Preparation

What in the world... I haven't posted in so long and now I gots too much junk to tell you in one post! I'm going to just stay calm.


Hey what's up.

Ok, so did I tell about all the fun gear I got for my fieldwork?? The answer is no I haven'ttttt!!!! I will tell.
Dad and I went to REI a few weeks ago, but we mostly just went to Target. REI is just plain ridiculous.
GET THE GEAR!!!!
Items acquired include:
-2 water bottles
-composition notebook (blue)
-2 pairs of hiking socks
-hiking boots (extremely ugly)
-medicines for tummy and itches
-panties and sports bras (cool/cute)
-3 pairs of long nylon pants
-fanny pack (DUH, u think I'm a loser?)
-HEAD LAMP, Y'ALL
-backpack (complete with chest strap)
-1 million tampons
-other hygiene junk
-mosquito net
-a stocking filled with gingerbread men

The last item I acquired was a ridiculous explorer hat thing that my dad purchased for hisownself last year for fieldwork in Madagascar. :-) I thought it was pretty awesome that he was kinda "passing it down".... Sometimes I wear it around.

OKAY ANYWAYS.
So lately I've been reading some literature about monkeys. But lets get real- CAN WE JUST LEAVE!???!

Two extremely important things happened today.
The second important thing was that CURO had a reception for all if the summer fellows. (I think "fellow" is a ridiculous term for what I am. Like, are we British or something?) I was about 30 minutes late because the 1st important thing today took way too long. But, the important part of this reception was the fact that DOROTHY FRAGASZY was my date. She is the director of the Primate Behavior Laboratory here at UGA. She is basically a big deal. She is also going on the trip with us. By that, I mean- she is in charge of everything. So, she and I chilled out and spoke about monkeys. I asked questions. I was really nervous... But i was not as nervous DURING the reception as I was the night before the reception. And that is because I figured that if I survived the 1st important thing of the day, then I could definitely survive this 2nd one. And it turned out just fine. Here is an excerpt of our convo:
Me: "So, is it difficult to learn all the names of the monkeys?"
Doree: "Oh, no. They are all quite different!! You will pick up the differences. Well, except for the pair of twins. They look exactly alike. They are 4 years old now."
WILD MONKEYS. WHAT.

Oh, so the 1st important thing is not gonna be talked about yet because a) I am superstitious of speaking about it until I get complete confirmation, and b) I like to be dramatic.

Oh shoot, I forgot to tell about the extremely emotional few hours of self realization that I had on Saturday. Ughhhh I don't wanna do that on this post. It should have its own post. It deserves that. DESERVES!!!

Lol what if I wrote an entire post about my serious feelings about the Boston bombings? Don't worry, I won't. Y'all wouldn't like me anymore.

Baaahahha.

Sorry if this was boring. I gotta go IMMEDIATELY BYE! Wooooo!

GET THE GEAR

So today (I start so many sentences off with "so") I had a good day. I played golf and studied and listened to music and hung with friends. What is this, my diary!? NO!!! LET'S TALK TRAVEL Y'ALL!!

We had a small meeting today to discuss just about everything we need to know about the trip. Characters include: Allison- my mentor, and Natalie- my new friend. Natalie is 20 and will be working with another grown-up on the trip (like me!). I went ahead and decided that we were gonna skip 'acquaintances' and go on ahead to 'friends' because she seems legit :-). OK!? Ok. Now: The Meeting.

Allison had a pleasant little list written out of all the things we need to pack for the trip. Kinda like the lists your troop leader would give you before Girl Scout camp. So, she was explaining how the temperature would be 90 degrees and dry and no rain and snakes and we would be walking and hiking and wasp nests and this and that. :-) I got really excited when she mentioned we should bring a headlamp. She talked about the types of clothes that would work best. She gave us soooo many tips for the long bus ride up to Boa Vista from Brasilia. She talked about traveling with money. And the shots we may (or may nottt :-P) need. #MosquitoNet. She was basically getting us up to speed about what all we needed to pack. Omgggg hearing some of the details made me so anxious to get GONE! LETTUCE GOOO!

We will be staying with a family. The main character of this family's name is Maria. She speaks no English- but cooks our meals and takes care of us (we can pay her to do our laundry). She has two sons (who may or may not be in town). Her kitchen has dirt floors.

