While PDXWildlife heavily focuses their internship program on science and study design, an exciting and necessary addition is cultural immersion. Without diving head-first into the complexities of Chinese society, one might not receive the full experience that this beautiful culture has to offer. I might go so far as to say that our program would not be able to have access to the research without the common occurrences that are experienced, not from being foreigners, but from living like locals.
To put this another way, our semi-immalleable beliefs and ideas that are brought over here, have to be checked with the luggage once we step on the airplane. China and the United States are vastly different countries in the way that research and daily life are conducted. This doesn’t imply that one is right or that one is wrong. What it does imply is that there are multiple ways to go about answering the same question.
We are now into our sixth year and we discover new ways to go about collecting data with each trip. This is what makes our internships and our research so exciting. Nothing happens overnight, nor does it follow a straight line. I, myself, had to learn how to combat my impatience and desire to look at a problem, wanting to immediately solve it by skipping necessary customs. All said, China makes you slow down and appreciate the process of discovery. Even though this realization may have taken a few years to settle in for me, we are able to quickly deliver this concept to our interns so they can benefit from our experience.
As I near the end of my trip, I’m proud of Steph, Zach & Zack for how quickly they have picked up this understanding. It’s always a weight off to know that we are leaving the panda program in good hands.