Spring 2006
My name is Laura. I am a 23 year old fun, loving, optimistic person. I grew up in the small city of Three Rivers, MI (in the Southwest corner, 15 minutes from the border of Indiana. Three Rivers’ population might be around 12,000 people, but I am really not sure on that fact, but you get the idea.) I lived in Three Rivers from the time I was born until I left for college in 2001. In Three Rivers, my family lives on a farm. For the first 13 years of my life it was a duck farm, but then it was transformed into a tree farm and we also accumulated a small engine shop (fixing and selling lawn mowers, chainsaws, weed whackers, powered parachutes, and so on.)
I live in a house hold of six; my parents and my three brothers. My dad travels around the country and sells duck meat to restaurants and grocery stores (Culver Duck), and my mom keeps the home front under control, (which, if you know my family, this is a huge job, and I know that nobody could do it half as well as she does), as well as help my second oldest brother, Joel out with the Lawn mower shop. She does the paper work and people end. In the winter, she also is a ski instructor. As you can see, she is a very busy lady, and always is smiling or laughing about something. My mom is my best friend.
My oldest brother, Jamey, is 26 and he makes things out of wood. These are not just ordinary things, but pieces of beautiful art. (If you would like to see exactly what I am talking about, please check this out! www.jameyrouch.com) He also travels around the country participating in art shows, and checking up on the many galleries he has located throughout the states. Joel is the second oldest at 25. As I said earlier, he runs the small engine shop. He takes care of all the repair/mechanical stuff, with his trusty assistant named Aaron. Joel also used to do a lot of competing with down hill skiing and is the reason my family got into down hill skiing. My mom took him all over Michigan to different ski resort competitions.
I am next in the line up. I am 23 years old, and have just finished my Bachelor of Science in Nursing this past December. At the end of my voyage, I will be taking part in the graduation ceremony on the ship, which is very exciting since I will be missing the one at my home campus at Northern Michigan University (NMU). At NMU, I was involved in just about everything from being a Resident Advisor (RA) in the dormitories to a Tour Guide in the Administration Office. I defiantly tried a little of everything. I can’t tell you what my favorite club or job was since I loved them all. Through them I met some of the best people in my life, including my fiancé, Chris. Chris and I met my sophomore year (his junior year), while I was an RA, and he was a resident in the same building. (I really wasn’t supposed to date residents in my own building, but after meeting Chris, I let my boss know he could fire me, because I knew that I defiantly had to get to know Chris.) In turn, my boss did not fire me and dating Chris never really interfered with my job, but later he became a support system for me, helping me survive the stressors of my job (which I did love). This was one of the greatest decisions of my life. Chris and I were married on October 7th, 2006, and have relocated to the Chicago area.
Chris is already working as an Ecologist, maintaining the surrounding land and restoring wetlands (yes, they do need this service, even in the Chicago area). And I have accepted a job as a Registered Nurse at a local hospital on the Ortho/Peds floor. I have never done this kind of nursing and I am sure it will be challeneging. But for all of those that know me, I love new challenges!
My little brother, (it is fun to call him that, considering he is at least a foot taller than me!) Ben, is 21, and in the process of becoming an Electrician. Ben really has a lot of ambition and is the clown of the family. Ben has been working on his apprenticeship for over two years (so he is at least half way done), and already is fixing any electrical problems or fix ups we need around the house, a very handy man to have around! So there you have it, my family in a nut shell!
When we had the duck farm, my three brothers and I were in charge of “maintaining” the ducks, and by that I mean we would “bed down” daily (this is the art of covering the layer of manure on the floor of the barn with a fresh coat of saw dust), and we would also be on “dead duck duty” which is not nearly so glamorous, but all the more important (we went through the barns and picked up any dead ducks and disposed of them to the dead duck hole, which usually ended up being some wild animal’s dinner later that night). If for some reason you missed a dead duck and did not pick it up the day that it died, there was no way you could miss it the next (think smell and flies, or the making of flies…) I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I was not sad the day we got rid of the ducks. The duck farm is the family business; it has been in my family (through my mom’s side) for five generations (the 5th being my mom.) The duck farm is still in the family. My grandparents own the processing plant and my dad and my uncle are a big part of the plant as well. So, now we still have the perks of the duck plant without having the stench, flies, and chores that accompanied them on the farm. One of the big benefits, naturally, is that we eat a LOT of duck, and I happen to still think it is tasty. One of my favorite memories is always looking forward to Sunday afternoon lunch, a roast duck dinner. Every family gathering we have (even when we are in Florida), we are sure to be eating duck at least a couple of times while we are together. Chris and I even had duck as the main course for the meal at our wedding reception! It was a huge hit!
When we got rid of the duck farm, it was in exchange for the small engine shop. I can’t say that I liked the small engine shop any better. I am a social person and both of the chores connected with the duck farm and the small engine shop usually meant working by myself, with no one to be social with, for more time than I could stand. My dad insisted that I simply did not like work and I would never find a job that I liked. However, I did find a job that I love and, as a result, I am pursing my career in just that. Nursing has always been my passion, ever since I was four when I had my own little run in with the hospital (which really is a good story, but I realize this is already getting long.)
My family still lives on that same farm to this day. We have been remodeling that house for the past 17 years (little by little), and more recently, my dad and brothers have done some remodeling of the land as well. We now have two runways to fly the powered parachutes (both my dad, and Joel are instructors to teach people how to fly them), and they are also working on recreating the pond on the farm, cleaning it up, making it even more beautiful, like a little park in the middle of our farm (the pond is where Chris and I had our wedding reception.) My parents also hope to someday build a little log cabin back by the pond to have a nice place to go back to and relax; a little retreat. They have lots of great ideas for the things they could do with that space back there!
I know this profile is really long, but I also wanted to tell you a little why I decided to do Semester at Sea. One of my mom’s cousin’s daughters’ (Bethany Lindstrom—I know it’s complicated) did this trip a couple of years ago. My dad was out visiting this family in Arizona and she was telling him about it, and he thought, “Hmm, this sounds like something Laura would like to do.” And he couldn’t have been more right. Ever since I heard about the trip (I might have still been in high school at the time), I have really wanted to do it. That is another thing, I strongly believe that where there is a will, there is always a way, and honestly, I haven’t been let down on that theory yet! So, I had a strong will to do this trip, but I knew that I could not interrupt Nursing school (It is very competitive right now and if I left for a semester, I would have to fight to get my spot back.) So, I had it all planned out that once I completed nursing school I would do Semester at Sea and then return to my home school and graduate. My school made me jump through some hoops to make it all work, but I had a will and fought all the way. I met some very nice people that helped me make it possible and because of those people I could enjoy the journey all the more! Let me tell you, the voyage was incredible! I defiantly had the time of my life and making some of the best friends of my life as well. I loved everything about that expedition! Take care, and stay healthy!
Love, Laura Rysso
