Field Studies y Agradecimiento

I found out recently that the Field Studies program will be shutting down later this year, in fact, I am going to be part of the last group that gets to experience the miracle that we call a Field Study.  It's hard for me to describe my feelings when it comes to this one; it's an interesting mezcla of potent sadness and extreme gratitude.  But I want to enfocarme on the positive and all of the wonderful things that I have learned so far and that I look forward to learn because of this great experience.

So far in the prep-course I have learned so many things about research, ethics, and preparing to get the most out of a foreign experience.  I am so grateful for the teachers (Ashley and Malcolm are amazing!) and for the Field Facilitators who have provided me with an idea of what I'm getting into in Mexico; after all, "where there is no vision, the people perish..." (Proverbs 29:18). From the head teachers I have learned aspects of culture assimilation and of ethical research.  From Natalie, my Field Facilitator, I have learned about Mexican culture and of research methods that will be invaluable to me while in the field.

For me, the Field Studies program was perfect; I wanted an opportunity to really get to know the people and take part in their culture.  I wanted to be able to talk with them, improve my Spanish, make friends and get to know and love a people.  I wanted autonomy in my research, and encouragement to become a scholar rather than a student, to push forward pro-actively in my career and stretch myself to accomplish something challenging and worth while.  I wanted the Field Studies Program.

I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have had to be a Field Studies student, an opportunity of a life time that not many students are able to receive; a program that makes a scholar out of a student by placing him or her into the world and telling them not just to learn, but to work and to achieve.

Benjamin