Endings

I can't believe I'm heading home tomorrow - has it really been nine weeks?

I've met some amazing people. Remember how worried I was about the other interns? Completely unfounded fears. The group was funny, energetic, intelligent. Before I came here, I didn't have a clue about the "disaster field," and now I'm thinking of maybe emphasizing my that when I go for my MPH or even getting a degree in disaster or emergency management. My mentors have been helpful, and I've been extremely fortunate to have been able to travel so extensively.

But now ... I had wanted to use my summer work in the thesis I have to do next year. However, I can't take the data back to OU with me, and without it, I don't think I'll be able to expand my work into a real anthropological thesis. In fact, one of my mentors told me I was "pretty much done" and I'd done a great job. I feel like what I accomplished here only scratched the surface. Had I known that I wouldn't be able to do my thesis out of this, would I have chosen to do something else with my summer? Honestly, I don't know. I think I'll be able to use some of my research to do a disaster-related thesis, so it hasn't been a total wash. Far from it, given everyone I've met (and the nice stipend).

I've still got almost a month before classes start. I'll see what I can put together before then.