Winter Term in Roatan: Part 3

Sunday was our last day in Copán, but it was one of our longest days yet. Before heading back across the country to fly to Roatan, we had a field trip Macaw Mountain Bird Park, a local avian sanctuary.  However, we weren’t getting there by bus — instead, a convoy of “tuk tuks” was waiting for us outside our hotel. Tuk tuks are a local form of transportation, like pedicabs or rickshaws in other parts of the world. 

I ended up squeezed in the back of one between two of my classmates, but once we started moving I was quite glad I was in the middle, despite having nowhere to hang on. Our driver floored it, the three of us passengers bouncing clear off the seat over every bump. Much like our bus, the tuk tuk wove in and out of traffic at break-neck speed, only it was much more nerve-wracking when there’s nothing but a seat and a rickety open frame between you and the street.

If the ride seemed treacherous in the city, it got even scarier in the mountains. We passed the turnoff to the ruins and continued up a narrow, cliff-side dirt road. The tuk tuk’s engine groaned laboriously as the driver coaxed it upward, pedal to the metal, diving left and right out of the way of oncoming vehicles, horses, fallen rocks, and potholes in the road.

But the adrenaline rush was fantastic. I was almost disappointed when we finally arrived at the bird park, literally fishtailing to a stop in the gravel driveway, spraying rocks against the side of the gift shop. We were the first tuk tuk in the convoy to arrive, and our driver seemed pleased.

Once everyone arrived (some a little shaken!) we embarked on our tour of the bird park with a friendly young woman as our guide. She told us about the diversity of birds in Honduras and that Macaw Mountain works as a rehabilitation center for many wild species. The park also serves as a nature reserve, and the avian enclosures are all arranged along a trail that follows a winding river.

Among the birds at the park were a variety of toucan species, macaws, parakeets, amazon parrots, owls, and raptors. I was continually amazed by the diversity of colors, shapes, and sizes of the different species. Call me nerdy, but coming from a place where the most successful species are those that camouflage with their environments, it was incredible to think about the evolution that led to the survival of such visually outstanding creatures.

After the tour, we loaded back into the tuk tuks (my group made sure to get our same driver again) and took off for another white-knuckle jaunt down the mountain. Going down was even faster than going up, as we hurtled over the bumpy dirt road, leaving the others in cloud of dust. This time, we arrived at the bottom of the mountain several minutes before the others, and met our bus in the parking lot of the Copán ruins. My hands were shaking as we left.

And so off we went again, three hours back across the country to San Pedro Sula. As any traveler knows however, nothing ever goes as planned. Although we arrived what we thought was 2 hours before our flight time, it turned out we were a half hour LATE! Furthermore, the plane was too small to fit our entire class, so we had to split up — I went with the majority of the students on the first flight, but our professor and the rest of the students had to wait behind for the plane to drop us off, fly back, pick them up, and fly back to Roatan.

The plane was very small indeed, but the pilots had waited for us (since we were pretty much the only passengers) and as soon as we were on they closed the door and took off — no safety briefing, no seat belt checks, and we were off the ground in seconds.

The loud drone of the engines, the stuffy, un-airconditioned cabin, and my own exhaustion from the last couple days made me incredibly drowsy but I forced myself to stay awake as we passed over the beautiful country.

As we descended upon the Bay Islands — made up of Utila, Roatan, and Guanaja — I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The water was clear enough to see to the bottom. It was more spectacular than a postcard, and I could hardly fathom that something this pristine actually existed.

The landing strip was right on the coast and it looked as if we were coming in for a water landing, but at the last second the runway came into view and we bounced to a stop. After making our way into the tiny terminal, we found everyone’s luggage, and were greeted by a host from Anthony’s Key Resort, who pointed us to our transportation.

The short bus ride to the resort showed us a very different view of Honduras than the one we saw on the mainland. Although it was still very poor and undeveloped, there was an obvious Western influence; huge mansions stood alongside slums, and fancy hotels and resorts were next door to little neighborhood markets and shops. Here, however, almost everyone spoke English, and there were a lot more tourists.

