Turning in the last test of my junior year looked a lot different in my head a year ago... but finishing my year strong with the ocean breeze and treating myself to a snooze by the pool afterwards is much better than what I thought it would be like. 78 days under my belt & theres no doubt that pinching myself has become a habitual phenomenon in my daily life... especially in circumstances when I look up from my exam to stare into the water and watch an eagle ray jump out of the water (it really happens!)
The past two weeks were dedicated to wrapping up our class lectures... tying together what our importance is as blossoming scientists and advocates for the sea. I think that all of my students would agree that the amount that we have learned is astounding, and what we've absorbed in our classes only fuels our passion for protecting the incredible ecosystems that are cradled by our oceans. Even when statistics about ocean acidification and ecosystem deterioration make us cringe, I think we all would be ready to step up and take on the problems that we will inevitably face in the future. One of the biggest pieces of knowledge I have gained is that spreading knowledge is essential, and raising awareness for the "wicked problems" (as our professor says it) can make a world of difference. For example.... did you know that 35% of global mangroves have been destroyed for shrimp farming. Just saying, it wouldn't hurt to check where your shrimp is coming from... mangroves are seriously awesome! An especially resounding lecture was our final talk given to us by our environmental policies professor. From the title of the course, it seems like the material would be dry and boring... but it turns out to be my favorite class because it really makes you think about why things are the way they are. Almost every page of my notes has quotes from my professor that spur me to re-analyze why I have so much passion for marine life... I still don't really know why, but I definitely have it! For example, my professor always ends talks about bycatch and overfishing by saying "when people die, things change; when fish die, nothing changes." Or my personal favorite...
The past two weeks were dedicated to wrapping up our class lectures... tying together what our importance is as blossoming scientists and advocates for the sea. I think that all of my students would agree that the amount that we have learned is astounding, and what we've absorbed in our classes only fuels our passion for protecting the incredible ecosystems that are cradled by our oceans. Even when statistics about ocean acidification and ecosystem deterioration make us cringe, I think we all would be ready to step up and take on the problems that we will inevitably face in the future. One of the biggest pieces of knowledge I have gained is that spreading knowledge is essential, and raising awareness for the "wicked problems" (as our professor says it) can make a world of difference. For example.... did you know that 35% of global mangroves have been destroyed for shrimp farming. Just saying, it wouldn't hurt to check where your shrimp is coming from... mangroves are seriously awesome! An especially resounding lecture was our final talk given to us by our environmental policies professor. From the title of the course, it seems like the material would be dry and boring... but it turns out to be my favorite class because it really makes you think about why things are the way they are. Almost every page of my notes has quotes from my professor that spur me to re-analyze why I have so much passion for marine life... I still don't really know why, but I definitely have it! For example, my professor always ends talks about bycatch and overfishing by saying "when people die, things change; when fish die, nothing changes." Or my personal favorite...
"Nobody wants to see you think... they want to watch you act."
Every bit of knowledge seems cooler than the last, which is how I have always felt about school... but in the circumstance of marine biology... its amplified by about 100.
Every experience also seems to get better than the previous one. From watching the sunrise over the ocean last week, to the booty shaking contest at the island hotel, to the times where you brighten someone's day by stopping and talking to them or playing tag with the kids in the street... every day is more meaningful than the last. Every sunset more special then the last... every dive more remarkable than the last...
If you can't tell, my impending departure has started to hit me and that means the sappiness of my blog posts increases exponentially... just wait for the last one.
Anyways, so now that our classes are over and we have just over two weeks left, its time for us to get down and dirty with our directed research projects. Recently, my group learned that we will be sending tissue samples to the Smithsonian institute, who is doing research on genetic similarity in Caribbean conch populations. If you don't know... the Smithsonian research institute is the big leagues... so this is pretty sweet for all of us, our professor included. Not only that, but also my specific project is of interest to a researcher named Alan Stoner... basically this dude is the Albert Einstein to queen conch; almost every publication about S. gigas has come from him. So he asked my professor if he could take my data, because he only works in the Bahamas and is interested in the patterns in the TCI!
Another talk of the town is that a boat came from the Dominican Republic loaded with mangos, bananas, and pineapples... oh my lanta are the mangos good. I already am partial to them, but I don't think I have every tasted something so delicious! Also, we almost never have fresh fruit that we can purchase that isn't crazy expensive... so when I bought 4 mangos and 15 bananas for $3... I thought I was dreaming.
Diving has been awesome lately, but unfortunately we were unable to go last weekend because of weather conditions. The week prior was awesome (as usual) at a dive site called the "Spanish Chain." Depending on which intern we get to lead our dives for the week, sometimes some are more adventurous than others. Usually what happens is the interns lead the dives and we go wherever they go. So when AJ started to swim through a tiny cave in the coral... I think we all did an underwater fist pump... technically you are supposed to be specially certified to go under hangovers and under arches... so its always a treat when they trust us enough to let us do so. This cave was tiny... we had to sink down to the bottom and scale the sand to make sure none of our hoses got stuck on the coral... ah, it was awesome!
Other than a few sunburns, some late nights studying, and completely resenting the taste of the coconut rum... life is so good on South Caicos. And as our (unwilling) departure is fast approaching, the mission is to make the most out of these last two weeks!
Every experience also seems to get better than the previous one. From watching the sunrise over the ocean last week, to the booty shaking contest at the island hotel, to the times where you brighten someone's day by stopping and talking to them or playing tag with the kids in the street... every day is more meaningful than the last. Every sunset more special then the last... every dive more remarkable than the last...
If you can't tell, my impending departure has started to hit me and that means the sappiness of my blog posts increases exponentially... just wait for the last one.
Anyways, so now that our classes are over and we have just over two weeks left, its time for us to get down and dirty with our directed research projects. Recently, my group learned that we will be sending tissue samples to the Smithsonian institute, who is doing research on genetic similarity in Caribbean conch populations. If you don't know... the Smithsonian research institute is the big leagues... so this is pretty sweet for all of us, our professor included. Not only that, but also my specific project is of interest to a researcher named Alan Stoner... basically this dude is the Albert Einstein to queen conch; almost every publication about S. gigas has come from him. So he asked my professor if he could take my data, because he only works in the Bahamas and is interested in the patterns in the TCI!
Another talk of the town is that a boat came from the Dominican Republic loaded with mangos, bananas, and pineapples... oh my lanta are the mangos good. I already am partial to them, but I don't think I have every tasted something so delicious! Also, we almost never have fresh fruit that we can purchase that isn't crazy expensive... so when I bought 4 mangos and 15 bananas for $3... I thought I was dreaming.
Diving has been awesome lately, but unfortunately we were unable to go last weekend because of weather conditions. The week prior was awesome (as usual) at a dive site called the "Spanish Chain." Depending on which intern we get to lead our dives for the week, sometimes some are more adventurous than others. Usually what happens is the interns lead the dives and we go wherever they go. So when AJ started to swim through a tiny cave in the coral... I think we all did an underwater fist pump... technically you are supposed to be specially certified to go under hangovers and under arches... so its always a treat when they trust us enough to let us do so. This cave was tiny... we had to sink down to the bottom and scale the sand to make sure none of our hoses got stuck on the coral... ah, it was awesome!
Other than a few sunburns, some late nights studying, and completely resenting the taste of the coconut rum... life is so good on South Caicos. And as our (unwilling) departure is fast approaching, the mission is to make the most out of these last two weeks!