The final thought

 On the first day of Colloquium, I was not looking forward to class what so ever. I dreaded being in that class, hoping that the university would have not made it a graduation requirement. However, on the first day, it changed my belief. After these six short weeks, my overall perspective of the world around me has changed. I knew the environment was threatened before I started, but to what extent shocked me. Everything in our modern country has been altered for the best but with unrealized side effects. Our food industry is producing less food, and it is no longer completely safe to eat. Our country is on the brink of collapse, and our local area has become less habitable. All of these things are scary to say the least. However, I have become hopeful of our future by the last day, instead of leaving with guilt like I had been for the first 5 weeks. I see myself doing all that I can to make this planet as green as I can, and to teach my children the same. I want to now start a garden, erase my carbon footprint, and teach others to do the same. Nonetheless, I wanted all of these things before this class, but now I know they are necessary for our future. Moreover, the things that I do on a daily basis have changed for the better as well. I now make sure I turn of the lights when I leave my house, have switched to paperless statements on my bills, and go out of my way to recycle more. I know that these things will make a minimal difference, but I am hopeful that me knowing how to reduce my carbon foot print will inspire others to do the same. At the end of class, I am now inspired to go change the world and make the world a better place.

Cities of the Future

 During our last week of class, we had to talk about different issues of the environment from a book, Plan B. This book discussed different issues in our modern time, everything from sustainable resources to growing enough food for our exponentially growing population. One of the topics that really interest me talked about planning cities in the future. Being an engineer, this was right up my alley. To be honest, this was the one topic that I wished I had recieved during the first day when we had been randomly assigned topics The group talked about everything that is being done in cities to make them environmentally friendly. From bike racks to taxing people that drive into populated cities. Seeing this I thought of other things that could be done. The group that I was with did renewable resources. From solar to geothermal, the things that can be implemted is staggering. Along with these things, adding renewable resources in every way possible would greatly improve cities. Moreover, one of the pictures that they showed was one of massive floating cities, powered by every renewable resource, having grown there own food and being completely self-sustainable. One of the things that I thought that could greatly improve cities was to get away from the sprawling developments and building up instead of out. As we saw in the downtown Fort Myers trip, the city was starting to build up, bringing more people to the area. More people in the area means more business, meaning more jobs, and a successful city. My view came full circle after seeing this presentation, and visiting downtown Ft. Myers. The presentation was what experts thought and seeing it being practiced in downtown Ft. Myers. For once in my college career, things that are talked about and theorized in the classroom were visible in real life, the feeling was humbling to see it.

Downtown Ft. Myers

 Getting on the bus for our fifth and final field trip, I was more excited than any of the others. We were to go visit downtown Ft. Myers and analyze the city to see if it was a self-sustaining place. Self-sustaining in the sense that it has what every resident needs; places to live, work, eat. We took the scenic route, going past the Edison Mall, the Edison house, and one of the biggest Banyan trees around. Professor Wilkinson told us how special our mall was, it was the first of its kind to have two big stores at either ends, with shops in between. The Edison house itself was unique in that right next door there was the exact same house, just a mirror image of it. Right past it was the Banyan tree, far bigger than I had ever seen. Before stopping in downtown, we went to little museum a few miles away that showed who and what lived in Florida eons ago and also what the land's topography was like. We were cramped in the little space but the tour was neat. It began with huge skeletons of Mastodons, Saber-toothed Tigers, and Giant Sloths but quickly transitioned to the native people. The things that they did with incredibly crude tools and man power was astonishing. They engineered canals, farmed a large amount of food, and prospered. The tour then transitioned to more recent times and the cattle industry that helped southwest Florida flourish. We saw other important pieces and learned of how Ft. Myers got its name. As we left the museum, we headed to a small house that was on the grounds. It was an old style bungalow, having windows and doors on all four sides. The whole home was smaller than my bedroom, something I found incredible. We then headed back onto the bus and made our way to Bicentennial Park, which had statues of Thomas Edison, Firestone, and Henry Ford. This was the first time I had been to downtown Ft. Myers, it was complete opposite of what I expected. The buildings were visually appealing, the hustle and bustle of the city apparent. We then walked up the street and turned right, stopping to discuss the area. The place we were at is going to be changed into a channel, lined with shops in an effort to filter the water and bring more commerce into downtown. It made me excited at the possibilities of how my town was changing around me.  Heading down the street further, we made another right into the front of an art museum. Out front, there were two giant round metal cylinders with words cut in them. One of them told the story of the Native Americans and the other about Edison. Both of them were impressive. We then had a few minutes to do as we please and explore the downtown area. There was a local pizzeria that served an excellent piece of supreme and made some awesome brownies. We then met behind the local Starbucks, where there was a mural on the building above. It showed how the local area had changed over the years. It was quite interesting to see it through a different perspective than I was used to. Then, we went into the building next door, the Indigo Hotel to see the top floor. After a couple elevators full, we got to see downtown Ft. Myers in its entirety. Before we started, our professor asked if downtown Ft. Myers could be a liveable city. Liveable meaning having everything needed on a daily basis for life; places to work, restaurants, stores to shop, and available homes. Seeing the city from this view, it was apparent that this was more than just an idolization, it was actually right in front of me.