Once we got to the resort we were treated like royalty, which also made me a little uncomfortable. We were given “welcome cocktails” of fruit punch and rum punch, given a brief orientation, and then assigned roommates and handed keys to our cabins.

Our living quarters for the week were on an island accessible only by boat. The cabins lined the perimeter of the key, standing above the high tide line on stilts, and in the middle of the island was a pool and bar. In order to call the boat taxi, you would have to bang on an old dive tank on the dock, ringing it like a bell that could be heard by the boat driver anywhere across the lagoon.

The girls were all staying in a complex of 4 cabins conjoined by a central covered porch with three hammocks. We had the best view by far, looking out over the open water of the Caribbean with a view a neighboring key to the west, right where the sun set. With our windows open to the cool seabreeze, each night I was lulled to sleep by the incessant roll of the waves crashing on the rocky shore outside.

As if a final welcome onto the island, we were treated to the most beautiful sunset of the entire week, that first day. The colors were spectacular, turning the clouds and sky the most vibrant orange and yellow I have ever seen. Paraphrasing what I wrote in my journal that night, if this day was to be any indication of the week to come, we were all in for an incredible adventure.

Winter Term in Roatan: Part 2

With the morning sunrise in Copán came the distant call of a rooster somewhere out on the streets, as the town began to wake up around our hotel. My roommate and I quickly got ready and headed down to breakfast, which was very much like dinner the night before — thick tortillas, refried beans, avocado, white cheese, sour cream. The only difference was that they included scrambled eggs as well, perhaps to satisfy our Western tastes.

Breakfast was followed by an hour-long presentation by archaeologist David Sedat from the Copán ruins. He told us about the story behind the ruins, the Mayan civilization, and his major discoveries. It was all incredibly inspiring and exciting, to hear first hand about his experience. He was an eloquent speaker as well, each story of his discoveries sounding like an Indiana Jones movie. By the time the presentation was over, I couldn’t wait to get to the ruins.

We arrived by bus, with Eli as our guide again. He was super excited to show us around and tell us the history of the place. He explained that Copán was one of the southernmost Mayan cities, but also one of the most extensive and well-known. The quality of artifacts that have been excavated have helped researchers to piece together much of its history, from what is believed to be its very first ruler, a guy by the name of Kinich Yax K’uk Mo’ (pronounced “kin-ITCH yash kook MO”).

Heading down the path, the first pyramid in the Great Plaza came into view in all its glory in the bright morning sunlight. I was breathtaken. Visiting Mayan ruins was one of those “bucket list” things that I’ve always wanted to do but never actually thought I would. And although the first pyramid was quite small in comparison to the rest, it stood out invitingly, open to visitors to scale its high steps and take in their first view of the ancient city.

With my inner-anthropologist bubbling over with happiness, I could hardly listen to Eli. Nonetheless, I took in a lot more than I thought. He explained how the Plaza was built by this other ruler known as “18 Rabbit,” and that the stelae placed around the plaza stood as representations of rulers and gods, with altars in front to take offerings for those gods.

Like many ancient civilizations, the Mayans were pretty violent. They did do human sacrifices, which are well portrayed in their hieroglyphs. Not to be gross, but I just find all of this fascinating — not only that people did this, but that we can understand how and why, just by looking at what they left behind!

Another interesting part of the ruined city was the ball court. Eli explained how the game was played: a rubber ball that represented the sun was passed back and forth between teams, they scored by bouncing it off of stone Macaws on the sides of the court. Whichever team dropped the “sun” lost the game, and were all beheaded and offered to the sun god. Since the Mayans believed that the sun died every night, it was vital that they appease the gods so they would grant it rebirth.

Other interesting parts of the ruins we explored included “Altar Q,” arguably the most famous altar, which represents all 16 of the rulers; the Jaguar Court, which was used for various ceremonies and overlooked an amazing vista of the mountains; a dwelling area full of housing remains and tombs; and the hieroglyphic staircase, which contains the longest known piece of Mayan writing. Honestly, we saw so much that day, it’s impossible to tell all.

