Aimeo I Te Rara Varu
It has been an unusually cool August. The weather gets me in the mood for autumn to begin, my favorite season. I have never been more anxious and thrilled and horribly scared of the coming season than I am right now. For some reason, I haven't been able to post my feelings about embarking on the Three Seas Program all summer. Not just post, I really haven't been able to write them down at all or examine them myself. However, as there are less than two weeks until I move out of the house and up to Nahant, I think the time for personal reflection is at hand. I have completed all paper work, gone through an extensive physical and other required testing (chest xray, spirometry tests, blood work, etc.); I have completed my SCUBA open water certification and the required number of dives; I have bought all the SCUBA gear I need. I have also been enrolled in my classes for the fall.
So here goes nothing... On September 2nd, I move into one of two houses located on the small penninsula of Nahant, MA, which is located an hour north of Boston. That is Northeastern University's marine science center. The first week and a half is devoted to an AAUS Scientific Diver course called Diving Research Methods. Then, when the semester begins, the hard work begins. My schedule for the fall is as follows:
Monday: 8am-2:35pm - marine invertebrate zoology
Tuesday: no class!
Wednesday: 8am-11:35am - experimental design in marine science
Thursday: 8am- 2:35pm - marine ecology
Friday: 8am-3:15pm - marine botany
The full-day classes mean we have lecture in the morning and lab in the afternoon. The marine science center has their own boat, so I'm sure we will be out there SCUBA diving and researching a lot. There are twenty kids in the program, so at least my classes will be small. I know we have two big camping fieldtrips up to Maine during the semester. Fall semester ends the same time as the normal school semester does, so I will be home for winter break.
On January 2nd, the entire group will depart from LAX and fly to French Polynesia (otherwise known as Tahiti), to the small island of Moorea in the South Pacific. I will be in Tahiti for 10 weeks, during which we continue the program with biology of corals and coral reefs, biology of fishes, ocean and coastal processes, and one independent research project to complete on a topic of our choice (obviously related to the marine environment we're studying).
After a two-week spring break in March (during which the group usually travels to Australia or New Zealand), we return to the States. We then spend another 10-week session on Santa Catalina Island, CA, which is about 20 miles off the coast of Long Beach and Los Angeles. This final leg of the program is spent studying marine mammals and birds, conservation biology, oceanography, and molecular marine ecology. There is also a independent research project here for those who decide not to do their's in Moorea. Here is a map, showing the three places I'm going to be.
All in all, it seems that when I leave for Tahiti in January, I will not return to RI or Boston until May. This means I will be abroad (or at least in California) for 5 months. The program is no doubt, uh, challenging. Though I don't really have fears about not excelling in it, I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with the pressure of being surrounded by people who are as devoted to the science as I am. I'm also a little nervous about all the SCUBA diving required, which will no doubt be fun, but all summer has been a source of complete physical exhaustion. I'm also nervous to be away from New England for 5 months straight, though I know that isn't until January. I know plenty of you do it all the time, but I don't think I've been away from RI or MA for longer than a month.
Ah well, it seems all of us are embarking on journeys for the next year, which is my junior year. Or a lot of people I know are, anyway. When I return, I'm definately not going straight back to class. I hope to come back for the summer and work at the Aquarium again. I do feel working there has given me a step-up, at least on details of the species they have there. I know a lot about the invertebrates already. And the knowledge on whales and pinnepeds will come in handy, too. And then next summer at this time, I will be ready to start my senior year of school.
In just 12-days time, the next epic adventure of my life begins. A 9-month intenstive study of marine biology, which will give me an entire concentration in marine science. *sigh* Thoughts??