Billy's Creek Take Two

 In my last blog, I talked about how I and a few others visited Billy Creek park and the cleanup we did there. However, our most recent adventure took us on another path. We left from professor Wilkinson's house on the river and paddled to Shady Oaks park, both located on Billy's Creek. We arrived early, wearing old clothes and were prepared to get dirty. Our professor told us that this part of the river was much more polluted and dirty than the park. Loading the canoes on the slip, we could see what he meant. The reflective oil was visible and there was trash on the banks. We started paddling, picking up trash on our way. The river twisted and turned, it was much more difficult than any river I had canoed before. The banks were less than 10 feet in some places, not including the dense mangroves and vegetation growing on either side. About a third of the way to Shady Oaks park, the Nipa and professor Wilkinson were waiting on an bridge, taking candid pictures when we rounded the bank. The river was strong in places, pushing more than once into the underbrush. One time, we had gotten completely stuck on a branch that it took nearly ten minutes to untangle ourselves. When we had finally gotten to the park, we tied our canoes to the dock and climbed out. The other canoe continued a bit farther, around the other side of the park, near a wooden platform. We had found a giant submerged trashcan on our previous short visit that needed to be removed. When they removed it, it was covered in worms that had grown on it. A side path led to a small grotto that was starting to be consumed by nature. It had several trails, none of which you knew were trails until you were actually on them. Professor Wilkinson was deep in the woods, his voice being the only sign of him. I went onto a path in his direction, submerged by water, and three feet high at best. It was a tight squeeze but my big-self made it through. The trail opened up again, with a higher ground part being visible. It was apparent that people had been back here, crushed beer cans and trash bags were all over. I was cautious of poison ivy, luckily I didn't brush up on any. A couple others joined me and we walked back as far as we could. The trail ended in an open area, surrounded by trees and a relatively large space for where we were. We made our way back to the initial grotto opening, finding a huge pile of trash there. Professor Wilkinson's legs were covered in mud, his shoes brown. He told us of a large amount of trash in the much and that he was going to go get it. He advised us not to come but I was up for the challenge. I stepped where he stepped, finding that most of the logs couldn't support my nearly 300lb frame. I tried to get as close as possible so that the professor didn't have to climb back over a trunk and nearly break his neck like he had done on the way in. He handed me a bucket full of garbage and I trucked through to hand it to Seth, waiting for it with another bucket. With the second bucket full and most of the garbage collected in the area, he made his way back to the entrance. I had attempted to set up a path of branches and such but it was flimsy at best. Nipa captured pictures of us as we climbed out. My shoes were as brown as professor Wilkinson's. We walked over the bridge and back to where the canoes were docked and emptied the trash. We stood around it and took pictures of the good we had done, the amount of trash behind us staggering. Then, we got back into the canoes and paddled back up the river to our starting place. The trash was minimal but we still had bits and pieces of things when we got back. Heather and I were the first to get back and I was grateful to be back so that I could take off my wet shoes and wash my feet off. The other group came back and said they had saw a manatee. I learned then that Heather had seen bubbles but I saw no sign of it. I wish I would have, I have only seen manatees once in the wild and that was when I was in the ocean a few years back. Putting the canoes away, I thought to myself how different this part of the river was, as compared to park we had been the two previous times. The river was difficult to maneuver but it was cool to see it through a different perspective. As our last service learning experience came to an end, I was sad that I wouldn't be able to come back and make more of a different but pleased at the work we had gotten done in such a short time.