On top of that, after lunch and visiting the museum, a classmate and I returned to the ruins for the rest of the afternoon while the rest of our classmates relaxed in town or went to a ziplining tour of the forest. I must say, my second round through the Copán ruins was even more amazing than the first. Since we arrived mid-afternoon, most of the tourists had left, so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

I walked the entire complex again, spent some time taking in the views, and explored little crevices and passages I hadn’t seen before. Also, as a nature geek, it was a great opportunity to do a little bird watching and take some time to enjoy the wildlife — agoutis, variegated squirrels, motmots, oropendolas, orioles, and caciques scurried around elusively in the ruins and surrounding jungle. Although it was really the first full day of our trip, it was hands-down one of the best highlights for me. I definitely made the most of the day.

We all split into groups for dinner, and enjoyed more delicious local cuisine of fajitas, nachos, tacos, and other variations on the theme, before a relaxing evening by the hotel pool.

The next day we would be taking a field trip to a local bird sanctuary (I was stoked!) and then spending the rest of the day traveling back across the country to Roatan. Stay tuned for Part 3!

Winter Term in Roatan: Part 1

I think I can now say I’ve had almost the full Eckerd experience: A semester abroad, a spring break service trip, and now a winter term abroad over the last 4 years, I can’t help but feel a sense of closure after coming back from Honduras this week. 

That said, it was an amazing trip. 

We landed in San Pedro Sula Airport in the early afternoon, and after waiting in the customs line forever, we were greeted by our guide, an enthusiastic and friendly looking man named Eli (pronounced “eh-LEE”). Our luggage was stowed on top of the bus, covered by a tarp in case it rained, and we were off. 

I didn’t really have many expectations about Honduras before I arrived, but I was nonetheless a little surprised by the levels of poverty we encountered on the 3 hour bus trip to Copan. This was the first developing country I have ever been to, and I now understand what that means. As we were leaving the airport, Eli told us that many of the country’s problems stem from corruption in the government, and their dependence on foreign aid. He said that the government ends up benefiting from foreign aid more than the people who need it. That said though, he also noted that the standard of living is much different than ours; a family that seems poor to us in Honduras may actually be middle-class.

The worst poverty was in the city; at toll booths and stop lights, our bus would be rushed by men and children trying to wash our windows or sell us fruit. Dogs, cats, and chickens darted across the streets. It should also be pointed out that very few of the streets had actual lanes — it was mostly a wide swath of pavement (or dirt in some parts) and cars, pedicabs, buses, and trucks would careen around each other into oncoming traffic. 

And while this is not at all unusual for most parts of the world, it was the first time I’ve experienced anything like it. 

We arrived in Copan, close to the Guatemalan border, in late afternoon. There were armed guards everywhere wielding heavy machine guns. We were told this is normal, especially since the coups they had a couple years ago, but we were not to go out alone and not to leave the city center after dark. 

Ironically after traveling through some of the poorest parts of Honduras, our Eckerd group was staying in the fanciest hotel in Copan. My room was in a tower overlooking a beautiful courtyard and the red tile roofs of the hotel and neighboring buildings; the sun set over the distant mountains, casting an orange glow on the town. 

For dinner, Eli took us to a local restaurant that served us a “traditional” Honduran meal — thick corn tortillas, refried beans, grilled meats, a square of white crumbly cheese, a cheesy sour cream sauce, tomatoes, fresh avocado, vegetables, and tortilla chips. I think it was the best food I have ever tasted.

And so ended our first day in Honduras. The next day, we would be visiting Copan Ruinas, the local Mayan ruins, which I will post about later this weekend.  

Today was the first day of my last Winter Term. Feels weird to say, but alas, it’s true. Unlike the other Winter Term classes I’ve taken however, the next 3 days are all in preparation for our upcoming trip to Roatan, Honduras, for which we are departing this coming Friday at an ungodly hour of the morning. 

I couldn’t be more excited and anxious! It’s the same feeling I had a couple years ago before my semester abroad in England, only this time I’m less nervous about the travel part and a little more nervous about the culture and setting. 

