explore. Take advantage of this opportunity to go out and push your boundaries!

• There are going to be times where you're frustrated and homesick. 

Some days you might be frustrated by your inability to communicate clearly in spanish. You might hate the cold showers here. You'll definitely have one meal that is definitely not your taste. Take all of these things, acknowledge them, and accept them. Don't let them control how you feel about your internship or let them take away from your work.

• Do not pigeon hole yourself.

This was my biggest mistake. When I first came to EARTH, I hung out with mostly interns and tourists. They spoke english, they understood me, and it was easier. As time went on, I realized that this wasn't helping me and that I was only hanging out with them out of circumstance, not because we had anything in common. I wasn't learning as much about latino culture as I would've liked. I wasn't speaking spanish as often as I should've. I only really began speaking spanish once I started making friends with some of the students here. It's frightening at first, making friends can be a struggle even when there isn't a language barrier, but people here are very easy to approach. Within my past 3 weeks at EARTH I made some of my best friends. I wished that I met them earlier on in my internship. I learned so much from them.

• Spend a lot of time contemplating what you're experiencing and feeling. 

I know it sounds stupid, but take a moment out of your day to just evaluate what you've learned here, spiritually and intellectually. There are plenty of peaceful places on campus to go an think, so go out at take a minute to reflect.

• Document, document, document! 

Document as much as you can. Write down the stuff that you've done, take pictures, take videos, do whatever you can to capture the moments you have here. One of the biggest things I and my other intern friends found was that when we got home it felt like the entire internship was just a dream. These pictures will remind you of what you've done, the friends you've made, and the experience you had. I regret not taking more pictures.

• Most importantly, have fun and make Dr. Borlaug proud!

We came here to do Dr. Borlaug's work. We're here to change the world. That doesn't mean that you can't have fun while you're on this internship. EARTH has plenty of activities that will make your experience fun as well as fulfilling. The feria is a big event that was a big experience that I was lucky to be a part of during my internship. Expect to work hard, but remember that you will have time to have fun.

I hope this helped you! Good luck on this great adventure, we're all rooting for you!

-Allie

The last week

Hey guys,

So. This is it. This was my last week at EARTH and I can say that it was one of the best weeks I have had here. I'm so glad I got to spend this week with friends and people who supported me. Here's what happened:

Sunday
Sunday was a pretty relaxed days since I didn't have work and my friends were all working on their Animal Production projects. I skyped with Abby (who's already home! It's so weird to hear that.) and my parents early in the morning.

I ate lunch with Kalem, Fabricio, and Rena after they came back from the horse farm. I spent most of the morning working on my research paper and one of the articles I was reading was in spanish. I understood most of it and google translate helped me pick out some of the words that I didn't understand, but there was this one sentence I didn't understand. I asked for their help and we translated it in no time!

Jhoselyn went to San Jose for the weekend and came back in the evening so we hung out and ate pizza with our friend Jose.

I slept in Jhoselyn's room and that was a fun experience. We talked about our families, we watched videos, danced, sang High School Musical, and had a great time overall!

Monday
Monday wasn't too exciting since my friends were still working hard on their projects. I got to work on some of my sources for my research paper. I've split up each topic into it's own google doc, giving me the room to go into depth about each topic. I've gathered so much information about each subject that I think I might go over the 22 page assignment.

 Later on in the evening, right before a meeting for a business project, Jhoselyn, Kalem, and I took a walk to one of my favorite spots here at EARTH. There's this one building (Academico 1) that sits on a hill that faces this big red sculpture and some trees. At night it's a great place to go stargazing. This night in particular was great because a lot of starts were out, we could see some planets, and we even saw a shooting star! We took a few minutes to absorb it all and admire the beauty. We talked about astrology, some of the constellations we knew, and how stars made everything so pretty.

Once we were done looking at the stars, we went to my residence hall's study room and met up with Jhoselyn, Kalem, and Fabricio's business group. This whole empresarial project that each EARTH student must complete is so interesting to me. The group must consist of one girl, a person from another country, and there can't be more than 4 people. These groups have to market an agricultural product, produce it, sell it, and pitch it to the school in order for them to invest in it.

