My applied learning experience allowed me to gain first hand experience in the field and gain valuable skills that I would not be able to gain in a traditional classroom setting. I was able to explore the positives and negatives of working in the field as well as the possibility of a future career in anthropoloy as a field researcher.
I have worked closely with the professor who runs the field school and became very interested in attending as I began to learn more about it. I hoped to gain incite into what it would take to puruse the role of a researcher and to gain a better understanding of the direction I wanted to go in for the future.
I gained a massive understanding and appreciation for the culture in which I was living for four weeks. It was very challenging because of the vigorous schedule that we had to adhere to on a daily basis but the reality is that is what doing field research entails. I learned skills that helped me cope with time management as well as balancing work with leisure and building a relationship with the local people.
This field school was vigorous and my participation shows a lot of dedication to the work that I conduct. The ability to handle a generous amount of work successfully in a place very different from that in which you are used to working is a skill that shows diversity and flexibility. Having already had field experience, I will have a leg up in applying for graduate study because I will have already completed hands-on work as well as conducted a study designed and produced by myself.