Billy's Creek

 When I think of downtown Ft. Myers, I think of the urban city, massive with condo's, filled with middle-class people, and empty of parks and natural places. Prior to taking colloquium, I knew that I would have to do service learning hours but I was at a loss of what to do. However, my professor brought up some suggestions and one in particular, Billy's Creek, sounded like something that would be enjoyable. I had looked up other places to my community service, including habitat for humanity and local soup kitchens, but neither seemed to draw must interest to me. With the final decision a few days away, I picked Billy's Creek. The professor said we would be cleaning up the park but I had no idea what that meant exactly. I figured I wouldn't worry about it and just push through it. To my surprise, the park was located in a very bad neighborhood in downtown Ft. Myers, and everyone looked at me as if I didn't belong in the area. It wasn't too hard to find and seemed like a hole in the side of the earth. Walking through a bunch of trees on a path, the park opened to a huge, multipath park that had lots of animals and tons of vegetation. I felt like I was somewhere on the opposite side of the world. I met up with everyone who were working on picking up trash and hearing about things to do. The first day, we set out to remove a South-African species that the professor said was named, mother-in-laws tongue because of how it flapped in the wind. I burst out laughing. The plant was easy to pull up and before long we cleared the area. We then put them in the back of the professor's truck and with it, left to go get rid of the nuisance once and for day. We then drove to another park, Shady Oaks, which had seen better days. The water gleamed with oil and the playground looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. We walked on a graffiti covered boardwalk to the end and man's destructive ways were apparent. There was trash everywhere. We talked about coming back with canoes and cleaning the river up on the third and last visit. Then, we headed to our professor's house and dropped off the nuisance. Two weeks later, we returned, ready to do all we could. Pulling in a little after nine, the professor was no where to be found. All of us waited for his arrival and after twenty minutes I called him. He said he was going to be later because he got into an accident, so we decided to go and pick up trash instead of waiting around. The park seemed much cleaner than before. I felt like I had actually made a difference somewhere impervious to change. However, walking back to the entrance we went to a different area than before. It was apparent of how bad the area was with regards to trash. It was as if a layer of trash had settled on the ground floor. After several grocery bags full of trash, Professor Wilkinson arrived. "Were you gonna leave me?" he asked, jokingly. We all hoped in his little red truck and drove on the path into the park. We stopped at a palm tree that was being taken over by another and destroying the original in the process. The mission for the day was remove the parasite. However, it was tricky due to a giant, half dead oak tree that intertwined with it. The professor had brought a couple tree saws and we got to work. He climbed on a ladder, than into the tree itself and cut back a branch that a broken piece of the oak was resting. It came down with a large crack, I bet easily weighing a few hundred pounds. There was only one large trunk left until the rest of the parasite came down. One of our companions, Seth, was up for the challenge. He sawed and the trunk started cracking. However, he brought down half the oak with it! It was as if someone had turned slow motion as he gave me a desperate look and jumped out of the way, only inches separating him and injury. Luckily, he jimmied down the tree to safety, to our relief. We got to work making the trunk as small as possible so that we could carry it away. Having a machete in my trunk, I drove Professor Wilkinson's truck back and grabbed it. The trunk was a lot smaller when I got back, only the thick parts left. I set out chopping them in half, the parasites trunk quite easy. On the other hand, the oak's inner core was resilient to say the least. It rang out a loud ding every time I brought the blade down on it. After what seemed like an eternity I finally finished it. I cut around the parasite's base in an effort to make sure that it doesn't consume its host once more. The machete was dull and hot from all the stress placed on it but our job was finally finished. We took before and after pictures of the spot, it was a night and day difference. I was covered in sweat but felt good about the job I had accomplished, making another big difference in the ecology of the park. I feel like so much more can be done to the park to make it even cleaner, and I want to make more of an impact after two short visits.

