#vlir-uos

My name is Robin Van Havermaet and at the moment I am studying Bio-Engineering Sciences at University Ghent. It has only been a couple of hours ago since I got the news that I passed my first year of master's studies. With only one more year remaining before graduating I also need to start writing a thesis - and this is where it gets interesting folks.

For my thesis, I will be conducting research in Colombia: Si si Colombia, si si Caribe! An expression I learned from someone special - yes Ale, you're reading this well, you are being tagged here :-P - in order to support Los Cafeteros, the Colombian national football team in the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. For the football fans among the readers: the current score of the quarter-final Brazil-Colombia is 2-0. A pity... Anyway, back to the essence! As said already, I will do my thesis research on the Tropical Dry Forest in Colombia, supported by a scholarship received from VLIR-UOS. For now, I won't go into detail about my research and the forest, but save it for another post because otherwise this first post would become too long. So for those of you who are already agitated about it, no need to worry ;-). But no doubt it'll be an amazing experience, moreover since it's the first time for me that I go to Latin America. It's also the first time I'm using a blog but it seemed a nice way to me to share my experience in some way and perhaps make some people warm for the country itself and - perhaps even more - the nature it harbours. If this blog would have to have a purpose - yea, it would be to make some people more conscious. Nevertheless, you can just freely enjoy this blog and Colombia as I'm exploring it piece by piece and try to catch some of its beauty through words, images, but also some personal impressions.

Alright! I will be ending my first post here for now. Tomorrow evening I will take the plane to Colombia, on to a new adventure, I can barely wait!