One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in the right ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom.
This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned. (You can see all the previous posts in this thread here).
On the 10th day, it was time to retrace our steps and head back to the mainland. An early morning wake-up call was set to give us time to pack the van, check out of the hotel and make it to the airport in time for some last minute souvenir shopping. KM and I dropped the rest of the group at the airport and came back to the car rental agency to drop the van off. By the time we returned some of the folks had managed to find the nearest store with the best sales and proceeded to haggle their way into some expensive-looking items at a cheaper price.
As we left Puerto Rico behind, it seemed as if even the island was "questioning" our departure. All of us shared that feeling, too...
The 5 hour flight went by very quickly. SJ, SM, and LP kept themselves occupied with music and drawing while MB and AJ had a cup party. KM grabbed the opportunity to completely solve a crossword puzzle for the first time ever in her life.
One final look at San Juan was soon...
...followed by our first look at the Windy City. The gloomy weather and snow on the ground reminded us again of what we had left behind a few hours ago.
We had lunch at the airport and reminisced over the time we had spent in each other's company.
And then it was time for the final leg - Chicago to Omaha. The landscape got more bleak (and familiar) the further west we went.
And then we were home! To book end our trip, we took one last group photo before we dispersed...
These parting words are taken from a student's journal of the trip:
This trip was hands-down the best adventure of my life. We all grew so close and became such good friends. I started off not knowing anyone's names and ended up feeling like we have known each other for years.
Finally, as my own journal winds down, here are some photos that may not have made the first cut in the blog entries but do capture the essence of the trip very well.
This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned. (You can see all the previous posts in this thread here).
On the 10th day, it was time to retrace our steps and head back to the mainland. An early morning wake-up call was set to give us time to pack the van, check out of the hotel and make it to the airport in time for some last minute souvenir shopping. KM and I dropped the rest of the group at the airport and came back to the car rental agency to drop the van off. By the time we returned some of the folks had managed to find the nearest store with the best sales and proceeded to haggle their way into some expensive-looking items at a cheaper price.
As we left Puerto Rico behind, it seemed as if even the island was "questioning" our departure. All of us shared that feeling, too...
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
The 5 hour flight went by very quickly. SJ, SM, and LP kept themselves occupied with music and drawing while MB and AJ had a cup party. KM grabbed the opportunity to completely solve a crossword puzzle for the first time ever in her life.
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| (Andrew Jacobsen, Sami Wysocki, Miranda Beran 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
 |
| C.S. Manish 2011) |
This trip was hands-down the best adventure of my life. We all grew so close and became such good friends. I started off not knowing anyone's names and ended up feeling like we have known each other for years.
Finally, as my own journal winds down, here are some photos that may not have made the first cut in the blog entries but do capture the essence of the trip very well.
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| C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (Andrew Jacobsen 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (Lorissa Panowicz 2011) |
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| (Andrew Jacobsen 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (Katie McKenna 2011) |
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| (Katie McKenna 2011) |
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| (Sami Wysocki 2011) |
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| (Stefanie Whitmire 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (Andrew Jacobsen 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
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| (Andrew Jacobsen 2011) |
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| (C.S. Manish 2011) |
1 comment:
excellent. have a feeling i have either read or heard this entire thing before but great to see it all in one place!
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