Canoeing The River

 One of our last field trips was to go canoeing on the river right from the dock off of Bonita Beach road. I had been canoeing once at Koreshan state park when a couple friends and had a blast. I dressed in light clothes, a part of shorts and a t-shirt, for the class trip. The professor described a couple ways of canoeing and a couple tricks to help steer the boat, which I made sure were in my head. I had a rough idea of how to canoe, the first time we winged it but I got the hang of it by the end. We each grabbed a paddle and life jacket and made our way to the slip. We took the canoes off the racks and pushed them in water, two to three to a canoe. I decided to go with Kyle and Heather, our motley crew having only going canoeing once or twice. We paddled our way out of the dock and immediately had trouble figuring out our bearings. Kyle and I rowed the boat and Heather sat in the middle, enjoying the ride. We communicated well together and before long Kyle and I had it down to a science. We waited for everyone else to get situated then started our river journey. The professor led the group, pointing out wildlife, with one of his colleagues following behind to make sure we didn't get lost. There was a giant fish that pointed our direction as we left behind the houses on the river and entered the buildingless skyline, surrounded by the essence of the river. The river twisted and turned, never ending. The whole time though, people bumped into each other, ran into the bushes, and just when it seemed that they had the paddling figured out, lost it all over again. We started to finally pick up speed with the current as we got closer to the lake of the river, making the paddling a piece of cake. The riverbed became increasing shallow as we snaked through it but the professor seemed to know the way. There were oyster beds throughout, which made me feel positive about the river's future. Prior to leaving, we had talked about what was becoming of the river and how the opacity changed over the lifespan of our professor. The river itself overall was cloudy but when we got close to the sides, it was visible for about a foot deep. We approached to great lake of the river and it was easily detectable of the change in salinity of the river. The salt lingering in the air, we finally stopped on a bank to the side of the lake, the depth less than a foot deep covered in oysters. My arms burned from the first leg of our trip but I enjoyed the view. The professor held up a conch shell and talked about how it sucked the oysters from the inside out and what we thought was a safe haven for oysters was actually the oysters screaming for their lives. Condos surrounded our view from every side and we learned how businessmen wanted to make more. I was thankful when the professor said that they won't, the river was already desecrated enough from man. The sun baked down on us as we started to paddle back, the current slowing us as much as possible. The current really made things difficult for everyone, canoes ran into the vegetation more than before. Kyle and I learned the hard way that even the slightest degree changes from the being parallel with the current shifted the path straight into underbrush. My arms were screaming for relief but I wouldn't give in to the river's momentum. I keep telling myself, "one more turn, one more turn." Kyle and I were yelling out to each other, making sure that we wouldn't run into the side for the hundredth time. When the fish finally came back into view, I was relieved to be close. The great size of the river truly played a part on my being. I felt like I had become closer to the nature and that it had done more work on me than I had done on it.