Their group is focusing on growing and selling this fruit called Rambutan. It tastes somewhat like an apple, only you eat it like a cherry. It's really good!

Jhoselyn spent the night in my room and we had a fun sleepover filled with High School Musical, stories about high school, and movies.

Tuesday
Jhoselyn and I woke up bright and early at 5 am so she, Kalem, and a few other of my 1st year friends could go to their Animal Production class on time for their presentations at 6:30. They all worked so hard on this presentation and I think it really paid off! Everyone dressed up in fancy business-like clothes while I just threw on an old plaid shirt, some baggy shorts, and some sandals. I walked with them to the cafeteria where they grabbed some coffee and something small to eat. Once everyone grabbed something we headed off to the classroom. While we were walking I felt so proud of them. They have been working on these presentations for a long time, they put so much effort in, and they were about to present their hard work. They looked like a million bucks!

Kalem and I before her presentation

I had a slight "proud mother" moment

I went to my 2nd to last spanish class and found out that I got a 92% for a class average! I'm so happy about it. I still have a lot (and I mean a lot) to learn, but I think I'm getting there. Coming here really made me want to study abroad more. I want to become fluent in spanish. I want to work in another foreign country. I want to travel to South America and study animal production practices there. The door is wide open, all I need to do is work on my spanish, work on my school work, and keep dreaming.

After spanish class I ran into my friend Marcko and ended up sitting in on an english class with him and some of my other friends. They were learning about families and family structure, so naturally we watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Some of the jokes weren't translated well and there were times where Profe Kent and I were the only ones laughing, but the other students got the overall idea.

Kalem and Jhoselyn stayed the night which was a lot of fun! We stayed up, danced around, and watched some movies on my computer. It was funny how the three of us found a way to sleep on my small twin mattress. We slept on an angle so our legs were off the bed and we were sprawled out together.

Wednesday
We woke up bright and early at 5 am and headed to breakfast. Every wednesday and saturday Earth 1st, 2nd, and 4th year students spend the morning working on one of the farms. Today farm schedules got rotated, so now Jhoselyn and I got to spend today together. I practiced artificial insemination on another cow, which was difficult. I need to work on this skill in school, I'm going to need it in order to become a  large animal vet.

After lunch I went to help my friends out in one of the fields on campus. There was an EARTH 25th anniversary celebration before we went to the farm where all the students stood out on the futbol field, spelled EARTH, and threw paint in the air in order to take an awesome photo. Everyone was covered in different colors and it was amusing to see these rainbow people crawling through the rows cutting weeds. We weeded the yucca, pineapple, and potato areas. I had never been to these fields before since they were really deep in campus. I still can't get over how beautiful this place is. From the fields you could see all of the mountains rise up around you. It's so peaceful...Well, that is until you get cuts on your hands, bug bites, and prick yourself on a plant. Luckily Marcela, my friend who invited me to go with her to the farm, brought an extra pair of gloves so I wouldn't cut myself while working. Even though it was hard work we all had a lot of fun. I talked to some of my friends and found out a lot about them. We discussed favorite bands, figured out what words meant in different languages, talked about cultural differences, and we all agreed that getting bit by ants is a lot worse than getting bit by mosquitoes.

Marcela and I before the farm

A view of the mountains from the road

Working in the pineapple row

The finished product

I also got to bond with the girls in my hall with a good old fashioned Chalupa dinner. We all sat in the hall, ate (chalupas are probably one of my favorite types of latino food), and talked about the going-ons at EARTH.

Thursday
Today was a very relaxing day. I spent most of the day working on my paper, which is currently 14 pages long and growing. Profe Moro and I met in the morning to work on figuring out what should be included.

In the afternoon I went to my very last spanish class. I learned the future simple tense, which is very simple (ha ha very funny Allie). Profe Villalobos and I worked on a worksheet that talked about how insects are a good food option. Insects are eaten all around the world in many cultures because they're easily accessible, require less space, have more protein, and have less fat than meat. The FAO is currently working on promoting the consumption of insects in countries where it's the norm.

