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Caitlin
Caitlin's Bio
Caitlin Casey is a fun, mischievous Boston University student studying with the Tropical Ecology Program in Ecuador. As she explains it, "The first segment is based out of Quito, and the group of students I'm going with will be taking classes at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and staying with host families there, but our program includes trips to the Andes mountains to study montane ecology, a 10-day segment on a boat in the Galapagos Islands to study coastal ecology and a long segment in the middle of the jungle at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, which is this incredible research and conservation facility on the fringe of a big national park in the middle of the jungle."
Before embarking on this outrageous journey, we got her to answer a few questions about her thoughts on studying abroad, and her typical likes and dislikes when it comes to things like books, movies and TV shows. Read away for a peak inside her mind.
What is the aspect of your upcoming semester that makes you most excited?
Well, the cultural exposure is going to be incredible - I get to live with a real Ecuadorian family in the middle of the capital city, so I expect to be doing a lot of exploring and interacting with non-Americans. I'm looking forward to actually using Spanish, since I've been studying it for seven years - and I'll be taking lecture courses at Quito's main university, so I hope to make a lot of Ecuadorian friends who can show me around. USFQ is also sort of a hotspot for political debate, since Ecuador's current president used to teach there - I'm planning on bumming around the squares and cafes and clubs as much as possible and basically eavesdropping on any interesting conversation I hear - or jumping in on them. I just want to absorb everything.
Still, the reason I'm going to Ecuador is to study ecology, so although my stay in Quito will be amazing, the thing I dream of every night is sprinting through the jungle clutching a water bottle and a stitch in my side as I try to keep up with the howler monkeys that are swinging through the trees in the canopy over my head. And then there's snorkeling in the Galapagos islands, where the water is crystalline aqua blue and the animals are so isolated from human contact that they have no fear factor and they hang around and basically sit on your feet anytime you stop moving for more than a minute. That should be pretty cool.
What are you looking forward to the least in your upcoming semester?
Well, I hear the bugs, the microbes and the staph infections are no Georgia peach. The mosquitoes will probably bother me the most, but hopefully I'll be too distracted by poison dart frogs, pygmy anteaters and giant sea turtles to notice. Of course I'll get a little homesick as well, but I'm from California, so deciding to go to college in Boston was pretty much an epic move - after 3 years here, a semester in Quito hardly seems different. I'll miss my roommates and being able to play water polo, but mostly I'm worried about what's going to happen when I've been in the jungle for three weeks without any access to chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
What made you want to study abroad?
It was more of a need than a want. There's so much world out there that a lot of people never get to see, and you miss so much perspective if you don't expand your horizons - it becomes really easy to ignore the rest of the world if you're only familiar with one little square of it. College is the perfect opportunity to travel, because most people don't have financial or family ties yet that make them stay in the states, and BU abroad programs cost as much as a semester at home.
Why did you choose this destination/program?
I'm interested in conservation biology, so it's important for me to see how diverse biology can be - not to mention the fact that the Galapagos, the Andes and the Amazon are seeing some of the biggest impacts of global climate change and habitat destruction of anywhere on Earth. Also, South America has always called to me because I love Latino culture, the Spanish language and the incredible politics and heartbreaking heritage of the mestizo countries.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I'm really athletic; I play water polo for BU and I go running every day. Whenever I can, I play soccer and tackle football or go exploring outside, whether it's around the city or on nature hikes in California. I love anything that is hands-on: I spent this past summer in the caves of Texas, studying Brazilian bats, camping out under the beautiful Texas sky in stifling storm humidity at night and getting showered by guano and mites as bats flew overhead. At the end of the summer I had to throw out my jeans because they were covered in bat blood, squashed bugs and mud that wouldn't wash out. It was awesome. I saw more snakes than Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade.
I love to read and do creative writing, and I love words. Spanish has taught me how many ways there are to express yourself that you'd never know unless you study foreign languages. I take music and a book wherever I go. I listen to almost everything, I love live shows and dancing is one of my favorite things to do. I'm a horrible, ridiculous dancer, and I'm clumsy as all hell, which makes it so much more fun. I also love adventures, and sentences followed by the phrase "I dare you."
What are your favorite books and magazines?
