blog.shimer

A Montezuma Welcome!

Hello everyone!

My name is Renee, and I just finished my first year at Shimer College. This summer, I am completing a three month internship at the Montezuma Mariposario Bed & Breakfast and Butterfly Garden in Costa Rica. (www.montezumagardens.com)

It is an extremely diverse place to work, and truly gives meaning to the phrase “wearing many hats.” My main objectives while I am here are the following:

*To learn the inner-workings of the tourism industry in general, as well as eco-tourism
*To gain a better understanding of international business and advertising
*To learn about tropical biology
*To experience communal living
*To learn how to transition to a more ecologically sustainable way of life

In many ways, I feel like I am getting to know the proverbial “man behind the curtain” in this internship. Tourism and Hospitality are about creating an experience, which is a lot like putting on a show. When you are the member of the audience, the show is made for you. You do not see the techies working in the dark, aiming lights and responding to sound cues; you don’t see the hours of rehearsal each actor has to endure in order to be flawless on stage. You do not witness the usher sweeping the empty auditorium late at night after the show is over and everyone has left. You experience the final product, which is but a faceplate of the entirety.

Having been a tourist, I understand how places can seem magical. Any exotic place offers intrigue and an element of fantasy, if for no other reason than because it is free from the chores and monotony of every day existence that epitomize home. Personally, I’ve always had this quixotic dream of running away to a tropical country and starting an intentional community, living off of sustainable farming and extra income from a bed and breakfast or retreat center on the property. Tropical countries, intentional communities and farming all have their respective challenges, and it is a main objective of mine to get slapped in the face by reality a few times. So far, so good.

Oh, and since I’m introducing myself, here is a picture of me with some crazy jungle curls sitting at the desk in the front office. In Chicago, my hair does not do this.

Stay tuned for a virtual tour of the butterfly garden, the cooperative fruit and vegetable garden, and the communal living quarters!

Until next time!

Nature vs. Nurture...kind of...

Renee is a second-year Shimer student whose Shimer Internship/Mentorship is at an Ecotourism Bed and Breakfast in Costa Rica this summer.  Here beginneth her account of her adventures there.

    It is my second day here at the Mariposario in Montezuma, Costa Rica, and so far I have had quite the introduction to the place by the wildlife. In Chicago, it is easy to forget all about nature, as we live in sanitized, insulated boxes with piped in air and greenish artificial lighting. We have lights lining our streets, and ground that isn't paved is manicured, weeded, and sprayed into submission.

    Here in Montezuma, it is all but impossible to forget about nature. The first night I was here, I was greeted by purple and neon orange crabs in the bathroom and geckos that hang out on the ceiling and laugh intermittently with timing that is remarkably comedic.

I have also been hazed by hooting Howler Monkeys and hand-sized tarantulas, both of which I have never encountered outside of a zoo or otherwise without the protection of thick glass and/or bars. Here is some footage of me and some garden workers 'talking' to the Howler Monkeys www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYClgqQVpz8  

    Apparently, the Howler Monkeys will not only howl at you, but will also throw things at you if you rile them up enough. I have not attempted this yet, but I have three months to go. Hopefully, they will throw a mango at me, as they can reach them and I can't. I'd love a fresh picked mango!

 

To give you a better idea of what it is like here, I will describe the office in which I work:

Obviously, there is no air conditioning; only a fan to help move the air. The weather is not bad, however; it rains a lot, and though the humidity has turned my hair into a crazy tangle of gravity-defying curls, I find it loads more pleasant than the obnoxious cold I have to deal with anywhere indoors during Chicago's sweltering summers. Something about the drastic change from intense outdoor heat to meat-locker frigidity indoors seems unhealthy. The body adjusts to the temperature outside, and I haven't had any discomfort.

In the room with me is a gecko, a blue wasp, some kind of moth, three yellow flying ants/termites (not sure exactly what they are), and a little purple and orange crab that just scuttled out the door. I also saw a black and orange baby tarantula the size of a quarter hanging out in the corner.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, I can see a plantain tree, a noni bush, a mango tree, a papaya tree, and this strange tree that has large pods that is supposedly related to cacao. There are also palm trees, and other tropical plants and flowers. The magnificent Costa Rican morphos is an iridescent blue butterfly, and can be seen flitting in loopy patterns outside from time to time.

