Hi everyone!
My name is Patrick, but most people just call me Pat at home. Feel free to call me whatever you want, even "tall kid". I'm from a suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the United States and go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is about 3 hours south of Chicago by car. I'm majoring in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with a concentration in Fish and Wildlife Conservation.

My first few days here have been great and very exciting. Everyone in the program is very nice and they all are very dedicated. I just want to thank everyone for their time and effort and making me feel so welcome in a world that is so different from the one I am used to.

We have been very busy so far and have already seen many things. I really enjoyed going to Freedom Square; the buildings and memorial were very beautiful. The National Taiwan Museum was also very nice. The historical exhibits about aboriginal cultures and Blackfoot disease were very interesting, but my favorite exhibit was "The Deep". The various characteristics and adaptations of the deep sea creatures were bizarre and fascinating.

Yesterday's lectures were interesting as well, and I especially enjoyed the one on cetaceans because I haven't learned much about them before. The geography lecture also got me excited to visit the places that we saw pictures of and were told about. I can't wait to go to the mountains! I'm looking forward to today's lectures.

-Patrick