Please write a statement (750-1,000 words) indicating your background and qualifications for studying and living abroad,

your reasons for c oosing t is !rogram or e"c ange, and t e !ro#ected benefits of t is e"!erience to your course of study and long-term !lans$ %nclude any ot er information t at you feel is relevant to your a!!lication$
I have no background in studying abroad and this would be my first academic excursion outside of the United States. I have studied some university classes in Georgia at Georgia Tech, but I would hardly deem those classes as abroad. I have, however lived abroad as I have worked in a printed circuit board factory in ongguan, !hina for a period of two months in the summer of "#$#. I lived in an apartment across the facilities with an %nglish teacher who was teaching at the factory, but for the ma&ority of the day, spent my time inside the factory. 'y grasp of the language was minimal and I could carry out simple exchanges, but could not keep up with the technical terms the workers were using. (owever, once the work)day was done and the conversations turned to topics of dinner and the *orld !up, I could once again mingle with the locals. I have taken a few years of Spanish through middle and high school, but it has also been a few years since the last class I completed, though I am confident I will be able to pick it back up rather +uickly. uring my stay in !hina, I was encouraged sei,e the opportunity to travel during the weekends while I lived oversees as internal travel within !hina would be far cheaper than having to return on a separate trip solely for leisure. I followed the advice and traveled to -i.an with three Taiwanese interns to see the Terracotta /rmy among other historical attractions in the city. I was in charge of planning the sites to see while the Taiwanese fellows booked our accommodations. Unfortunately, they were not available to accompany me on my second excursion to 0i 1iang. Traveling alone, I was responsible for all the transportation details, tours, and hostels that I would re+uire for the trip. This was a new experience for me and was slightly overwhelming at first, but the freedom of it all was extremely gratifying looking back. 'y ma&or is %nvironmental Science focusing in !onservation and 2estoration %cology and after reading the program description, I was especially interested in the topics of ecology, sustainability, the 3intersection of human development, biodiversity conservation, and environmental change4 as they resonate with the view I have for my course of study. I chose the %cuador %xploration Seminar also in part because of the convenience of the pre)fall aspect allowing me to enroll in a full +uarter without pushing back my graduation date and also it was a great chance to further my knowledge in foreign perspectives on the topic of sustainability and anthropological effects on the environment. This will allow me to continue my studies at U* 5othell without having to worry about incurring extra finances by reserving a +uarter that could potentially have been fifteen or more credits towards graduation for possibly a lesser amount of credits that may not have gone towards my ma&or re+uirements. Since I have &ust begun my education at U* 5othell and this being my first +uarter in my ma&or, I do not have a broad base of knowledge to draw from in terms of environmental science. I am hoping to &oin this exploration seminar in order to broaden my spectrum of knowledge in the areas I am interested in while also seeing how other cultures interact and operate on the problems of sustainability they encounter. I am also eager to learn skills such as G6S and GIS mapping because I believe those skills will prove extremely useful in the environmental field as I continue my education as well as when I begin to search for employment. The political economy also is a complex system that intrigues me. The depletion of the /ma,on forest in order for %cuador to produce oil seems logical as the /ma,on 5asin is such a large area. (owever, after viewing before and after pictures of large swaths of landscape, the /ma,on is noticeable shrinking. /t this point I wonder how the people in power in %cuador &ustify the oil and agricultural expansion at the expense of consuming the rainforest at an increasing rate. The topic of tourism also brings up a +uestion that I.ve often wondered. (ow does the government or other agency find a balance between generating revenue from tourism and mitigating the damage done to the environment because of it7 I am sure the draw of the money tourists bring in and also the environmental education that is possible because of tourism is weighed heavily in the e+uation, but there must be some ma&or drawbacks with high volumes of

tourism. I hope to have these +uestions and other unmentioned ones answered as I participate in the exploration seminar.