Once we arrive in Honduras, we’ll be taking a bus to Copan for a couple days, then driving back to the airport, flying to the island of Roatan, and spending the rest of the trip there to study the coral reefs, geology, and environment. As someone with very little experience in marine science, I’m a little uneasy about how little prepared I am for all of this, but at the same time I know I’m going to learn a lot. At any rate, getting outside my comfort zone has never failed to be a character-building experience. 

That said, I have pretty much no idea what to expect, other than an adventure! Going on a Winter Term trip abroad was one of my goals when I came to Eckerd, and although the prospects seemed bleak at some points, I can now say I DID IT (even if it took me until my last year)! :)  

Festival of Hope was this week, and every senior at Eckerd knows that this event marks the end of fall semester for us. Quest for Meaning gets a bad rap sometimes for being just another “required class,” but I am not ashamed to say I actually got something out of it. Volunteering at Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary was challenging logistically and otherwise, but it was a great experience to work with the birds and get to know the fantastic people who make the organization run, day by day. 

My main volunteer responsibilities included a lot of “dirty work,” but I actually really enjoyed it. Each Saturday my friend and I would get up early to arrive by 8am and begin cleaning shorebird and wading bird enclosures, preparing food for the birds (lots of fish, dietary pellets, and ground beef), and generally observing their behavior and health conditions. It was fun to get to know the different personalities of the birds — those who would put their heads down to be scratched, or follow you around in the enclosure, or run around peeping when you come in with food. 

All in all, it was a satisfying way to carry out my final fall semester of college. 

Today I filled out my Application for Degree. It struck me that the only thing that stands between me and graduation at this point is that blue sheet of paper and 5 classes. Eek!  I anticipate that next semester will be by far my most difficult yet. 

Winter Term should be fun, since I’m heading to Roatan to study tropical marine environments, but after that I start an overly-full load of 5 classes: GIS for Environmental Studies, Environmental Film Colloquium, Intro to Primate Studies, Environmental Studies Comprehensive Exams, and Anthropology Comprehensive Exams. Overachiever? Perhaps. Wanting to get the most out of my last semester? Most definitely. Scared out of my mind? You betcha. 

But so it goes. Good luck to everyone on final’s week, and hope you have a fantastic winter break, and happy holidays, wherever you are! 

Like my handy-dandy Photoshop work? :-)

One hundred and eighty seven days. This number hit me today when I was sitting in my last Quest for Meaning plenary — EVER. Before starting his lecture on the social sciences, Prof. Hamilton reminded us that not only do we only have 187 days left until May 20, 2012, but this was the last time we would all be sitting together — all 400-some-odd of us — until graduation day.

Thinking of my friends sitting on either side of me, incidentally friends I’ve had since freshman year, I was nauseated to realize that next time we sat together with the rest of our class we would be in caps and gowns, and it would perhaps be one of the last times we are all together as a group. While it is a beautiful thought to know that we are all about to go off in our own directions and conquer our life’s ambitions around the world, it is one of the saddest thoughts that has ever crossed my mind. People who have brought so much joy to my life, friends for whom I am infinitely grateful, with whom I have made the best memories, and from whom I have learned so much, will soon be moving on. I have no doubt we will stay in touch, but I know that our time together as roommates, classmates, travel buddies, and more, are almost over.

I have been blogging for EckerdLife since freshman year, almost 4 years ago and I recently went back to look at some of my old posts. Part of the reason I love writing so much is that it’s a way to keep perspective, to take a small snapshot of a moment in time, or to synthesize a big picture and make sense of an experience. Looking back over my old posts, I can’t help but laugh at how little prepared I was for the challenges I have since faced. 

Some of my posts complained about 5-page papers; since then I have written multiple 20-pagers. Others showed my anxiety about traveling; since then I have lived 4 months in Europe, a week in Puerto Rico, and I’m about to spend Winter Term in Roatan (no big deal!). And still other posts talked about my daily life over the past few years, going to International Cinema movies, cultural festivals, volunteering, starting a club, gardening, stressing out over school, etc. Life has been good for the last 3 1/2 years. But in 187 days, as I pack up all my belongings into boxes, all of these memories, too, will be packed away into the back of my mind.

