2023-24

So my 2023/2024 year was eventful to say the least. I was not expecting what came out of it. To start off the year, I went into the school year with a partner!! We had talked over the summer and began to date in August. Also, this past 2023/24 was my first year as an Resident Advisor. I accepted the position back in March 2023, and completed it this past year. Now I am about to be a Head Resident Advisor for the 2024/2025 school year after my first year as an RA, it is so weird to think about. In the beginning of the semester I had to arrive early for RA training, so I was already a bit frustrated having to leave my hometown friends back, and go back to Cincinnati for the school year. Don’t get me wrong, I am quite excited about having my own single room, so that was a benefit to being an RA. However, having training for two weeks was not exciting, nor fun having training 9-5 Monday through Saturday. On the bright side even though I was still quite shy with everyone, my staff seemed very inviting and fun and the Community Coordinator was an amazing CC! At first I thought that the position would be my whole life and I would not be able to do much outside of the position, but I was completely wrong. Training went well and passed, then we arrived on the day of when the students arrived at Calhoun Hall and began moving in. It was so fun seeing everyone that I will soon be an RA too. In addition to having them meet me as well, I was so nervous that I would not be a good RA, but I was proven wrong :) The RA role requires much collaboration since you are on a staff with other people as well as being behind the scenes of the building. Throughout the fall semester I grew to enjoy my job and my coworkers whom I am friends with now! For sure my building staff is amazing and I am grateful to have been able to have my first year RA position at Calhoun Hall and stay in Calhoun Hall for the 2024/25 year. Then throughout the Spring semester I became more comfortable and started becoming my own RA, while my co-ra helped, instead of following her lead fall semester. And here we are to me becoming an hra 24/25 year, which I would not have imagined.

Fast forward to spring semester was the semester where I took the course On the River: Experiencing the Brazilian Amazon which included a study tour to the Amazonia and Manaus. It was a changing experience to travel to Brazil as well as live on a boat for one week and travel throughout the Amazon river. That was my favorite course in the whole semester. The whole course leading up to the study tour we learned about the history of Brazil, the ecosystem of Brazil/Amazon, some Portuguese, laws in Brazil for the ecosystem, crew’s names, as well as a rough idea of what we are going to be doing while in Brazil. Throughout the course my classmates and I all got comfortable with each other, so that was even beneficial. Fast forward to the month of March and then the day we left. We left Thursday afternoon for the CVG airport. And we were all so excited and nervous to arrive. It took about 24 hours of travel to arrive in Manaus. The flights were super fun, and the food was quite good as well. When we fully arrived in Manaus Junior, Junior’s dad, and Samuel came to meet us. It was so surreal that we were actually in Brazil. Not to mention about to board a boat which’ll be our home for the next week. When we arrived at the boat location, we were officially boarding our home. When we went on the boat we met all the crew's names on the top deck, and afterwards had lunch. Then we had some time to organize our stuff in our rooms and get acquainted. Throughout the whole trip we went ont he canoes and did some exploring with our binoculars, swimming in the Rio Negro, hiking, exploring the city, visiting Indigenous peoples, relax time on the boat which included notebook writing and or hammocking and sleeping. It was a serene experience overall. With all hiking and exploration of nature and animals and being on the canoes, all while it being so calm, made me realize I want to work more in the environment and with sustainability. In addition to wanting to return to Brazil, and at some point learn the language to eventually become fluent. My double majors are Political Science and Archaeology, and I want to possibly earn an Environmental Policy minor as well concentrate in the environment with Archaeology. I will be including the environment with more of my daily life and work. In addition seeing the life of the Brazilians, got me thinking about my life going forward. I have been waking up sooner, eating better, and giving myself time for life instead of rushing to everything. Overall, the trip was quite influential and changing, and I would highly recommend it to everyone.