In the distance, I hear the throaty call of the Howler Monkeys every time a car passes (apparently, the cars sound like a howler monkey call, so it sets them off). Right outside the window, two different types of hummingbirds have visited a hibiscus plant.


Over all, being this close to nature is simultaneously awe-inspiring, exhilarating and terrifying. I remember being a kid, playing out in the woods of Tennessee with toads and snakes and daddy-long legs, and thinking nothing of it. I am reminded of that when I see four year old little girls playing with tarantulas with no reservations. I am also reminded of my self at that age, and how living in Chicago for 15 years has made me extremely squeamish and...well, different. I like that I am getting accustomed to living side by side with nature again, as terrifying as that can be (in the case of seeing four hand-sized tarantulas in my living quarters...ack!).

 


Whatever ends up happening, I know I'm in for an adventure!

 

Next up, I will be posting a virtual tour of the butterfly garden (also known as Mariposario) here at Montezuma Gardens. Stay tuned!

ShimerBlog2011.SF1 (In which Stephanie introduces herself and her Shimer-Sponsored Internship, a bit unconventionally)

 Shimer Internship/Mentorship Program (SIM), May-August 2011: Finding Aid for Stephanie Fong

 

Creator:  Stephanie Fong 

Extent: 0.25 linear foot (projected)

Processor:   ...also Stephanie Fong, as well as Cassie Sherman, 2011 

 

Administration Information

Access Restrictions: None, although some information may be withheld in the future for confidentiality reasons.

Usage Restrictions: Copyright for materials created by Stephanie Fong in this collection have been transferred to Shimer College.

Preferred Citation: Shimer College. blog.shimer. Stephanie Fong's SIM Program Blog Posts, 2011. Post ID. 

Provenance: Stephanie Fong submitted her first post to the Shimer blog beginning on May 22, 2011 as original accession ShimerBlog2011.SF1. Anticipate forthcoming addenda ShimerBlog2011.SF2,  ShimerBlog2011.SF3, ShimerBlog2011.SF4, etc..

Separations: Overly personal and/or uninteresting information.

See also: Upcoming Shimer blog posts from SIM program participants Renee Meschi, Zachary Fazio, and Blake "Landis" Masnor. 
 

 

Biography

Stephanie Fong was born on March 8th, 1991 in La Grande, Oregon, where she lived for a few years before moving with her family to the suburbs outside Portland, OR.  She is the oldest of four children (Kristi, Jordan, and Selena).  She graduated from Oregon Episcopal School in 2009.  During her high school years, she stage-managed half a dozen theatrical performances and enjoyed studying languages, history, and  science.  Last month, she completed her second year at Shimer College in Chicago, IL.  Some of her favorite readings this past semester included Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Confucius's Analects, Alpers's and Baxandahl's Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence, and Keller's "Feminism and Science".  When she is not reading for class, working in the Dean's/Registrar's office, or in Administrative Committee meetings, she likes to go thrift store shopping, attend the opera, and bake bread.  After Shimer, she is thinking about pursuing a career in historic preservation.       

This summer, she has an internship at the Women and Leadership Archives (WLA) on Loyola University Chicago's campus in Rogers Park.  Open to the public, the WLA houses collections from regional organizations and individual women alike with a focus on social justice activism, feminist theology, and the records of Mundelein College.  The WLA also works closely with "projects and programs that support women's scholarship, education, and networking." (For more information, visit the website here.)

 
Due to the organization's small size--the current staff consists of three graduate students in the combined degree program at Dominican for MLIS and Loyola for a Master of Arts in Public History, and two interns--the environment at the WLA is comfortable and flexible.  As an intern, Stephanie will have the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects throughout the summer related to the management and maintenance of the collection, including processing collections, conducting research on peer institutions, reviewing and critically evaluating current materials, reorganizing the collection, and creating both physical and online exhibits for display.

Scope and Content

Stephanie's blog posts will measure approximately 0.25 linear foot when completed and will span the summer of 2011.  The internship began last week (May 16, 2011), and will continue through mid-August, 2011.  The posts will be organized chronologically and will contain written information as well as photographs and maybe other things, too.  Subjects that will be covered in the collection include the SIM-sponsored internship as well as her personal life, Shimer College, the city of Chicago, summer-related events, and more.   

 
Check back later for further developments.