So what will be left? Really, that is the big question: What will be left once all this is behind me? 

I guess that’s what I’m trying to figure out right now. One of the central projects in QFM is to write a “This I Believe” paper, and I have sort of come to think of that as a way to seek the answer to this question. What DO I really care about, and how has my life thus far provided me with the tools I need in order to take the actions that need to be taken?

One hundred and eighty seven days from now I really, really hope I have the answer. But I probably won’t, and that’s okay. What I do know is that I have some incredible experiences behind me, an an even brighter future ahead. 

So here’s to success for everyone, in the daunting days, weeks, and months to come! Take it one day at a time — as good old Lao-Tzu said, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” 

What began with a guest lecture by environmental activist Bill McKibben a few weeks ago turned into one of the most monumental events for some 200 Eckerd students yesterday.  

Eckerd has long been known for its environmental awareness, but this semester seems to be bringing new hope to students who have been advocating for real change on our campus and beyond. In McKibben’s lecture a few weeks ago, he called on us as students to join him in a protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline that will be pumping oil from tar sands in Canada all the way to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. Simply stated, it is one of the most destructive projects on earth, cutting through clean water aquifers, destroying thousands of miles of natural landscape, and ultimately increasing our carbon output. 

After McKibben spoke, a few of us got to work on organizing students to take a van up to DC for the protest. The plan was to join the Tar Sands Action rally, which would create a human ring around the White House of people holding signs with President Obama’s quotes about his commitment to clean energy. Cool idea, but we had no idea how big it would be. 

Unfortunately, I had already paid to go to a conference this weekend, the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC) in Asheville, NC, so I stepped back a little from the DC planning once we had enough students helping out. Considering how little time we had to plan everything, we hoped for 60, MAYBE 80 students to sign up. So you can imagine how surprised we were when over 220 students registered to go to DC by last week! We secured transportation in the form of a bus, vans, and carpools, and Friday night around the same time I was heading up to NC, 15% of the Eckerd student body was on its way to the Capitol. 

During the rest of the weekend, I had no idea how things were going in DC, but I certainly had a blast with 400 other students from around the southeast US at the renewable energy conference. I attended workshops on media, alternative energy, the Occupy movement, and the Let’s Raise a Million project. It was so inspiring to see so many proactive young people all working towards the same goals. We had over 90 students representing FL and we are currently working on networking different colleges’ environmental groups through the FL Y.E.S. Coalition (Y.E.S.= Youth Environmental Sustainability). At the end of the conference on Sunday, students joined together in a rally in Downtown Asheville in solidarity with the DC protesters. 

Needless to say it was an incredible weekend on all accounts. As we were making the long drive back to FL, we received a text from a fellow student in DC: Some 12,000 protesters had marched, making not one circle around the White House, but 6 deep! Media reports have been showing anywhere from 8,000-12,000 protesters made 3 rings around the White House, but regardless of the exact numbers, it is clear that it was epic. 

From campus, St. Pete, to North Carolina, to Washington, DC, this weekend Eckerd students spoke out and their voices were heard. I can’t describe how empowering this weekend has been, and I sincerely hope we can keep the momentum going. I am so inspired to see students standing up for what they believe in and truly making a difference. 

Representing Florida at SSREC!

Senior year has taken off with full force, as I find myself swamped with homework, research, my jobs, and extracurricular activities (namely gardening and club stuff). If I didn’t love all this, I wouldn’t do it — but I guess I’ve sort of hit that mid-semester lull where the workloads just seem impossible. As a testament to this, almost my entire Halloweekend was spent squirreled away in my room writing papers, reading, and doing research, and STILL I’ve barely made a dent in my to-do list.

I really can’t complain though — fall break was last weekend, and, while it didn’t quite satisfy my brain’s need for some rest, I was able to get outside and just have some fun.