I like fiction a lot, and books that are haunting are typically the ones that stay with me. I loved Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and The Vortex by Jose Eustasio Rivera. One of the best new fiction books I've ever read is Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, which should be accompanied by the poetry of Raymond Carver. I loved The Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and I don't think that Nabokov's Lolita will ever leave me. Nonfiction can be incredible as well, though, and The Devil's Highway, and Savages are both life-changing, but the best history book I've ever read is by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, who wrote Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk.
I don't subscribe to any magazines, but National Geographic is always incredible and the makers of Vice magazine have my undying loyalty, if for nothing else than the DO's & DON'Ts section. Also, I guess this doesn't really count, but I love Web comics by Brad Neely.
What type of music do you listen to?
I've always wished I could be one of those people who cocked their head and raised their eyebrow and responded to this question with, "Coltrane and Myles Davis, baby, the masters, who else?" But I hate jazz.
I love everything else. I'm a big fan of Indie rock, but it's gotta have a good beat. The Magnetic Fields, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wolf Parade, Okkervil River and the Decemberists have been keeping me company a lot lately. I always go back to Lou Reed and the Violent Femmes when I'm feeling rebellious. Ghostland Observatory and the Darkness are good for some nasty glitter rock, but mix IMA Robot and Architecture in Helsinki with She Wants Revenge and Electric Six if you want a great dance party. For depression or lovesickness, Mary Chapin Carpenter, the Wrens, Madeleine Peyroux and Sun Kil Moon can't be beat. For philosophic pondering, Modest Mouse can rip my world apart and put it back together any day.
I've been rocking Talib Kweli, Outkast and the Swollen Members as far as hip-hop goes lately, but Nelly and Justin Timberlake will always be close to my heart.
I do love Lyle Lovett and Dolly Parton and I can handle some Dylan once in a while. The late greats will always be Johnny Cash, Kurt Cobain, Mozart and Elliot Smith.
What are you favorite TV shows and movies?
I love horror movies more than life: American Psycho (Christian Bale has never been sexier. I know, I'm scary).
Documentaries: Dogtown and Z-Boys (Hella tight - the original Cali skateboarders); The Yes Men (Do you like practical jokes? These guys impersonated WTO representatives, interviewees on CNN and key note speakers at international corporate conferences and convinced an entire college assembly that they were eating hamburgers made out of recycled human waste); Rize (the Compton battle between krumping and clowning hip-hop dance moves); Scratch (about the evolution of turntablism and modern hip-hop).
Comedy: Bring it On (I'm not ashamed), She's the Man (Amanda Bynes is the man.) Bad Santa (reminds me of Christmas at my house).
Action: If it has Bruce Lee in it, I'm so there. Any James Bond movie before Pierce Brosnan, and any Indiana Jones movie. I also love Sylvester Stallone and even though Arnold wasn't my choice for governor, True Lies was good stuff.
TV Shows: I love Law and Order - the original and any of the spin-offs, but I get in trouble around the holidays, because they put marathons on and I'll just watch and watch until I'm totally nauseated by how evil humans can be in fantasy NY. Also, the golden days of Saturday Night Live will never leave me. I still want to marry Chris Farley or Willem Dafoe, but the Chris Farley ship has sort of sailed.
If you could have dinner with one famous person - alive or dead, historical or celebrity - who would it be and why?
Oh man, this is a hard one. But I guess I'd have to say Jesus. This is kind of funny because I'm an agnostic, but I used to study history and as a historical figure, Jesus is incredibly interesting. It seems like there's no way to say this without seeming sarcastic, but I am totally sincere. He taught a lot of people during his lifetime, and they were so inspired by his teachings that they spread out all over the place sharing his lessons. Conversation with that man must have been incredibly compelling, and the people I find most fascinating are people who are passionate about their beliefs and like to talk about them. He was passionate enough about his to die for them, following which event, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, the faith that his disciples spread rose from a persecuted, hated faith to the major faith of the greatest empire in world history after Constantine declared his conversion to Christianity. Now, Jesus wasn't alive during any of this, but it would be awesome to hear all about his life and the places he wandered and the people he met and talked to. He changed the world, which is what I want to do, and if nothing else, it would be nice to spend the evening talking to a guy who liked carpentry and picnics by the riverside and who inspired people to try to be better people.
If you want to start a sentence to her with "I dare you," go post a comment on her blog.
