The Begining

Greetings to my family, friends, and colleagues who might take the time to read my weblog! After planning three international trips for the next year, I decided it is an excellent exercise in communication and reflection to write a blog outlining discoveries in my travels. My perspective has the chance to be unique to a small degree because I've never traveled outside the country, nor traveled by airplane. My week-long trip to Sweden this winter break will be my first trip abroad and my first travel by airplane. I cannot fully describe how excited I am to travel in the upcoming year. I always believed international adventures were reserved for the eccentric uncles for the world. It is unthinkable to believe I will have the opportunity to learn about others, to make small but positive change in the world, and to have undreamable international adventures. I believed I was not bold enough. I always believed I was not rich enough!

My purpose for traveling to Sweden is to attend the European Director's Meeting for International Agriculture And biology Students conference (EDM IAAS Sweden). I am very excited to depart on the 26th, but have many preparations before that time. I will delineate all the points of the preparations here. The schedule for EDM Sweden can be seen below. As you can see, we will tour Stockholm, Uppsala, and various farms in the area.

My next international adventure will be to Costa Rica in March to tour Costa Rican soils, water, and crop production. This trip is via Agronomy 496A: Costa Rican Soils and Crops. I am looking forward to meeting Dr. Burras; I am told he is a wonderful instructor.

My final international sojourn of the year will take me to either Peru or India thanks to the Plant Sciences Institute Borlaug Intern program. While abroad, I will study the plant sciences and crop production. Of course, I will also experience the rich cultures of the locations. If you would like to learn more about the Plant Sciences Institute, I have provided a link to their page. http://www.plantsciences.iastate.edu/

Finally, I presume a brief explanation of the title I have chosen for my weblog is in order. Nomenclature for Souvarian is a two part name. "Nomenclature" expresses a desire for development for the ability to describe new objects, feelings, people, and locations. "Souvarian" when spoken aloud sounds like "so-very-young." Thus, this is an outlet for expression for the wide-eyed traveler. Thank you to musical artist Andrew Bird and his Nobel Beast album for inspiration for the title. Thank you for taking the time to read my first post. Your consideration and feedback is greatly appreciated.