I can't think of anyone famous or nearby that I would honestly like to be for a day. However, I would really like to get to know a totally different culture from the inside. Through visiting, studying, reading books, and talking with people you get to scratch the surface and learn from the slant of your own cultural background, but through truly being another person, you would automatically understand the language and customs and how things came to be accepted as they are. I would like to see the world through completely different eyes so I can have a broader perspective and a more understanding heart. That would be the ultimate total immersion experience. :)
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Day 6
A picture of someone you'd like to trade places with for a day
I can't think of anyone famous or nearby that I would honestly like to be for a day. However, I would really like to get to know a totally different culture from the inside. Through visiting, studying, reading books, and talking with people you get to scratch the surface and learn from the slant of your own cultural background, but through truly being another person, you would automatically understand the language and customs and how things came to be accepted as they are. I would like to see the world through completely different eyes so I can have a broader perspective and a more understanding heart. That would be the ultimate total immersion experience. :)
I can't think of anyone famous or nearby that I would honestly like to be for a day. However, I would really like to get to know a totally different culture from the inside. Through visiting, studying, reading books, and talking with people you get to scratch the surface and learn from the slant of your own cultural background, but through truly being another person, you would automatically understand the language and customs and how things came to be accepted as they are. I would like to see the world through completely different eyes so I can have a broader perspective and a more understanding heart. That would be the ultimate total immersion experience. :)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Needles Internship
It's been almost a month now, so I think it's just about time to finally post something about my current life. I took a semester off from school to complete an internship as an Interpretive Park Ranger in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park 75 miles south of Moab, UT. I started February 20th and will be done June 10th.
What does that mean?
I get to wear a cool uniform, talk on a radio, drive government vehicles around, manage the campground, collect entrance & bookstore fees, answer questions, answer phones, go on hikes, create and present a campfire program, represent the U.S. Government, and live in one of the coolest places on earth with some of the neatest people.
No, it's not all sunshine and the romantic "National Park Ranger" ideal - sometimes I don't know the answer, sometimes the visitor center hours drag on, sometimes I feel smooshed under the bureaucratic policies, sometimes I miss my family and friends back home and even feel lonely out here in the desert...
...but then a little kid rushes up and asks me a question about coyotes, "Ranger, Ranger!" or I wake up before the sun and watch it paint an ever-changing liquid masterpiece across the sky, or I stand at the edge of a canyon mid-way through a run and listen to my own heart beat in the contented silence broken only by wind and birdsong, and I realize how lucky I am to live out here in the land of glowing rocks. I mean, I live in a National Park! When am I ever going to get this opportunity again? That's all the motivation I need to savor it.
Besides, it's not hard to love this place. Every hike is refreshing. It seems like there is no end to the trails or the things you can learn about this area- and no end to the questions, either. I spend a lot of free time/slow visitors center hours/project time just reading up about the natural & cultural history of the area, the whims and ways of the desert and life itself. It's like school, but so much better because I'm not doing it for a grade, and the parameters are so wide and the interest so keen!
I don't know if this internship will lead me to my life's mission or just help me become confident in my ability to manage a cash register, but either way I aim to help other people out, have grand adventures myself and learn as much as I can about this amazing place. :D
What does that mean?
I get to wear a cool uniform, talk on a radio, drive government vehicles around, manage the campground, collect entrance & bookstore fees, answer questions, answer phones, go on hikes, create and present a campfire program, represent the U.S. Government, and live in one of the coolest places on earth with some of the neatest people.
No, it's not all sunshine and the romantic "National Park Ranger" ideal - sometimes I don't know the answer, sometimes the visitor center hours drag on, sometimes I feel smooshed under the bureaucratic policies, sometimes I miss my family and friends back home and even feel lonely out here in the desert...
...but then a little kid rushes up and asks me a question about coyotes, "Ranger, Ranger!" or I wake up before the sun and watch it paint an ever-changing liquid masterpiece across the sky, or I stand at the edge of a canyon mid-way through a run and listen to my own heart beat in the contented silence broken only by wind and birdsong, and I realize how lucky I am to live out here in the land of glowing rocks. I mean, I live in a National Park! When am I ever going to get this opportunity again? That's all the motivation I need to savor it.
Besides, it's not hard to love this place. Every hike is refreshing. It seems like there is no end to the trails or the things you can learn about this area- and no end to the questions, either. I spend a lot of free time/slow visitors center hours/project time just reading up about the natural & cultural history of the area, the whims and ways of the desert and life itself. It's like school, but so much better because I'm not doing it for a grade, and the parameters are so wide and the interest so keen!
I don't know if this internship will lead me to my life's mission or just help me become confident in my ability to manage a cash register, but either way I aim to help other people out, have grand adventures myself and learn as much as I can about this amazing place. :D
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
New Alphabet
Does anyone else think it funny that you have to learn a whole new alphabet in order to understand, say, Chemistry? "p" is no longer just a letter, it is also an operator that means "take the negative log of". C, c, E, e, F, G, H, h, J, K, k, L, M, m, n, Q, R, S, T, V, W, and Z all suddenly have double identities, too- or more! (think K- it can be a temperature or any one of several different constants, depending on the subscript). And don't get me started on X and Y. LOL Funny how studying chemistry for hours at a time warps your perspective on life. I understand why, though- it really IS a different language ;)
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