Happy Monday, ladies! Today is a big day because it starts the Peruvian adventure. Last week was all about preparations. And there was a LOT to prepare. I have to be honest, the stress did get to me a little bit. Especially as the rain started to come down which killed valuable photo time. Anyway, today I want to talk about what the heck I’m even doing in Peru to begin with.

SIMILAR JACKET // HUE LEGGINGS // NORTH FACE BACKPACK (SIMILAR)

SOME BACKGROUND

So OG Fashion in Flight girls will remember I started the blog at the end of my first quarter in college. I started it as a reprieve and contrast from what I was working on every day: pure, unadulterated science. And I really love science, like really, really love.

Particularly, I love anthropology and just about every aspect of anthropology. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the study of humankind. Anthropology is one of those disciplines that is referenced and talked about in almost every other discipline. But my main focus in on physical, biological, and the forensic realms of anthropology. That is, bones.

So all of the work I do is on or related to the human skeleton. We’ve done all sorts of work from identifying and learning all the bones and their features to actually contributing to the production of new knowledge by doing isotope analyses and other chemical analyses. I talk about my own work in a post here, and also presented it in Sonoma last year (which you may have seen if you follow on Instagram).

THE RESEARCH

So, I actually don’t know exactly what we’ll be working on in Peru, and I probably won’t know until we walk into the lab and survey the situation. There are a few projects we have in mind though, but I’m not sure how much I am able to actually talk about them.

I will say, my focus is on more humanitarian research. As much as I appreciate and enjoy archaeology, my heart lies in helping those who are around to truly understand and appreciate the work as it acts upon their lives. With that being said, I am hoping to undertake some humanitarian missions like identifying the victims of the massive conflict in Peru. Learn more about that here.

I will also be working in archaeological contexts, but mostly we will be working with what we have available to develop and research other viable methods of identifying remains or learning about a person’s or culture’s history based on their bones and associated artifacts (clothes, jewelry, etc.).

WHAT’S THE POINT?

I know it’s a bit gruesome, and definitely very different from what I talk about here. But that was the point of the blog in the first place – what I’m doing in Peru these next couple months is my end goal and what I’ve been working toward for the last six or seven years. Maybe more.

And this blog as grown over the last three years to become a place not just about fashion and style, but about having and balancing these fun aesthetic interests with careers that may live in entirely different worlds. So the point in sharing what I’m doing in Peru is to show you that you don’t have to pick between the things you love and that if you think and act deliberately, you really can do it all. It’s just about balance.

So the next couple months you’ll see that I’m practicing balance: I know I’ll be busy working in Peru, so I reduced the time I’ll spend on the blog by writing fewer posts and working on them in advance. I also missed a few posts as I was preparing for this trip and I won’t feel bad about that because I needed to make that sacrifice to accomplish the goals I’ve set.

Anyway, that’s just what I’m doing, but I want to be super transparent and talk about all the issues and challenges I face and how I’m solving them because I know that I’m not the only one. So I hope that what I learn the hard way, you could learn the easy way here and really make the most of your skills and talents.

What’s your life passion project? Share below!

follow on: INSTAGRAM // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // PINTEREST // BLOGLOVIN’ // SNAPCHAT
✥✥✥