Introduction

Today is the day - I've left for my internship in Lima, Peru and I couldn't be more excited! After all these years of hoping, working, and waiting, I've finally had the incredible opportunity to become a World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan Intern to the International Potato Center in Peru. 

So today I'm leaving on what I hope to be a life-changing adventure.

For the next eight weeks, I will be living and working in Lima, Peru.  At the International Potato Center, or el Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP), I will be working with a team that is researching the different genetic factors of drought tolerance in different potato varieties.

http://cipotato.org

Worldwide, potatoes are the third most important food crop, but they are very sensitive to water shortages which results in massive yield losses for farmers.  As a part of this team, I will study the responses of potato plants to water shortages both at the genetic and physiological level, with the ultimate goal of selecting varieties that could be bred for drought tolerant traits and stabilize yields.

Not only will this be an incredible opportunity to advance my educational and career goals, I will also be able to finally practice my Spanish through immersion.  Although I've studied Spanish for five years, I have never really had the opportunity to converse at length with native speakers.  So, I anticipate that this experience will be both exhilarating and exhausting!

Thanks for reading, and I'll post soon about my travels today!