Entry No. 1

This is the travel blog of Katie K. It seems that when you go on a trip, you start a blog, because your life gets interesting enough to be worth cataloguing. Or not, I just think it’s a good way to keep connected while I am down in the Caribbean.

I am moving to the south Caribbean for the semester, to Bonaire, a small island that is part of the Netherlands Antilles. And when I say small, I mean that it is 111 square miles, and approximately 24 miles long. If it helps as a reference, Okinawa is 463 square miles, and about 60 miles long. The temperatures stay in the 80s from January to December, and the island doesn’t get much rainfall. Bonaire has renowned SCUBA diving, which was the primary draw for me. I’m going to a research station to study tropical and marine conservation biology, this translates to a lot of face time with marine wildlife, and basically 15 weeks of diving for college credit. I’ll be taking classes on coral reef ecology, tropical conservation biology, cultural and environmental history of Bonaire, as well as learning research methods and conducting independent research. I’m hoping to walk away from this as a DiveMaster, and maybe a better idea of what it is that I should do with my life.

Such is the life of a military child, I get antsy; I have been at the University f Minnesota for the last 2 ½ years and wanderlust has kicked in. It also doesn’t hurt that Minnesota winter has set in, and I am ready to return to warmer climates, and since the family is no longer stationed in Okinawa, it’s time for me to set off on my own international adventures.