Semester happenings

Sarah: It hardly seems like our semester has begun, and yet we're over a quarter finished with it already. We've had two professors come and go and many more to come still.

Bruce Hoagland, from the University of Oklahoma, was here for about 2 1/2 weeks. He was here to help the students get going with their research projects, and also to teach a week on Botany. The students really enjoyed having him around, and he and David worked incredibly hard during those weeks. In addition to teaching, Bruce and David spent a lot of time in the field searching for aguacatillo trees, setting up weather stations, and building an orchidarium. It was great to have Bruce here and be so productive.

After Bruce left, the students took advantage of a free weekend and headed to the beach. Most were anxious to get there, after having been in Costa Rica for a whole month and having yet to see the ocean. They took off on their own adventure and rode public buses, found places to stay, and enjoyed some hot beach weather.

Last week we had Carrie Bentley from Southern Nazarene University come for the week to also help with research projects and to teach Tropical Medicine. Her week included a day field trip to San Jose, where the Tropical Medicine class visited two hospitals - the public one called San Juan de Dios, and the private one called Clinica Biblica (where Adele was born). The students were able to talk to doctors at both locations and see the difference between public and private hospitals in Costa Rica. They had a fantastic experience on that field trip.

Adele continues to do well, and here is a video of her showing off her dance moves - in case anyone missed it on facebook!