For break, I co-led a camping trip for Eckerd’s Outdoor Adventure Club. A friend of mine revamped the club last year (it had pretty much died by my freshman year) and this semester it has been incredibly successful. Serving as one of the VPs for the club, I helped to plan a short backpacking trip to Withlacoochee State Forest, a couple hours north of here. As chance would have it, nothing went as planned. However, it turned out to be by far the best weekend I’ve had this semester.

On our way up to the state forest, we stopped at a little roadside farmer’s market, where a couple of friendly shopkeepers informed us of a Florida cracker festival going on down the road. Lo and behold, a few minutes away we found the cracker fest, stopped for some lunch, and within the hour we found ourselves in the midst of a small cattle drive.

It was a rather random event to stumble upon, but quite entertaining!

By that time it was getting later and we all decided to scrap our backpacking plans and just enjoy the trip and go along with whatever happened. It was a good thing we did too, because things proceeded to go completely opposite of what we planned on, but turned out to be more fun than I ever could have hoped.

When we arrived at the primitive campsite, it turned out to be already occupied. As we were hiking the trail to find an unoccupied spot, we came out to a beautiful river overlook but were distracted by a putrid smell.

“Look at that big bird!” one of the freshmen pointed out to me. Ever the nature geek, I started to correct him that it was in fact, a black vulture, when we all realized at the same time what the vulture was sitting on: a 10 foot long dead alligator!

It was one of the biggest alligators I have ever seen in the wild, and quite a shame it was dead. After gawking at the gator for a while and finishing the hike (finding no open campsites), we drove to the next closest campground, which wasn’t as primitive but was fortunately completely deserted; we had the whole place all to ourselves.

It was a fun night. We cooked a big pot of soup over a camp stove, hiked some more, hung out in our tents, and eventually settled down for a chilly night listening to the call of insects and nighthawks, and the distant rumble of air boats on the river.

The next day, we packed up, ate a quick breakfast and headed back south to go visit the Withlacoochee cave system. I had visited these caves as a kid almost 10 years ago, and they were quite different than I remembered.

Physically the cave was the same — I vividly recalled the magical entry through the roots of a dead tree into the limestone caverns of the giant sink hole — but unlike 10 years ago, today the caves are literally crawling with people.

Tour groups, families, and hikers were flowing in and out of the cave tunnels like ants in an ant hill. Although the plethora of spelunkers took away a little bit from the experience I remembered from my childhood, it was still fun to squeeze through the tiny passages and come out in big caverns lit only by our flashlights.

We spent a couple hours exploring around in the caves before heading back to campus and watching the sunset over dinner. Although this marked the end of the camping trip, my fall break outdoor adventures were not quite over.

On the last day of break, my roommate and I decided to spend the morning kayaking. It was chilly at first, and we were the first ones at the waterfront. We launched our kayaks and were quickly off through Frenchman’s Creek and out into the smooth waters of Boca Ciega Bay. We made it out to the nearby island and spent a couple hours meandering around the mangroves, watching mullet leap out of the water, yellow-crowned night herons squawk and take off clumsily from their roosts, and brown pelicans glide serenely over the gentle waves.

By the time we decided to head back to school, the sun had warmed the air but the wind had picked up as well. At some points it seemed I was paddling in place, the wind was so strong! Nevertheless, we made it back to campus safe and sound, if not slightly exhausted.

And so ended my fall break. It felt amazing to be outside again, not worrying about school or life for a few blissful days. But now it’s over and back to the usual routine. On top of that, I’m trying to get ahead in my work since next weekend I’m road tripping it up to Asheville, NC for the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference. More details to come on that — for now, back to work!

The hardest thing in the world to face is the unknown — especially alone. That is the challenge I faced this summer when I headed north to Pennsylvania to spend the summer working at an internship with Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. Anything could have happened; the whole summer could have gone terribly wrong, taking such a big step out of my realm of experience and comfort zone, but it didn’t. In fact, it turned out to be possibly the best summer of my entire life. 