Echo

 Getting ready to get on the bus to go to our next field trip, I was excited, nervous, and unsure what to expect. I had those butterflies that you get when you first start to really like someone. It was an odd feeling, especially because of where we were going.. My professor said that we were going to a place called Echo, which grew food in the most natural way possible. Before taking colloquium, I planned on having my future home be self sufficient with energy but never with food. During the weeks leading up to our trip on Echo, I started to want to learn how to farm more and more. I have changed my ideal house in my brain to one not only being self sufficient with energy but also with food that I consume. I want to be able to go out to my backyard and pick my food for my evening meal. To have a cornucopia of fresh fruits and vegetables to snack on, and waking up to cows mooing and chickens clucking. The anticipation was killing me on the drive there, especially after we had gotten stuck in traffic on the freeway. We finally pulled into a parking lot that was surrounded by bamboo and I could already see the renewable practices going on. Waiting for us was a guide by the name of Vic Estoye, who looked like he had seen his fair share of changes. We signed in and walked across the street to an even bigger lot, avoiding the giant sprinklers as we went. Our guide showed us how modern tools could be altered slightly to benefit the needs of the user. For example, there was a bicycle rigged to a grinder so that one could petal to operate, and there was also a solar powered oven that used mirrors to focus the sun's light to a point, which easy reached 120+ degrees Fahrenheit. I saw plants that I had never heard of, sunflowers that grew taller than my imagination, and my first ever rice field. I felt inspired at what I saw. Our guide kept the mood fun, making jokes and feeding us along the way. It was apparent that one plant in particular, Maringa, fascinated Vic. He said that vitamins in it were far greater than any other plant and it had the taste of horse radish, though I passed on tasting it. The path went in all different directions, and one that I really thought was cool is how plants can grow on almost anything, plastic bags, carpet, even between the cracks in concrete. Nipa, one of the girls in class who is from Bangladesh, had seen a lot of the plants that we talked about. I was envious that she had been able to interact with these plants, something I hadn't been able to do throughout my life. I wanted to grow the things I interacted with, the experience was humbling to say the least. One of the plant leaves that I had tried tasted exactly like green peas, it was unmistakable. Moreover, I had tried my first cheery from a tree, which tasted nothing like the ones that came in the jars at Publix. As we walked back to the buses, I felt like I had learned so much, seen so much more than I ever had, and had a thirst for more. There had been so many paths that we didn't go down, so many plants that we skipped over without talking about, so much more to be seen. I didn't want to leave but knew that I could always come back. It was by far my favorite field trip we had been on.

Nature-Deficit-Disorder

 Throughout the last hundred years of urban sprawl, we have begun to take nature over completely, leaving little or no trace of it behind. Kids that grow up in inner cities have never seen the forest or the ocean in their entire lives. Moreover, in recent history the human race has reached a point where there are now more people living in urban cities than there are living in rural country sides. We have lost our connection with the natural world, and our inner humanity is starting to take control and is having serious consequences on a child's mental well-being. In the book "Last Child in the Woods," author Richard Louv talks about the possible link between increasing ADHD and the lack of nature in children. Now, my eleven year old sister has ADHD as well as Dyslexia, so I was quite skeptical about the facts prior to reading the story. I believed that ADHD was closely linked to genetics and also an ever increasing artificial additives in food. However, Louv theorizes about a disorder, called Nature-Deficit-Disorder, which asks if the loss of nature in everyday lives has led to increasing reports of ADHD.
 Whether or not he has changed my mind about what I believe about the disorder, I still think that he brought up significant points that should be researched farther to understand the full meaning of. I talked with my mother, who believes even more than I do that the food additives and genetics are to blame. I tried to get her to think about reading the book but she dismissed it immediately. None the less, I am still gonna buy the book for her birthday so that one day she might read it and learn something more about the disorder that interferes with my sister's life everyday.
 A lack of nature also brings up other points that affect our lives and well being. Our class discussed the thought that increased disease is tied to someway with a lack of nature. The professor told us that growing up with two pets decreases the risk of asthma and other diseases by 80%. Moreover, that in third-world countries, where living with animals is second nature, asthma is almost unheard of. It really makes me wonder more if our modern, clean, and anti-bacterial way of life is starting to cause more harm than it is providing well being. To summarize, I feel that our inner conscious is starting to lash out in every way possible and hanging on to our natural roots in anyway possible.