We will be staying in some extra little rooms that are apart from Maria's house. Each with like, two beds and no closets or something. Essentially- this place is a little research compound. There will be no more than 10 (I think) researchers with us, including me, Allison, and Natalie. One dude is a man from the UK. He prolly has a silly accent. ANYWAYS- let's seeee, what else.... We will be waking up in ze morn and heading out on the old dusty trail out to stalk a specific group of monkeys. They monkeys don't mind us, so I will prolly come home with about 14 billion photographs of said monkeys. We stalk stalk stalk, then walk walk walk back to the compound. And chill and deal with data and be scientists, idk WOOOO! Y'all, I don't even know why I'm being allowed to do this. Am I smart enough!?!!?

OH! - While I'm thinking about blogging- I won't be able to blog there.

Omg, calm down. I will figure it out. In fact, I already have figured it out.
BLOG PLAN: Because le compound haz no internets, and trips into town are $100 each and very rare and stuff, I will be writing blogs onto a computer, transferring them onto a little flash drive (remember those?) then sending them off with whomever is going into town as much as possible. That way, when they get to the Internet in town, they can email my written blog to one of you. Then you can upload it onto here!! WOWOWOW. That's cool. And it may be frustrating.

Also, adios FacebookTwitterInstagramVineEmailTexts. I will have none of that. For two and a half months. So people, if you don't hear from me, I'm sure I'm fine. Unless I'm not. In which case, you will continue to not hear from me.



Lol Sorryyyyyyy.

-LA

I reckon I'm headed to Brazil.

And here I am, again. Hey, everyone :-). Look at that cute grass up there.


I'm flying to Brazil on the 11th of May. Wanna know why? Ok. I'll share.

Once upon a time, in the fall of 2013, I was in my Developmental Psychology class just chillin. Waiting for class to start. But my professor (shout out to Dr. Frick!) hadn't shown up yet!

ENTER: Allison, the Teacher's Assistant

The TA for the class stood up and was like, "suuppppp." She then told us that Dr. Frick was gonna be late, so she was gonna present some of her own work until Dr. Frick arrived.

So, Allison presented a powerpoint about herself. Basically it was the-bomb.com. She talked about her career so far. She presented her thesis and spoke about some of her findings. And I was like, :-O. I responded to her presentation with the following email:

"Hey Allison!
Your presentation in Dr. Frick's class this morning inspired me for a number of reasons. I will list the reasons out to you:

- Animal movement/migration is just fascinating. The ant studies are not only hilarious (ants on stilts?)... but intriguing. I will say, whale/orca migration might be my favorite mystery.

-I have always been worried that my major would only allow me to work with humans. Dad has insisted that this wasn't so, but I'm worried that I won't be as qualified to work with monkeys or dolphins as a biology or zoology major would be. It was encouraging to hear your personal story of mixing biology and psychology together! However, what background in biochemistry do you have? I feel like I'm behind!

-I had a revelation during your presentation: Why would I need to work in a lab everyday!? My dad has worked in a lab for my whole life... I think I've had the idea of being in a lab stuck in my mind for too long. I would MUCH rather go out and watch what happens in real time. Why hadn't I thought of that before???!

- I think my dad began teaching me about natural selection while I was in my mother's womb. I have always been fascinated by evolution. I don't think I want to take on the pressure of following up my dad's work on oxytocin... at all. However, I'm still interested in how social behavior has been shaped by evolution. I want to find a question about the animal world and work to answer it. LIKE YOU'RE DOING.

- Speaking of finding a question... I liked hearing about how you didn't know what you would end up working on until later in your career. That calmed me down.

Basically, I just had to express myself and tell you how cool I think all of your life is. :-)
Also, if you really ever do need an RA... I would absolutely love to be a part of what you're doing. I do have research experience... during my sophomore year I worked with my professor at Zoo Atlanta investigating conservation promotion techniques. Also, this past summer, I was a TA for the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative in Dharamsala, India. My dad is SURE that this is not enough experience... :-/

AH! Sorry for the long email! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Leigh Anna Young!"

End Quote.

She replied. We talked. We met up. Discussed things. And I guess she just ended up needing an assistant for this summer. *raises hand* "MEMEMEMEME!!" And now, I'm going off with her and her team to help do the things I was so in awe with last semester.

I was nervous to send that email... But it certainly set something in motion.

yayayayayayayyayayayay. More details soon. Mainly cuz I still haven't told you what I'm doing in Brazil. My god, you're on the edge of your seat. Scoot back!

-LA