Done with DR!

8 days of field research

3 days of data analysis

4 days of writing and 46 pages later I have finished DR!

my work station the past week

T.G.I.M, Thank god it’s Monday. Hell week is over, our DR papers are handed in and we're spending the next 2 days preparing ourselves for community presentations on Wednesday. It’s been great sitting in the same seat for 7 days writing the finishing product of my research. My back hurts from spending hours hunched over the computer, my butt is sore and there’s a throbbing behind my eye, but I can finally say I’m done and it feels great!

         Now there’s only a week left here in Africa, I can’t believe tomorrow is May already. Time goes by so fast. Just yesterday I feel as if I was introducing myself in the airport, trying to catch everyone’s names, and not to cry in front of strangers. Today, 3 months later, I can’t imagine not seeing everyone's faces everyday, hearing their laughs and retelling stories about our crazy African experience. 

Only in Africa……

            Will you see invasions of baboons in front of your bandas everyday

 Spend an afternoon learning to bead with the Maasai mamas

Watch a vervet monkey steal bananas from the dining hall

Catch the mouse in your banda after its been living in your walls for the past 4 weeks.  (Fudge is the key trapper)   

The last five days are going to go by by in a blur, I can already feel it. Since my final paper has been handed in 2 hours ago I now know the feeling of what “a vacation in Africa.” is. (Except its probably going to start rain soon, I can smell it). As for my paper, 46 pages are printed and handed in and I can now tell you all about land use and tenure changes in Amboseli ecosystem and the impacts of human-wildlife conflicts. But I’m not going to talk about my research right now, since I just spent the last week eating, breathing, seeing my research paper, it’s break time now and summer vacation is right around the corner!