Ft. Myers Beach Trip

 I have been to Ft. Myers beach over the years, many times since moving to Florida over eight years ago. However, where we went was somewhere that I didn't know existed, had no clue how to even get to, and no idea what to expect. The professor had been many times over the years, he even lived on the beach for part of the year. We took a bus to the beach and turned onto a couple back roads and pulled into a small parking lot. We were at Matanzas Pass Preserve. The building was covered with wood inside and out and had displays of the history of Ft. Myers Beach. Cookies, lemonade, and crackers with jam awaited us when we came into the main room filled with chairs. The cookies were delicious and the lemonade refreshing. We all took seats and a sweet, little elderly lady came around the corner out of the kitchen holding a bunch of papers in her hand. Her name was Jo and seemed to fill the room with warmth. Her family had been growing seagrape jelly for generations and was looking forward to a bountiful harvest in the fall and how the jam she had put out wasn't actual seagrape jam. Jo moved to Ft. Myers in 1936 when she was just five years old. She talked about the downfall of the local net fishing industry and how past hurricanes have changed the geography of Ft. Myers Beach. She even went to talk about how a local cult lost its leader's tomb to the hurricane, which has never been found. It was easy to tell she was passionate at the place that she lived in and had many more stories than the ones she had described to us. We all grab another cookie, some more lemonade and took a bathroom break before we went outside. The breeze was cool on our faces as we huddled around a site with benches. The professor talked about what was happening to the local environment from all of the pollutants in the river. The trail was on a boardwalk and the ground, with growth everywhere. We saw examples of all three types of mangroves, black, white, and red. I thought the red mangroves were the most appealing because of how they grew and reproduced, with roots growing up from the earth a few feet above the ground level to the rest of the plant. The trail split into two parts and we headed left onto the mangrove path. We pasted a decaying raccoon, and the musky smell of skunk lingered in the air. It was a local plant that surprisingly didn't smell worse the closer you got. We saw a plant called Cat's Claw, which had sharp thorns on it as well. We rested for a bit in a local pavilion and discussed how Rick Scott's legislature has changed Florida's environment laws and has taken a step back in environmentalism. We saw passerbys in boats, pelicans swooping in and out of the water and even a Bald Eagle. It was the first time I have ever seen one and was surprised to see one in Florida, even though I found out that Florida is prime habitat for Bald Eagles, as described by the professor. We started to walk back to the entrance, and I had so many more thoughts in my head about this place. It was like walking through a different part of Florida, a place I had never known existed. The forest was so incredibly pristine, with plants everywhere. Heading on to the bus I promised myself to go on the other trail sometime, to make sure that I can back to the little slice of nature nestled next to the glamor and partying of Ft. Myers Beach.

An Inconvenient Truth

 When I think of Al Gore, two things pop into my head; the highly debated 2000 election and the slander he gets for the things he does by politicians. When the professor told us we were watching his documentary, I was unsure what to think. Prior to viewing, I knew who Al Gore was and that he was an environmentalist but that was all. I had mixed feelings about what was going to be played, whether I would believe him, enjoy his documentary, or even stay awake. Nonetheless, the documentary was the complete opposite. The man behind my mental enigma grasped me, and kept me interested. He was funny, and had a certain aura around him that was felt through the screen. He talked about global warming and the extent to which humans have destroyed our natural environment. Being an engineer, I wanted facts, graphs, material details to prove the phenomena he talked about. He provided a plethora of all of these; pictures, correlations, graphs, facts, and many more things that tore me up inside. One of the best graphs he showed was the temperature over time graph, that cleared showed how hot our planet is truly becoming. Instead of trying to stay awake, I was trying to contain my anger that I had inside for my fellow man. I do my best to be environmentally friendly; not litter, turn of the lights, and ask people to do the same but the data he showed me proved that things are only growing exponentially worse. From every single picture he provided, it made em feel like our future is more bleak than ever imagined. I wanted it to stop, to stop hearing about what was happening and to go fix it. To leave where I was and march to Washington to make action, to write letters to whoever would listen, to force Exxon-Mobil to change their destructive ways. Other parts of the world are becoming just as disgusting as we are; China opens an insane amount of coal-burning fossil-fuel-using mother-nature-killing power plants every week and I believe they will be the new United States in nature destroying policies. Not saying that we have come a long way from 20 years ago, we are making progress yes, but there is so much more that can be done. As the movie concluded, my disgust, anger, and sadness for the human race rolled off my skin into the air. However, one thing that did calm me slightly was how the end of the movie provided ideas for humans to do to reduce our impact on mother earth. As a result, when class was over, I was still disgusted and angry, but a lot less sad; they may be hope for us after all.

