My first week at Las Cruces
Biological station is best described as tentative at first and, as the week
progressed, adventurous. Coming into the
OTS program was quiet unorthodox looking at my background. I am a Visual and
Media Studies major, took French in high school, and come from central New York
where the only insects I have come close to (well, have come close to me) are
earwigs. So, coming into this week I felt a little out of place. And after our first official class, Dangerous
and Annoying Creatures, I was put into a swirl of paranoia, checking every
mosquito bite for growing larvae and being startled by every root emerging from
the ground thinking it was a snake. Despite my fear of finding larvae snacking
on my arm or the pictures of untreated snake bites coming to life, spending
more time in the field turned my fear into more pre-cautions for safety than excuses
that would keep me from going outside.
As the days went on, I gained more and more confidence working outdoors.
My favorite activity this week was our first insect lab. Not only was it fun
chasing around butterflies and other insects with our nets, becoming more
comfortable holding insects was exciting.
Before this week, I would have never voluntarily catch, hold, or try to
identify any insect, including a harmless butterfly. However, between learning
how to properly handle one and what we learned in intro to Lepidoptera and our
lab, I found myself constantly trying to identify any butterfly I saw flying by
me in my free time. I’m very excited for
the up coming weeks, and the new learning experiences to come.
Jordan General
Duke University
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