As I started this program, I certainly expected there to be a stark contrast between my experience living and working in the city of Providence, RI and my time spent here in the large, wild spaces of New Hampshire. After the close of our first day yesterday, I was reassured that I could easily sink into this new life. Every time I take the first step into the forest, it is as if I am passing the threshold of some ancient home, invited in and respectfully taking in my surroundings. I relish the dirt mixing with moss on an old tree stump, young trees growing out of old. I look up to the sky and see a porcupine climbing a beech, clinging to bark and branch alike. I hold a small toad in my hands, and feel the wonder of a child in seeing something loved and foreign. In that feeling, I know that I have picked the right place to study the trees.The cool of the forest surrounds me and in a ring of birches, I feel at peace.