Me, Myself, and I

The extended version of my 'about me' in case you were dying to know more details. :)

Grandpa's Fishing Hat ft. The Amazon River

Hi! My name is Andrea Vale and I’m a third year Biological Sciences major at the University of Cincinnati. I have a wide range of interests and little career path definition but I did just recently add Environmental Studies and Spanish minors. I’m honestly just trying to learn as much as I can, grow as a person, and explore my passions while at college (and hopefully find an actual job after graduation). I would eventually like to incorporate my love of animals, altruism, nature, and creativity into a career that doesn’t kill my finances.

Aside from school, I love going to concerts (sometimes down the street, sometimes multiple states over) and exploring with my down-for-just-about-anything group of friends. I’m incredibly grateful to be surrounded by individuals that value both the little moments and the big adventures that make life worth living. 

Traveling has also always been important to me and one of those things I’ve daydreamt about since I was seven. I grew up on an entertainment diet of Animal Planet and National Geographic, solidifying my obsession with all the beautiful and fascinating life on this planet. When I was five, we moved to a small Ohio farm town surrounded by country roads and the people I’ve now known and lived with for most of my life. It wasn’t bad, but I wanted to see so much more than miles upon miles of ~corn~. There’s two kinds of small town people: the ones that are comfortable and usually stay within 80 miles of where they grew up and the ones that are itching to get out. Obviously, feelings and mentalities are as varied as there are individuals, but there’s something to be said for the commonalities in thinking between farm towns across the midwest. I fall mostly into the latter category. It’s not that I don’t appreciate my home town and its familiar appeal (including my family, the cows I always say hi to as I drive past, and the restaurants I’ve both celebrated and ate my feelings at), but I was ready to step outside the bubble of northeast Ohio. Granted, I’ve only made it to southwest Ohio for most of the year, but it’s a start. 

In my (albeit limited and biased) experience, college is one of the best opportunities as a young adult to learn about different cultures and places from campus or abroad. I’ve had an amazing time learning about biodiversity in classes for my major and also through partnerships with the Cincinnati Zoo-where I got to explore conservation close to home and make enrichment toys for the tigers! For spring break of freshman year I took a study abroad course that traveled to the Brazilian Amazon. It was a trip full of 5am peaceful sunrises and howler monkeys, exhausting hikes through a rainforest full of beautiful birds and bugs that could maim, and evenings spent eating fresh cooked piranha and gliding across midnight waters, the sky filled with constellations I had never seen. It’s safe to say that after coming home from Brazil I was hooked. I am constantly planning future trips, saving up money to fly to other states, researching how to convert vans and buses for road trips, and looking into what it takes to be a freelance travel writer or work remotely at least once every month. 

While traveling (and travel writing) is just a hobby and college course for me currently, I hope to incorporate at least some aspects of it into my future career. I don’t want to be stuck in an office building for the majority of my waking life, but does anyone really? As a society we place so much pressure on people to give all they have to a capitalist system that a lot of times takes waayyy more than it gives. I think we often lose sight of our own desires and our grasp on things that make us happy in the pursuit of money and prestige. That’s not to say that those are necessarily bad things to want, money is certainly a necessary commodity to be able to live comfortably anywhere in the world, but that doesn’t mean other aspects of a fulfilling life need to be thrown on the backburner. It’s important to chase after anything and everything that makes your eyes light up and your heart overfill with joy, whether that’s going to as many concerts as possible, exploring the next city over with your best friend, spending time with your family, or traveling halfway across the globe — those are the experiences that’ll last a lifetime in your memory and make all the bad parts of life feel a little more bearable. Try to make time for the things you enjoy (your mental well-being will certainly thank you) and hopefully something in this blog will make you smile or feel connected with other places and people that share your passions.