I’m Shoulder Deep in a Test Plot and There is a Bug Crawling Up My Pants

Uncomfortable. 

That's how I felt as I was working with Abel Saldivia and his crew in the test plot, digging holes in even BIGGER holes for nitrogen measuring equipment, lying on our stomachs in the soil, and I felt something skittering its way up my leg. 

Don’t freak out. Don’t make a scene. Just act like everything is okay.

That’s how I felt this first week when arriving in Mexico and then at CIMMYT. In a place 1,529 miles away from home, away from what I know and what I’m comfortable with, I was uncomfortable. 

My first day at CIMMYT

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was excited out of my mind, I’m still excited, and I’ve had an amazing experience so far, but that doesn’t mean that exciting things aren’t uncomfortable.

Not speaking near the caliber of Spanish I needed to have a full conversation when I arrived (Uncomfortable). Being able to have my first whole conversation in Spanish a week later and making others laugh (Exciting).

Sitting at a desk for over 20 hours the first couple of days of my internship (Uncomfortable). Sitting at my desk and completing my Hub Model Training Course Certification (Exciting).

Thinking that I’m the least qualified person to have ever set foot onto this campus when speaking with my mentor, Jelle (Uncomfortable). Louis Garcia, a head scientist in Farmer-Market Linkages, told me that my analysis of the topic brought up pros and cons he hadn’t even thought about (Exciting).

Asking a female member of Abel’s crew if something is crawling up my leg in broken Spanish (Uncomfortable). Her pulling off a medium-sized spider and telling me that their bite is nasty (Relieving).

This internship is going to be full of so many things that make me uncomfortable; things that will test me. But just because these things are uncomfortable doesn’t mean they won’t lead to exciting discoveries. 

This week I learned so many new things. Things about agriculture, Mexican culture, and myself. I was able to tour CIMMYT’s gene bank and learned how they have over 28,000 unique maize varieties and more than 150,000 wheat varieties.

Me during my tour of CIMMYT's gene bank

I’m so excited to continue my journey at CIMMYT to help promote food security through hubs, agronomic research, preservation of genetic diversity, and so much more. I would like to thank Jelle, Odette, Liz, Abel, and Tony for being my support system this week. I wouldn't have been able to make it through these uncomfortable situations without them.

So, who knows what ways this next week will make me uncomfortable, but even if I do get a couple more bugs crawling up my pants, it will be worth it… as long as I’m shoulder deep in a test plot.