I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Geography because I am interested in how different cultures interact and shape the world we live in. I love to travel and meet people from other countries, and I spent a great deal of my childhood amazed by jungles, deserts, and beaches. I spent a few years traveling around the world and fell in love with the cultures and history of Central America. I found that geography studied many of the questions I had about the region, and it is a way to combine my love for traveling and learning about other cultures. I also enjoy geography as a field because it allows me to learn about commonalities between my own background and history with diverse peoples. I am always finding some connection between New Orleans and the Caribbean, and geographical methods are a great way of studying this. As I want to encourage people to travel, and to be understanding of people's cultural differences, geography is a way for me to do what I love while encouraging people to have an interest in what makes the world a fascinating place worthy of scientific study.