Blog Entry #12

                                                                                     Colloquium

To tell you the truth, I was so nervous before I entered this classroom. This was my first honor’s course and on top of that it was one of the first courses that signified I was a junior. Everyone on campus knows that you are almost done with your college years at FGCU when you have taken colloquium. Well that’s the way I think about this course when I think about FGCU.  Everyone knew each other in the course because they entered the honors program together and I was just inducted to the program a few months before the course started.

I felt relaxed when we were given the first task and this task could be completed without working in groups. The big question was, what do you think colloquium is. At first I automatically wrote down service learning. As the course progressed, I quickly realized that it is not just about service learning. It is about conserving our environment and learning ways to live a sustainable life without taking drastic measures. The course emphasized what is happening to our environment in our community as well as what is happening to the environment in other parts of the world. Basically this course is about awareness and using the knowledge that we learned to take action.

I have learned so much in a short amount of time and that is incredible to reflect on. I have had the opportunity to explore parts of Fort Myers that I would have never ventured on my own. I probably would have never seen downtown Fort Myers or ECHO or any of the other places we toured on field trips if I was not in this course. This class has opened my eyes and helped me understand our environment and community as something bigger than my regular studies. 

Blog Entry #11

                                   Edison Who?

There was so much information that I learned from the downtown Fort Myers field trip. Before arriving downtown, I learned that the Edison name used for most buildings in Fort Myers is named after Thomas Edison who lived in Fort Myers and at the time he was the most famous man in the world. I have lived in Fort Myers for almost two years now and I am ashamed that I didn’t know that Thomas Edison was a contributing factor in this city. Now that I know a piece of history of Fort Myers, moving forward in the field trip looked promising.

            It is sad to admit as well that I have never been to downtown Fort Myers until my junior year of college. This experience was truly one of a kind; I have always enjoyed history and the historical museum was a treat. Our historian and tour guide Jim took us through a timeline that started with Paleolithic times, into the Seminole wars and then the present. The modeled artifacts that are displayed all over the wall helped me visualize what times would be like back then. The historical museum of southwest Florida will be a place that I would like to take my family too.

            Since this was the last field trip of the semester I was sort of sad because there was a lot of information that I never heard about Fort Myers and the environment until recently. I could not even imagine if this course was offered for a whole year; how much information I would gain from this course. A neat part of this field trip was walking through the downtown area with our classmates and seeing what kind of shops there are. There were so many eateries, the place I enjoyed the most was the downtown pizza shop. As the field trip was ending and we were heading back to the shuttle, I was thinking to myself how much I learned from this course and all of knowledge that I have gained.

Blog Entry#10

                                          "Wonder Trails"

I thought the Echo field trip was interesting but I was wrong. The campus hike which was our “on campus field trip” definitely topped every other one. I won’t lie I was scared to walk through the nature preserve because the grass was very high. I know that may sound dumb but I was terrified my skin would have an allergic reaction to the itchy grass. Other than that seeing the other student’s reaction to the nature preserve was too funny. I think once everyone got passed the fact that we were going to walk through a lot of tall grass, the field trip was even better.

            There was so much to learn from snails to an assorted array of wild flowers. I liked that the nature preserve had so many different areas to walk through. At one point when we finished walking through the tall grass we were in a forest area. It is amazing how fast the zones changed. It felt as if we were at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, it is nice to experience that again on campus.

            Memorable moments from the on-campus fieldtrip were the paths of the nature walk. I thought that there was one narrow and straight path that goes through the nature preserve. There are so many adventures that could happen depending on what path you take.  When the nature walk ended I missed the shade that was given from the trees. It was peaceful in the preserve compared to the sidewalks of the school. If I have more free time, I would definitely go out there again and enjoy what nature has to bring.

Blog Entry #9

                             Nature Reads
Reading the excerpt from The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald was interesting. I know that politics play a major role in our everyday lives but to see how much it could affect nature was astonishing. I just couldn’t believe that when situations got serious, certain people who are in control would not step up and take charge. A good part that came out of all this was that in the end people were able to get bills passed.

            Reading The Nature of the Everglades by Marjory Stoneman Douglas was really difficult to get through. I like the fact that she is very passionate about nature and concerned about the everglades but it was also difficult grasping each sentence. One part that I especially like from the reading from Mrs. Stoneman was about the meaning of “hatchee”. I am from Loxahatchee, Florida and I found out the word hatchee means river. I live on a dirt road and on the corner of 3 canals. This made me feel connected to the everglades somewhat more.

