Snap Back to Reality

After about 16 weeks of #jungletripping, I have returned stateside! No more are the days of rolling out (and hopefully not off) my bunk bed in Las Cruces at 7:15 am, walking down the stairs of Casa Wilson to slip on my jungle boots, and waving hello to the Agoutis on my way to breakfast. 

The outside of the classroom at Las Cruces and the doorway
leading up to where we lived. Jungle boots spotted lined up at the right.  

Returning the the US, there's definitely some #reentrycultureshock going down. I feel the compass of my sense of normalcy spinning to reorient itself. It's like when your iPhone map app gets confused and it asks you to make that funky figure-eight motion to re-calibrate (what does that do anyway?). For the past semester, it feels like my definition of normal has been yanked up by its jungle boot straps and thrown in the back of the Safari car for a boisterously bumpy joy ride over dirt roads. Just kidding, jungle boots don't have straps! But the funny part is that I had no idea this rearrangement had happened until taking that small step for me, that giant leap for mankind back onto USA soil. It's mostly the little things I find myself tripping over after this jungle trip. For example...

-It turns out that you have to check the weather forecast daily. Turns out you can't always rely that it will be in the upper 70's with some form of rain, only varying with how the rain will score on the scale of delicate drizzle to days of downpour. Also, it doesn't rain every day! I mean, doesn't the Earth get thirsty? You know what they say...if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated! 

-Guys, who turned off the color green? Guys, who stole all the leaves from the trees? Everything is so grey! Huh, guess that's what winter does. No more sauntering around the jungle naming the families of tropical plants in my spare time...seems like I'm going to need a new hobby. Suggestions? Perhaps ice dancing. 

The barren (but pretty!) trees near the Potomac River in Maryland

-You don't have to eat rice and beans during every day of every meal of your life. 

-Fact: the likelihood of me seeing a large funky insect in my bedroom at home, especially during winter is pretty slim. However, this doesn't seem to stop me from thinking I spot insects that generally turn out to be large specks of dust or my big toe (ok, that one happened only once, and in my defense my contacts were out. #myopia). This has happened at least seven times and counting. 

A beetle outside of Casa Wilson that probably wouldn't find its way into Casa Bloch.

A very large gracias to all of you that followed my travels this past semester (hopefully via this blog and not stealthily in the bushes behind me)! It's cliché, and ya'll can cue that Graduation Song and pull out your nearest hanky or tissue box, but it was an incredible semester with an amazing group of people that made all of the gallopinto-gobbling mornings, frog-filled night hikes, long days of sometimes rainy fieldwork, and bus rides in every which way such an unforgettable experience.

¡Hasta la proxima aventura!