I took a flight from my home in Atlanta to Tahiti with a stopover in Los Angeles. I arrived at the airport in Tahiti located in the city of Papeete at 6 a.m. on October 24th and spent the following two days at the InterContinental hotel that my professor had booked for my stay.
It was a rough journey because I had to take six suitcases filled with things that I would need for a year. I immediately took a cab and went to the city center to explore Papeete and all it has to offer. I am vegan, so I was mostly interested in figuring out how I would survive in French Polynesia for the following year by checking out the local supermarket for fruits and vegetables. While walking around Papeete, I felt reminded of my hometown in India which was also a tropical and colorful city with kind people. I returned to the hotel for breakfast and spent most of the day snorkeling the lagoon, observing the fish and identifying them by species.
I was joined by my professor Aaron Wirsing and the research scientist Kirk Gastrich the following morning. We had meals together which is when we talked about the upcoming trip to the field station. On the 26th of October, we left my bags with the hotel and requested they load them onto a boat that would carry my things to Tetiaroa.