            If I had to choose which reading was more interesting, I would definitely say that Michael Grunwald’s story was more intriguing. Reading about politics is actually very interesting because the events that happen are historical. The decisions that we make now will affect what life will be like in the future.  Whether it is was Marjory or Michael the stories were interesting but I would say that Michael’s writing was more compelling.

Blog Entry # 8

Fountain of Youth

  When I was home again for spring break there was article that I found that was amazing. The article was called “70-year-old woman says her garden is the Fountain of Youth”.  Her name is Annette Larkin and her backyard garden is full of fruits and vegetables. She has been eating vegetables, seeds, nuts, and fruit as her diet since 1960. Unlike her husband who owned a meat shop, he did not follow her diet and he has high blood pressure and diabetes which he has to take medicine every day. Annette has no need for even aspirin since she became a vegan in the 1960’s. 

            Annette Larkin does not look 70 at all in fact she looks like she is 40 years old. Her skin is flawless and a wrinkle has never appeared. There is no need for her to go to the grocery store because her backyard is the store. She juices her fruits and vegetables and all her food is unprocessed. This really shows someone that living a sustainable life is not difficult and you will really reap the benefits from it. Her husband is the same age but is dealing with problems every day, whereas Annette wakes up at 5:30am everyday with ease.

            I found this article to be so interesting and inspiring at the same time. I know that if I could own some land, the first chance that I would get is to plant trees and seeds. Eating the right foods, exercising daily and being sustainable is the life that I want to live. This article shows that those three ideas can be achievable. It will help your body in the long run plus the planet. There is nothing wrong with that. Annette Larkin will be in mind when I think about how I want my body to function when I am 70 years old.

Blog Entry #7

“Estero Bay Field Trip”

No other field trip could ever compare to Fort Myers beach historic cottage. The sights were amazing from the beaches to the houses. Our first part of the journey was getting to the beach historic cottage and since the traffic was really bad, I liked the fact that we walked for a little while to the cottage. It was sort of a “green” thing to do and the weather was especially nice, so walking was a nice way to get the field trip started. Getting lemonade and cookies especially put a smile on my face because it was a nice treat to have.

Jo Hughes was our presenter and the information that she was presenting was very intriguing. Learning about her experiences through growing up in the 1930’s on Fort Myers beach was fascinating.  I liked when she spoke about the different schools she went to for early education. The schools were cottages and named after a person. There was only one teacher per three grades and the teacher was the school driver as well. That was a lot to fulfill and I couldn’t imagine doing all these jobs.

 Another interesting point that she mentioned while growing up on Fort Myers beach was how hurricane disasters have changed the bay. At first there were only three canals and now there are over a hundred canals. Which worries her the most because if we have a major hurricane; she says it would be scary to think how many pieces the bay could break into before it becomes obsolete. Learning about southwest Florida’s history and what it was like before and how it is shaped now is very interesting. I like learning about history and to learn about Fort Myers history was to cool. The final part of the field trip was a walk through the mangrove preserve boardwalk and the best part was the dock that we stood on and the view of the water was amazing. The wind and the smell of the water was just a wonderful experience. Estero Bay Field Trip is something that I will not forget about for a long time.

Blog Entry #6

  

As a child I had a very fortune experience with nature. I could say almost that I had an experience like someone from an older generation. At first I lived in a somewhat gated community but there was still a good amount of land in the backyard where I could play and come up with pretend adventures that my sister and I would go on. Then when I got to middle school I moved to an area where everyone lives on a couple of acres of land. This is where nature came into play a lot. I would be outdoors every single day after school and play with my next door neighbors until the street light came on. Then on the weekends I would be outside playing all day long. Whether it was swinging on the swing set or playing hide and go seek in the yard. Nature was my playing ground.

I do not know what type of person I would be if I was not outdoors and not in sync with nature. My life as a child was for the most part outdoors and it was very rare if I spent time indoors unless I was playing a board game or it was night time and I watched television before I went to bed. I guess I was very blessed to have parents who wanted their children to be outdoors and enjoy what nature has to give to them. I was also fortunate to have a sibling and next door neighbors that were interested in being outdoors as well. It is nice to look back at the days when I was a kid who played in the yard until the sun went down and even sometimes played when it was pitch black outside because the thought of danger lurking around was even more exciting.