The Opportunity of a Lifetime

I was a freshman at Radford University when I first learned of the study abroad I am now a part of. It is called RARE: Radford Amazonian Research Expedition. It is essentially a program that allows undergraduate students to create their own research and execute it in one of the most interesting and biodiverse places in the world.

Up until recently, the students participating in RARE have been biology majors, and why wouldn't they? The amazon is biologically and ecologically mysterious and largely understudied, so the possibilities are endless for that particular field. Being a Sports Medicine major in my freshman year, I didn't think I stood a chance: I couldn't think of a research question and the competitive application process made me nervous. But RARE remained in the back of my mind, nagging and growing every time I heard someone talk about it.

In the fall of 2016, a couple of the RARE students came to speak to my Anatomy & Physiology class and renewed my desire to go. That week I sat down and wrote a research question and presented it to one of the professors going on the trip just to gauge whether or not I had a chance of going. He seemed interested so I applied and the rest is history.

I am so excited for the departure date, May 15th, but there are still many things to do before then. In my following posts I will talk in depth about my research, experiences with the pre-review process (Yikes), and more fun things like packing for 3 weeks in a single backpack.

My experience thus far has been a mixture of excitement, frustration, and pure wanderlust. i have no doubt that this will be one of the most grand adventures of my life. Stay tuned!