— Introduction to this course blog, and end of Week One —

“History in its broadest aspect is a record of man’s migrations from one environment to another.” – Ellsworth Huntington

First of all, I’d like to extend a warm thank you to Dr. Turner for allowing me to not only be a candidate in the first place for this course, but as well as being a great support system for this upcoming semester.

As the semester begins to unfold before us, and we begin to accommodate ourselves in our schedules and routines, it will definitely require a good amount of work and proper time management to balance this project out on all parts. Our project begins on Tuesday, August 22 and ends Thursday November 30, 2017.

In case you all didn’t know, and for those of you visiting this page, my blog is dedicated to not only track the journey I am to embark on but as well as document the process and steps I take when it comes to my research project. The Cultural Crossroads or “migration” project I will work on is still under works, but let me tell you, I have some good ideas as well as an excellent faculty advisor, so I’m sure we will get a more centralized topic for our research project in itself.

I’d like to explore the meaning of migration before things get too ahead of themselves for my personal benefit, in order to better understand what it means to migrate and WHY people choose to do so. What are the underlying factors that determine the location for the migrants to settle in a new location? But most importantly, why did they choose to migrate in the first place — what events lead to their move, and how are they prospering in the new environment in contrast to what was previously their home?

Of course  these changes cannot possibly be determined or defined in a small blog post; much less in 140 characters on twitter updates. This is why research is beneficial, and why a project of this nature is so important. It helps us begin to describe and uncover the things from our past that will help us carve out  endless possibilities in our future, and learn from past events and essentially help us understand life itself, this earth, this universe in general.

Of course I am no expert, simply a humble student at my institution, but I hope this project leaves not only a mark for the rest of the world to recognize the work we do, but as well as my life and inspires me to do more outside my comfort zone.

Please feel free to browse the site, leave comments, or even look at my “about blogger” page to learn a little bit about the girl behind the scenes!

Until next time, Maria.