Eat, Pray, Love or Move, Eat, Learn?

I prefer the latter.

I found a few blogs with posts on these videos this morning, and I couldn't resist posting about them too! An independent film maker, named Rick Mereki, and two of his friends traveled to 11 countries in 44 days and filmed these three brilliant short films. They have become an overnight sensation surely because the evoke the desire to do exactly what they are titled: Move, Learn, Eat.












These videos make me squeal with excitement and crave adventure. Traveling, eating, learning, and documenting are exactly what I want to do with my life. Of course everyone besides people with xenophobia want to do that. However, this is really what I was aiming to do when I entered college. In  the beginning, I thought that I wanted to be a photojournalist who would travel and photograph people to create understanding and cultural tolerance in the world. I would do this by majoring in Cultural Anthropology and Photography. Then, I wanted to transition into a documentary film maker with the same goal. Then, I wanted to remain within the same major but focus on food cultures and document those visually. Most recently, I've switched over to Physical Anthropology and Primatology. I find my recent major absolutely fascinating and some real purpose in it towards the origin of humanity. But, I've started to miss the idea of the adventure that comes along with field studies in Cultural Anthropology. I haven't reached the field study point yet, but I feel more excited thinking about interacting with people from different cultures rather than furry individuals from different species.

I still have time to figure this out, but I want to weigh my options now just to be safe. I need to find which opportunities will support me enough financially and support my other future family goals. I'll see eventually, maybe something else will come along but, for now, a long field study filled career in academia feels right for me.

Finals and a new obsession

   Winter quarter's finals felt chaotic but, looking back, they weren't all that bad. To tell the truth, during winter quarter I really only focused on my Primate Behavior class and that continued into finals week. I know that I'm paying a ridiculous amount of money for my education and I should absorb every ounce of information thrown at me, however, last quarter Archaeology did not catch my interest and Transformative Action came too easy to me. But Primate Behavior, I will cherish that class forever.
     For my final paper in that thought provoking class, I decided to research and write on a topic only briefly mentioned in class: what is the function and trigger of bimaturism in adult male orangutans? Before I explain this topic know that it fascinates me so much that I plan to do more independent research and continue to develop the paper. Adult male orangutans come in two different phenotypes, one appears juvenile while the other develops secondary sexual characteristics such as fatty cheek flanges, a throat sac, long hair, and extra weight. Although the these two types appear completely different, they can be the same age. It seems that there can only be a few "mature" males in a given area so there must be a reason for this. Many anthropologists and primatologists speculate that too many males in a given area leads to too much aggression and risk amongst them so other males remain juvenile-looking in order to avoid aggression and survive longer. Eventually every male will "mature" and develop the extra traits and this fact made me wonder what determines which individual will develop over others. So I did the research and it appears that  no one really knows what or why. Well, I'm determined to find out and I would like to do field and lab research on the topic in the future. It would be incredible to work with orangutans and learn about them and their bimaturism. Maybe if the reason and trigger is discovered it would shed some light on human maturity, diversity, and evolution. I can only hope!

Here are some pictures of orangutans for your enjoyment :)

I'm living in France next year!

I made it! I've been accepted to the University of Bordeaux in France! I'm so excited! I will study there for an entire school year and all of my classes will be taught in French! Ah, it is going to be très difficile, but hopefully I'll come back fluent!

How pretty is my new school? The architecture in France (and most of Europe for that matter) is so much better than the architecture here in the United States. Even on east coast, where the oldest American buildings are, the architecture isn't as elaborate.

Anyways, the university system is broken down into 4 areas. I should be taking most of my classes in the building above, which is Bordeaux 2, because the anthropology department is located there. Its funny though, anthropology is grouped with the medical sciences and isn't put with the social sciences like it is on many campuses. 

I'm excited, so so so so incredibly excited. I leave in late August and will be there until late June!