Despite having my initial flight delayed and the lengthy layover in Denver that followed, I finally made it into Menonomenie’s desolate, dimly lit streets just a few hours before sunrise. Getting settled into my room (or more appropriately, any room) wasn’t exactly a smooth process either but in truth, running around the campus at 2am trying to figure out my rooming situation allowed for some justified late-night adventuring that felt like an intimate introduction to this quaint town that so quickly felt like home.
Coming from the West Coast I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect of the Upper Midwest. Subtle differences in the environmental, infrastructural, and cultural landscape captivated my interest at every turn. Everything from the type of plastic bags offered in grocery stores to the horizontal street lights and silent, buttonless crosswalks piqued my curiosity and the geographer in me fluttered with a desire to delve deeper into the stories latent in the landscape of Menomonie. And delve we did.
Our mentors gave us a tour of the town as we rode our bikes around the streets and later toured a local farm. The historical and ecological complexity of Menomonie emerged before us and our team didn’t hesitate to share our ambitions and commitment to social and environmental justice. Realizing just how much our disciplines and summer research seemed to overlap was promising and my mind has since been flooding with various ideas for our research. The most challenging part of being here by far is narrowing down what exactly I want to study this summer and how to go about the research. With my first week coming to an end, I’m a bit overwhelmed with my research options but also anxious to get started collecting data and working alongside this summer’s incredible LAKES team!
Coming from the West Coast I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect of the Upper Midwest. Subtle differences in the environmental, infrastructural, and cultural landscape captivated my interest at every turn. Everything from the type of plastic bags offered in grocery stores to the horizontal street lights and silent, buttonless crosswalks piqued my curiosity and the geographer in me fluttered with a desire to delve deeper into the stories latent in the landscape of Menomonie. And delve we did.
Our mentors gave us a tour of the town as we rode our bikes around the streets and later toured a local farm. The historical and ecological complexity of Menomonie emerged before us and our team didn’t hesitate to share our ambitions and commitment to social and environmental justice. Realizing just how much our disciplines and summer research seemed to overlap was promising and my mind has since been flooding with various ideas for our research. The most challenging part of being here by far is narrowing down what exactly I want to study this summer and how to go about the research. With my first week coming to an end, I’m a bit overwhelmed with my research options but also anxious to get started collecting data and working alongside this summer’s incredible LAKES team!
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