{"id":3116,"date":"2013-09-27T03:37:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T15:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auip.wordpress.com\/?p=3116"},"modified":"2013-09-27T03:37:45","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T15:37:45","slug":"student-perspective-traveling-halfway-around-the-world-inspires-student-to-pursue-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/student-perspective-traveling-halfway-around-the-world-inspires-student-to-pursue-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Perspective: Traveling halfway around the world inspires student to pursue dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reina Tyl, Buckeyes Abroad<\/a> marketing intern, writes:
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

G\u2019day, mate! My name is Reina Tyl, and I am one of the Buckeyes Abroad marketing Interns for The Ohio State University<\/a>. I am a third year Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife student in the School of Environment and Natural Resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Spending the majority of my life growing up in metro Detroit and relocating to Columbus for college, I never imagined living anywhere outside of the Midwest. My passion for fisheries and my desire to stay close to my family made a career centered on the Great Lakes seem ideal to me. However, my far-off dream of studying marine biology was rekindled after completing the Sustainability programs in North Queensland<\/a> and Fiji<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Reina<\/a>

Reina scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef with a humphead wrasse named “Angus\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

The highlight of the North Queensland program, for me, was getting the opportunity to spend three days out on the Great Barrier Reef<\/a>, snorkeling, scuba diving and learning about all of the organisms thriving in that fragile ecosystem. I can check that off of my bucket list! I was lucky enough to be able to take the knowledge I gained on the reef in Australia and apply it another reef system surrounding the Pacific island of Fiji.<\/p>\n

In Australia, I gained an appreciation for the careful balance between the rainforest, mangrove and reef ecosystems we explored in North Queensland. I have never been to a more beautiful and fascinating place, filled with people who are so passionate about protecting these fragile ecosystems, in my life.<\/p>\n

\"Reina<\/a>

Reina playing a game with one of the children in Votua Village, Fiji. Photo by Aleisa Torchick.<\/p><\/div>\n

The highlight of my experience in Fiji was, by far, the homestay. I interacted with a culture so different to that which I\u2019m accustomed, and I learned how the people depend on the coral reef to sustain their traditional way of life. The bond I made with my Fijian family, in only a couple of days, is one that will last a lifetime. I mean that too! I plan to return there some day, and they assured me that they would welcome me back with open arms.<\/p>\n

I was a nervous about spending almost seven weeks on the other side of the world because I had never been so far away from home before; however, I was also eager to exercise my independent spirit and discover a world so unlike what I was used to in the Midwest. Although it seemed like a far-off dream before, my passion for marine biology is something I can seriously see myself pursuing after I complete my undergraduate degree due to the experiences and knowledge I gained in the North Queensland and Fiji programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reina Tyl, Buckeyes Abroad marketing intern, writes: G\u2019day, mate! My name is Reina Tyl, and I am one of the Buckeyes Abroad marketing Interns for The Ohio State University. I am a third year Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife student in the School of Environment and Natural Resources. Spending the majority of my life growing up in metro Detroit and relocating…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,23,6,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-14-interns","category-australia-north-queensland","category-fiji","category-student-perspective"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}