That's one of the great things about EARTH. I'm learning spanish through subjects I am passionate about. Before  EARTH, I only learned basic spanish. I knew the standard "Hola, como esta? Bien y usted? Donde esta el baño? Que hora es?" stuff. I didn't know how to explain my research or anything agricultural in spanish up until now. Everyone talks about agricultural issues at EARTH so you learn quickly. Finca= farm, mandera= hose, ternero=calf, agronomia= agronomy, weed= malezas, malezando= weeding, and so much more. I've learned more spanish here than I have learned over the course of 8 years.

I said goodbye to Profe Villalobos and she gave me a certificate stating that I had completed the 3rd level of spanish. These spanish classes have helped so much, I know that they're just the start of my journey to become fluent in spanish.

I spent the rest of the night with Jhoselyn and Kalem again. We spent pretty much every night together this week.
Friday
I woke up 6 (hooray for sleeping in!) and grabbed some breakfast with Kalem.

At 8 am I had a meeting with Sofia at Aromas. We discussed my experience here at EARTH, travel arrangements, and other things. I talked about how I loved EARTH, the weather, the food, and the environment here.

After my meeting with Sofia I went to Profe Moro's office to work on evaluate my paper and start editing it. I got super far on my research paper, I just need to fill in some more details and edit it before October comes around. Profe and I are also starting to work on the undergraduate research paper which is going to be about my research at EARTH. Undergraduate research and hands on experience is really beneficial for the student and I can;t wait to talk about that in detail.

I stayed up with Jhoselyn during the night. We went to watch the stars in my favorite spot and spend some time together. We talked about what our dreams in life were. Jhoselyn wants to get a masters degree in bovine science and own a farm with brahman simmental mixes. She would use them for meat, breeding, and milk, utilizing all that she can with them. Jhoselyn's family owns a farm with cows, at one point they had 200 cows! We realized that we wanted similar things in life and fantasized about working together in the future. We both want to work with cattle, I want to work in south america, and we work well together, so it'd be a dream come true!
Saturday
My last day was great.

I woke up at 5 and had my last breakfast of gallo pinto with Jhoselyn, Fabricio, and Marcko. The sunrise was really pretty, I felt nostalgic, and I had to take some pictures.

The last time I saw the mountain from the cafeteria

I didn't work in the lecheria on my last day since the 2nd year students weren't going to be split up into groups. We worked on making fences which allowed me to take a bunch of really nice pictures of the fields. I got to say goodbye to my cows (05416 is my favorite :c), said goodbye to Giver (who gave me a container of mastitis medicine as a parting gift), Yamy, and Yan, and say goodbye to all of the students. Everyone was so nice to me on the farm, I couldn't have asked for a better experience!

One of my cows

The view from the farm

Pinning wire to the fence

The road from the pastures to the lecheria

Some of the work experience class

After work everyone went to Mau's (one of the nicest farm workers) house for a lunch party. We ate a whole pig! We had this really spicy pork and bean soup, pork loin with yucca, and fried pig skin. The party was so much fun! Mau's nieces and nephews played futbol in the front yard with some of the students, people were dancing, everyone insisted on taking lots of pictures, and we all had a good time winding down after a long workday and a crazy week. I got to say goodbye to Profe Moro and all of my friends from the farm for the last time.

Cutting up the pork

One of Mau's dogs eating a pig bone

I left the party around 4 and went over to Jhoselyn's room to hang out with Jhos and Kalem. We spent an hour or so just laying in Jhos's bed talking, laughing at stupid jokes, and enjoying each other's company while we still could. Around 6 or so Kalem and I decided to go swimming while Jhoselyn worked on some of her homework. We walked to the pool and watched the moon as we went. It was such a pretty night! Kalem and I did a few laps and goofed off. We taught each other the difference between push (empujar) and pull (halar) by splashing water at each other. Once it got around 6:30 Kalem and I headed up to the cafeteria and grabbed a bite to eat. I got to say goodbye to some of my friends there and I got to look around the cafeteria one last time, so I was happy.