Corkscrew Swamp

 When we traveled to corkscrew swamp I was unsure where it was, what I was going to see, or what I was going to learn. The weather was bleak at best and the smell of smoke from the far away forest fires lingered in the air. The preserve was located far from any civilization and was in its own little nook of the road, I doubt I would be able to find it again. Standing at the entrance, the professor explained what the whole place was about with the National Audubon Society being the biggest role player in its existence. The professor's apparent love for the place made more interested as time went on, he knew every plant, animal, and sound that we heard. We stopped at a couple places to talk about wood storks, the population of which had decreased exponentially when man came to Florida. I found it really interesting to hear about the history of the birds and their plume feathers, which at one time were worth twice there the weight in gold! With the rain coming down we headed inside and huddled around three large displays. They showed the everglades in the pristine condition in the late 1800's till present day, which are now being strangled by roads and civilization. I found it disturbing to see how we have ruined one of the most important natural resources we have. We then went to go talk about the Living Machine, which is an environmentally friendly way to recycle and treat water with the use of plants. I could see it being implemented in every household and how easy it would be to make. The swamp was underneath a huge boardwalk system which expanded far into the distance. On one side of the boardwalk you could see the untouched forest, with all the low lying palms and taller slash pines. The other side had much less plant life, indicating a recent prescribed burn. The burns help limit the amount of fuel for unintended fires and also help wildlife come to the area. We felt the boardwalk have a slight downward slope and came into a marsh. In front of us was a forested area and behind us the palm filled land. It was absolutely amazing to see three distinct, different ecological zones thriving right next to each other.  It felt like I had traveled from Florida, to North Carolina, to Pennsylvania in an instant. The marsh was filled with grasses and we searched for deer and other wild life to no avail. The forest was much more interesting, every twist and turn revealed something different. One thing that was cool was how the Skipper Butterfly would go inside an unopened leaf and eat, which lead to a circular pattern of holes when the leaf finally opened. Coming around one corner we saw a White Ibis which was being stalked by a huge alligator. We waited in suspense for any sign of seeing it getting gobbled up by the gator. A bit further we saw more gators, a total of five for the day. Turning around, we saw a Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a branch, it was awe-inspiring. It was one of most beautiful birds I had ever seen with my own eyes. As we left, I felt happy for the things I had learned, saw, and experienced on our visit, and told myself to come back and see it again.

Mixed Bag

 Getting ready for the first day of colloquium I was unsure what to expect. I had heard about it from friends, all of which said it was more of a pain than anything else. Nonetheless, I told myself to be open about the class and to not expect anything. I had bought a bike the day before, intending on riding to class, which was only a couple miles from my house. Leaving for class, I crossed the street on brand new bike and after a couple revolutions peddling, the chain popped off and I heard the sound of plastic breaking. I fixed it no problem. My bike chain broke three more times on the way to class. I walked in twenty minutes late with eyes all on me. However, the professor seemed like a pretty easygoing person and likable enough. My classmates seemed to come from all walks of life and I the first day uneasiness went away. The professor talked about little known facts about the environment, everything from the Osprey nesting outside to the way that Americans are funding both sides of the war on terror. Moreover, I felt my assumptions of what the class was about changed, I started to actually enjoy this class! Before long, we were sitting outside closer to the Osprey nest talking about what everyone wanted to do and who they were, we really were a mixed bag of people. We discussed the environment, something I had little experience talking about. Nonetheless, I wanted to do more and more for it as it went on, I considered changing my major to environmental engineering on the new found zeal for the environment. As the first class drew to a close, my outlook changed from dreading this class to wanting more from it.