Greetings to my family & friends from South Caicos Island!
I arrived yesterday on the island of Providenciales (one of the Turks & Caicos Islands) & then took a smaller plane to the island of South Caicos. When we landed, there were SFS staff that met us & took us back to the field station. After the first night I kind of felt like a freshman again, because of all the ice breaker games... but it was fun getting to know everyone! It was hard to focus on anything though because of the incredible views & the turquoise blue water. And when I say turquoise, I mean it.
There are 33 students in the program from all over the country, also there are only 3 boys. Needless to say, they have been teased about it & I told them to prepare to get in touch with their feminine side! Everyone seems VERY nice and are all really excited about our journey ahead, I can tell I am going to make some lasting friendships.
Today, we woke up at 7:00 AM for breakfast & began with a student meeting (we do these everyday) where we talked about the schedule for the day and played yet another "get to know you game." I am finally learning everyone's names!
After the meeting, we had a few "rules" presentations & an introduction to our three professors. One is from the UK, one is from Ireland, and the last is from New Zealand... needless to say, they all have really sweet accents! Each of the professors live in the field station & conduct research through CMRS (Center for Marine Resource Studies) & one even does research with sea turtles. Next, we went into the town of Cockburn Harbour (pronounced Coh-burn) and saw the shops and talked to some of the towns people. The only way to describe the town is that it is much different than anything I have ever seen. Its very small & everyone knows the staff & apparently they will get to know our names as well. All of the buildings look like they are abandoned, but really people still live in them. When hurricanes hit the infrastructure of the island, the towns people just board it up and keep on living, so it looks like a ghost town but its really pretty lively. There are a 5 convenience stores (they have really weird things in them), 4 bars, and 4 restaurants. Also, the island is so small you can just walk into town and even across the island, it is about 10 miles to circumvent the entire island.
We then ate lunch & had to take a swim test, which was my first time in the beautiful water & none of us wanted to get out! We also learned about all of the marine creatures that can be harmful, so I hope I don't get stung by anything! Tomorrow I start my SCUBA certification & will be in the water by Saturday, so I am very excited about that!
Currently, I am sitting on the cliff outside of the center listening to the waves hit the rocks.
Even though my hair is crunchy with salt, I haven't showered in a few days, and I am exhausted... I am in a place that I thought I have only dreamed of & I am SO excited to start doing research and learn more about marine studies!
I arrived yesterday on the island of Providenciales (one of the Turks & Caicos Islands) & then took a smaller plane to the island of South Caicos. When we landed, there were SFS staff that met us & took us back to the field station. After the first night I kind of felt like a freshman again, because of all the ice breaker games... but it was fun getting to know everyone! It was hard to focus on anything though because of the incredible views & the turquoise blue water. And when I say turquoise, I mean it.
There are 33 students in the program from all over the country, also there are only 3 boys. Needless to say, they have been teased about it & I told them to prepare to get in touch with their feminine side! Everyone seems VERY nice and are all really excited about our journey ahead, I can tell I am going to make some lasting friendships.
Today, we woke up at 7:00 AM for breakfast & began with a student meeting (we do these everyday) where we talked about the schedule for the day and played yet another "get to know you game." I am finally learning everyone's names!
After the meeting, we had a few "rules" presentations & an introduction to our three professors. One is from the UK, one is from Ireland, and the last is from New Zealand... needless to say, they all have really sweet accents! Each of the professors live in the field station & conduct research through CMRS (Center for Marine Resource Studies) & one even does research with sea turtles. Next, we went into the town of Cockburn Harbour (pronounced Coh-burn) and saw the shops and talked to some of the towns people. The only way to describe the town is that it is much different than anything I have ever seen. Its very small & everyone knows the staff & apparently they will get to know our names as well. All of the buildings look like they are abandoned, but really people still live in them. When hurricanes hit the infrastructure of the island, the towns people just board it up and keep on living, so it looks like a ghost town but its really pretty lively. There are a 5 convenience stores (they have really weird things in them), 4 bars, and 4 restaurants. Also, the island is so small you can just walk into town and even across the island, it is about 10 miles to circumvent the entire island.
We then ate lunch & had to take a swim test, which was my first time in the beautiful water & none of us wanted to get out! We also learned about all of the marine creatures that can be harmful, so I hope I don't get stung by anything! Tomorrow I start my SCUBA certification & will be in the water by Saturday, so I am very excited about that!
Currently, I am sitting on the cliff outside of the center listening to the waves hit the rocks.
Even though my hair is crunchy with salt, I haven't showered in a few days, and I am exhausted... I am in a place that I thought I have only dreamed of & I am SO excited to start doing research and learn more about marine studies!
Here is a view from right outside my door! I wil