I was once a student in an A.P. Biology class in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. This was a decade ago, just before Mr. Collins and I were destined to meet at the University of Minnesota in our own college biology class. You read that correctly: your teacher and I were lab partners! It is beautiful how the wheel of time turns and brings us back together again!
I am very excited to share the remaining months of my Fulbright Student Research scholarship with you. For the last six months, I have been living just above the Arctic circle in Tromsø, Norway. Here, the winters are very dark, and the summers are full of sun. This winter, I survived on less than one hour of sunlight a day. I think the pain felt this winter will be worth it when I can hike the surrounding mountains at 3:00 a.m. this summer! My time in northern Norway teaches me to accept darkness into my life. I now more deeply recognize the natural forces of the outside world and their effects on me. In fact, I now consider my relationship with the sun to be a sacred one! I will cherish the moment I saw the sun slowly return over the mountains this winter.