Through the internship, I worked as an environmental educator. About 80% of my time was spent as a camp counselor, teaching outdoor day camps for 6- to 10-year-olds each week. This in and of itself was a learning experience. I had never really been in charge of kids before, much less worked with them for any extended period of time. However, as the summer progressed, my skills improved as well and I found the experience to be incredibly fulfilling. It was inspiring to see the kids learning day by day and developing a new sense of appreciation for nature — under my leadership, no less! 

To a lesser extent, I also got to work with rehabilitated birds of prey throughout the summer, through Shaver’s Creek’s raptor center. This involved a good amount of dirty work such as cleaning cages and feeding, but with this also came the opportunity to give weekly bird of prey shows at the center and go on traveling road shows to different campgrounds and events. Handling the birds was always my favorite part; each one had a totally different personality and feel. My proudest moment during my last week of the internship was getting to hold the Golden Eagle, the largest bird at the center!

About 3/4 of the way through my internship, I took a week off to fly out to AZ for the 2011 Udall Orientation, as part of the Udall Scholarship that I won this year. This, too, was an incredible experience unlike anything I have ever done before. Along with the 79 other scholars, I had the opportunity to meet with the Udall family and many influential environmental and tribal leaders involved in the government. We attended workshops, discussions, and gave presentations throughout the week. It was a lot to take in, in only a 3-day period, but the orientation really re-energized me and gave me new inspiration for my environmental efforts during my last year at Eckerd. 

Speaking of which… holy cow! It’s my last year at Eckerd! Needless to say, this summer has been a totally transformative experience. At the beginning of this post I said that the hardest thing in the world to face alone is the unknown. But I think it is also necessary to growing up and becoming the person who you want to become. And in the end, I have found, you’re often not as alone as you think; you are loved by more people than you know. 

So as I take on this last year of school, I will try to remember everything I learned this summer:

Be yourself. Bring your own happiness wherever you go. Keep smiling. Act confident even when you don’t feel confident. Try new things. Go with the flow. Embrace your friends. Push your limits. Live in the moment. Do what you love. 

I have a huge head.  I’m serious.  Sometimes people claim to have a big head, but they just have a lot of hair or a broad forehead or something. That’s not true with me.  We’re talking gigantic.  When I size my head with measuring tape, starting from in between my eyes and going all the way around the center of my head, it’s over 23 inches.  That’s a sizable head. And I just recently got a haircut.

Graduation is on Sunday.  I didn’t walk at my high school graduation, so this would be my first time donning a cap and gown and walking across the stage amongst my peers.   I’m pretty excited about it, but probably only because I have never done it before.  Needless to say, I was beside myself when I went to the bookstore a few days ago to pick up my cap, gown and tassel.  I rushed home to try it on.

First of all, who makes these things, and do they know we live in southern Florida, and that graduation is at the end of May?! Why on earth would somebody pick polyester to construct these things with?  Just standing in my apartment in my gown, I immediately begin to break sweat.  Secondly, what’s with the awkward length?  Is it supposed to hit me mid-calf, or am I just so unbelievably tall that whatever company makes these things didn’t know what to do with themselves?  And don’t get me started on the cap.

While each gown is supposedly sized based on your height, all the caps are the same size.  Really?  Everyone graduating has the same size head?  One size never fits all.  Believe me.  Of course, the cap doesn’t really fit over my large skull.  I can pull it down and risk blood loss, or I can use my girlfriend’s bobby pins.  Either way, I’m not too happy with my graduation cap situation.

What I am happy with is where life is going for me.  While complaining about my large head (my girlfriend has heard the contents of this blog multiple times) may seem like a big deal at the time, what’s really important is that I’m about to take a big step in life.  Graduating college is a huge deal.  I always thought “oh, yeah, I’ll graduate college. Some day.”  Well, that day is coming.  It’s Sunday.

Eckerd College has taught me how to have a passion for learning.  I’ve really grown to intensely appreciate everything the world has to offer.  Whether it’s traveling abroad by myself in China, or writing a 20 page research paper on a topic that I chose, or reading novels from all over the world, I jump into everything happily.  I made the right decision to attend Eckerd College four years ago, and I wouldn’t change my mind if I could go back.