Long time no blog! Apologies for the delay; I have been so busy with wrapping up the semester that I totally forgot to write about classes ending and what finals are like here in Monteverde!
On the week of April 1st, we had our Independent Research Project proposal workshop all day on Monday, where we went over what a scientific project proposal looks like and what our professors are expecting of us. On Tuesday, we had a field techniques class where we learned about forestry, specifically making a plot and measuring the height and DBH (diameter breast height) of trees within that plot, and how these measurements differ in a forested location versus an agricultural location. In the afternoon, we had all Spanish class to prepare for our debate the next day. On Wednesday, we wrapped up Tropical Community Ecology with our last class, where we discussed a variety of articles we read for homework over the weekend. Adri surprised us with delicious ice cream at the end of class, which was so nice! In the afternoon, we had our debate which actually turned out a lot better than we anticipated, because our professor Eva, structured it really well with her asking questions and each side answering with their own assigned opinion. On Thursday, we were given all morning to work on our proposal, which I spent attending a seminar on bat acoustic analysis that Adri assigned to me, and writing up my methods and materials section. In the afternoon, we took our Spanish Finals for our last class, which was pretty easy. We had a section on desde versus hace, irregular verbs, writing out numbers, a reading portion, and a short essay about our experience in Costa Rica. Eva also gave us a few tries on the grammar portions. Finally, on Friday, we had all day to work on and turn in our proposal. I am planning on studying bat acoustics here. It was long, hard work, but I managed to get it in on time! In the evening, my friends and I threw a surprise wedding for our friends, Evan and Liam. We had been planning it all week, but they had no idea! Each person of our friend group got a role to play, and Kira and I were the parents of Evan the bride. Also, every student from the Ecology program and the Sustainability program showed up! It was amazing! We had the wedding right before dinner and Evan walked down the aisle to Linger by the Cranberries. At dinner, we did speeches and enjoyed some hamburgers. It was such a beautiful, hilarious event!
Everyone at the wedding and the lovely couple front and center!
The next week was finals week. We had all day to study on Monday, which I spent mostly on the Tropical Diversity final that was the next day and because it was the class we haven’t had for a week. On Tuesday, we got back feedback about our proposals and our last Conservation Series where we talked about the beautiful experience it is to learn about Tropical Ecology and how connected all of us ecology students feel to tropical ecosystems after a semester of learning and living within them. It was a heartfelt, bittersweet class discussion. On Wednesday, we had our Tropical Diversity final which was the toughest of them all, but I still feel like I did pretty well. On Thursday, we had our Tropical Community Ecology final which was closed note this time, but it felt as easy as it would be with notes anyways! And lastly, we had our final Practical Exam on Friday where we were tested on all of the species we learned in San Gerardo, Palo Verde, and Cuajiniquil. I had my meeting about my independent research project with Adri, because I am planning on investigating the affects of anthropogenic (human-made) noise pollution on insectivorous bat activity, through setting up audio recorders and discovering what I hear each night for 2 whole weeks. After my meeting, I had lunch, and packed my bags for our last weekend trip to Playa Hermosa!
A beautiful sunset at Playa Hermosa
When we arrived to Playa Hermosa, we got settled into our Airbnb called the Purple Mansion, a cute little house just down the road from the beach! We made some pasta for dinner before heading down to the beach to watch the sunset. When the sun did set, we created a small fire pit and hung out together for the night. It was so fun! The next day, we went swimming in the ocean and I learned how to surf! Although I fell so many times and got a few bruises from the board hitting me so many times, I managed to stand up a few times! It was so awesome! We picked up some pizza for lunch and enjoyed laying in the sand. Afterwards, we collected seashells before heading back to the house to take showers and naps. Edie and I made quesadillas and guacamole for dinner and we headed to town to check out the night life. We stumbled upon a nightly surfing competition, where five different guys were surfing the biggest waves I have ever seen! It was so crazing! Because I won the March Madness bracket for our program, the boys got me some free drinks and the girls and I danced the night away together. In the morning, we packed up and cleaned the house before returning back to campus for the start of our Independent Research Project.
It feels pretty weird to not be on our normal, busy class schedule anymore, but I am super excited to see how everyone’s research projects turn out! I am currently working on my last week of data collection and organizing everything for my paper and presentation. Also, starting tonight, I am going to be staying with a cute family right here in Monteverde and I am excited but also nervous because of the language barrier. On Sunday, I am planing on writing about my research experience as well as my homestay! Until then 🙂