By Alexander Sarmiento

Hi again everyone! Some time has passed since my last post, and I just wanted to share a quick update about my progress. So far, I’ve luckily encountered no issues in my work that I would consider “seriously derailing”. However, one major surprise that I am happy I caught early on was that my passport just so happened to expire this past April. Since finding that out, I’ve been able to work towards renewing my passport in a timely manner to prevent any last-minute delays regarding my necessary travel. In fact, I have an appointment scheduled for next Thursday at FSU’s passport acceptance facility to take my photo and send off my paperwork. Despite being a student here for quite some time now, I always seem to be constantly discovering helpful resources (which are new to me) that Florida State provides for its students. I feel much more at ease knowing that FSU is handling my paperwork and I am confident that in the case of an emergency, they will take my situation seriously especially considering I am a student being funded to complete research on the university’s behalf. I am incredibly grateful to attend an institution that genuinely invests in the success of its students, even in ways that may seem “non-academic”.

Looking further forward, however, I expect that I may have trouble networking within the local universities of Honduras. I’ve been speaking with my cousin who attends UNAH (Autonomous National University of Honduras), and it seems that student-led projects like my own are few and far between, and finding support from the university may be a greater challenge than I initially anticipated. From what I understand, there is a lack of infrastructure, resources, and support within the university surrounding student-led research, causing many faculty members to be reluctant to mentor or provide support to prospective researchers like me. Despite this challenge, I’ve decided the best course of action is to expand my efforts to improve my chances of creating relationships with experts in Honduras, ideally even before I travel there. To do so, I will have to reach out directly to individual experts at UNAH as well as from other institutions over email (since I cannot be physically present), and I hope they will take an interest in my efforts before I arrive. Regardless, I am still confident that I will be able to find some form of support from within Honduras.