Cheers to the next 3 months!

Classroom adventures are about to begin. On Sunday, myself, 24 fellow colleagues, and 3 professors will be departing for a class called Nicaragua Field Trip. Yep, the name of my class includes the word field trip. Woot! For 11 days, we will be busing around Nicaragua looking at natural resource management while assessing local, political, economic, and social factors affecting livelihoods and environmental management. Learning points include resource impacts of the Nicaraguan revolution, governance and land use management, and protection of biodiversity. In doing the reading for our first day of class on the history of Nicaragua and the US involvement, it is uncanny how much the story sounds just like Iraq. Only Regan decided to invade Nicaragua silently instead of under the worlds watch. Otherwise, history is indeed repeating itself yet again. I am also reading a fascinating new book called Bananas about how the United Fruit Company shaped the world as more than just a company, but as a sort of unrecognized state.

Also of note, I have finally decided on my internship plans for the summer! I will be a Sustainable Living Intern at Rancho Mastatal in the rural highlands of Costa Rica. My tasks will include learning how to work in the wood shop, soap making, baking in a cob oven, constructing using natural building methods, building composting toilets, organic gardening, and whatever else the summer brings! My focuses of study will be sustainable tourism and green building. And I will be away from phone and internet access for most of the summer. There is one phone for the entire town and the nearest internet is 2 hours away! So talk to me while you still can!