Can you imagine having so much fun that you completely forget what day it is? That is how the majority of this amazing trip has gone. Hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, and this week felt like it was a month. Going to lunch after landing in Fort Lauderdale feels like it was last month. I have been mixing up excursions with different days. At least twice a day I ask my roommate Nicole what day of the week it is. The exhaustion of all of the life altering outings makes it feel almost like a dream that we got to experience all of this! I'm sad to say that our journey is almost over and that tomorrow we will be slapped with the harsh world of reality when our plane lands back on Jersey soil.
To think, last week we barely knew each other and now I walk away from this trip with 10 new friends who know entirely too much about one another. From singing in the car together, playing heads up, and evenly applying sunscreen... I think its safe to say were pretty close now! When you experience such an amazing thing, you will never forget the people were there when it happened. Today was the icing on the cake when we traveled to Bahia Honda together and we kind of broke off to do our own things but everyone was so excited to share with one another what they did when we all reconvened back at our smelly, sandy, and smoldering van which we have grown to love! Erika, Toni, Dana and our TA Matt went kayaking, Kristen and Marissa went sunbathing, Caroline, Nicole and I went snorkeling, and Shaun lifeguarded us as we swam with the fishes.
How lucky are we that we had such an awesome instructor who wanted to share with us all of the excitement that is tropical marine biology? Dr. Z showed us Southern Florida through a scientists eyes and it left us with a new respect for what it is that we want to do in life and how we can achieve the goals that we set for ourselves. Every excursion had a lesson and every person we met had a story. From Derek, our shark tagging expert, to Sky, our dive boat captain, we got to see first hand how important conservation is and how lucky we are to see these species while they are still here and what we can do to preserve these for future generations. As we pack our bags and scurry to finish our field notebooks, these are the thoughts going through my mind. Thank you all for making this such a wonderful experience and I can't imagine it without a single one of you. A special shout out to my amazing roommate who has become a friend for life and someone who put up with my craziness all week!
#BahiaHonda #TropicalOspreys #FriendsForLife #SmellyVan #TripMemories
Just dried my eyes... to think we were all strangers just a week ago! I've learned so much by interacting with this bunch. And no better person to take us into South Florida territory than Dr. Z herself. From living and researching down here she exposed us to trailblazers from so many aspects of marine science.
ReplyDeleteWe got the inside scoop of incredible research and conservation efforts. To get encouragement from Mr. 40 under 40 himself, along with invaluable suggestions and insight about internships and potential careers from the researchers at MOTES and the Captain at Slates made this trip unforgettable.
I honestly had an amazing time with you and everyone here, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way! At first, I will admit, when we got on the plane I was a bit nervous (and excited!) on how this would all turn out. I never did anything like this before, but you and everyone else made this experience worth a lot more than just a 'trip to Florida' or a 'college class' and a lot more natural than a tension filled or stress filled classroom environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree - Dr. Z honestly outdid herself. I would have probably never known all of these places in Florida to do these activities, that these people even existed out there! She helped bring us all together through these amazing activities and gave us the opportunities to meet great people like Derek and Sky.
I'm going to cherish these moments forever and always look back on the amazing times I had with everyone here. Thank you for being awesome along with everyone else. <3
This class was more than a class to me. This was definitely one of the greatest experiences I've ever experienced. I would have never thought that I would have been brave enough to enjoy swimming in the middle of the ocean with sharks and other beautiful marine life. Through all of my motion sickness issues I still tried to manage to pull through and not let that ruin this great opportunity. And thank you for letting me use those sea band bracelets! They definitely worked. So happy to have more familiar faces to see around campus for 5the upcoming fall semester!
ReplyDeleteWhose that flock of good looking' birds? Ohh... that's just the Tropical Osprey's! We killed it gang. How did we manage to fit so many fun activities in a sort amount of time? Ill tell ya how... Dr Z. Drop the mic I'm out.
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