After we ate, we went to Jhoselyn's room and hung out with her. Fabricio came by later on and I gave everyone their gifts. We were going to order pizza, but in the end we ended up getting snacks from La Jama and headed over to my favorite spot to look at the stars. I brought a blanket for us to lay on, so we had a bit of a picnic underneath the night. The moon was really pretty and there were a couple of stars in the sky, so we looked at them for a little while and talked. It was like something out of a movie. I got spend my last few hours with 3 of my best friends that I made through the internship looking up at the sky, wondering how we'll leave our mark in the world.

Around 11 or so we packed everything up and headed to my room. Jhos, Fab, and Kalem helped me pack what was left in my room and weight my suitcases. It was sad, but I didn't cry. It was one of those things where you have prepared yourself for the sadness, you see it coming and you just embrace it because it's better to acknowledge it rather than let it overwhelm you. Once my bags were ready to go I said goodbye to Fabricio and went with Kalem and Jhoselyn to Jhose's room to watch a movie with each other one last time. We stayed awake long enough to watch half of the movie, but once 12:30 hit it was time for us to call it a night. Kalem had to go to her room and sleep, so she gave me a big hug and a kiss and wished me luck. In the end I spent the night with Jhoselyn. We slept until 4 and we had loaded the taxi by 4:30. With a big hug, a kiss, and a promise to keep in touch, we said goodbye.

Jhoselyn, Kalem, and I on my last day :(

That was my last week at EARTH. I really hope that I can come back someday soon. I'm so lucky that I got the chance to be here. Thank you so much to everyone who supported me throughout this trip. Thank you to all of my friends at EARTH, te amo mucho! Thank you to Lisa Fleming (aka the woman behind it all), Keegan Kautzky, and the World Food Prize for giving me this life changing experience. Most of all, I want to thank my family and friends who have read this blog and kept up with what I was doing here at EARTH.

Thank you all for a wonderful experience, 

-Allie

What's going on?

Hey guys, it's Allie!

You're probably wondering why I haven't posted any posts these past few days. Everything is fine, there's nothing wrong, I just want to take a break from blogging during my last week here at EARTH. I only have 6 days left to spend with my friends here and I still have some things that I haven't done here, so I'm going to go out and do all of the stuff I've been wanting to do.

I'll post about my last week once I get home and have some time to reflect on this great experience I have been blessed with. I'm sorry, I just want to spend some time living at EARTH rather than sitting in my room writing about it.

Thank you so much you guys! Stay tuned to see how my last week goes!

-Allie

Hey guys!

I didn't get to go to the farm today since the river overflowed but today was pretty good other than that!

I woke up at 5:30 and ate breakfast with Kalem and Jhoselyn. They had to go to the pineapple farm today, so we got to eat together (in our tired early morning states). We talked about our plans for the day and talked about how excited we were for the weekend. Once we were all finished we walked to the farms through the rain.

I knew that the river would be flooded over, but I figured that I would see if I could pass it today. In a stunning turn of events, the bridge was flooded and I couldn't go to the farm. Luckily I don't have a lot of stuff to do on the farm anymore. The majority of my project is typing now, which is ok! I went back to my room and worked on my paper for most of the day.

When I left my room for lunch, guess what was by the bike rack? My bike, that's what! Whomever took it returned it. I'm so grateful that I got my bike back, I don't even care that someone anymore! I locked it up immediately of course, so now I don't have to worry about losing it! Once my bike was secure I went to the cafeteria and ate lunch with my friends Rena, Dani, and Darling. Being around them and my other friends really helps me with my spanish. I'm understanding more and more of what's said and I'm really proud of that. Once lunch was done I walked over to Jhoselyn's room to see how she was doing (and to tell her that I got my bike back). I walked in on her and Fabricio studying for their animal production test. I looked at some of what they're learning and I recognized some of the stuff from my animal science class. It's interesting to see that most of the anatomy terms are the same in english and spanish (which will certainly make things easier should I travel abroad for animal sciences). Once they were ready I walked with them to their class, wished them luck, and headed back to my room.

I didn't have a lot of work left to do (plus I was hyper from the coffee I had during lunch) so I worked out a little. I got a lot of work done today and I felt really proud of that. Once 6 came around I had dinner with Kalem. We're going to town tomorrow and I'm really excited to see more of Costa Rica before I leave.

Well that's it for today you guys! Thanks for reading!

-Allie