It was just like probably one of at least,
top-five of the coolest experiences of my
life, and so if other people can experience
that I would totally say go for it because
it was really amazing.
So it was a week-long, very hands-on active program. Every day you're
out on a boat doing different fieldtrips and
collecting specimens and then there was a
classroom lab portion to do actual studying
of the specimens we got. Every day was something
different we were going out looking at how
to tag sharks. We were doing coral reef swimming
and collecting specimens there and in the
mangroves. So we got to see so many amazing
habitats around the Bahamas. My favorite part
of the trip was feeding baby lemon sharks.
They were only a year or two old. It was interesting
to see them developing their hunting techniques.
My ultimate favorite moment was we went out
into the deeper water and we actually saw
dolphins and then we got in the water and
if you put your head under the water you could
like hear them, and so that was like the ultimate
coolest moment of the whole trip for me. I
think my favorite was just being out in the
boats every day, and as we traveled to different
habitats that you would see in the marine
environment. We got to see coral reefs and
the mangroves and just going between them
I saw sea turtles from the boat, we saw dolphins
and we saw sharks. It was just that feeling
of being out there and being a part of it
was really the best thing about it. Well my
next step is probably grad school so I feel
like this really did two really big things
for me. One of them was I got the opportunity
to learn techniques that I wouldn't get to
learn here in Minnesota. You don't do any
free diving/snorkeling in Minnesota looking
at tropical habitats so for grad school I
feel like its really prepared me to examine
my possibilities and where I might go next
outside of Minnesota. My experience impacted
my life because each day was something new
and each day was something amazing. Every
experience that I had there was like unforgettable.
Everything we did was like a bucket list checkoff.
So I wanted to study abroad in the first place
because my mother is a huge traveler and constantly
told me stories of all the places she's been
and I really wanted to start making my own
stories. Getting the scholarship helped me
so much with this trip because I wasn't sure
if I was going to be able to pay to do this,
but once I found out that I got the scholarship
I screamed with my mom because I realized
it would be much easier to do the things I
wanted and get the knowledge from the field.
I would not have been able to go on this trip
if weren't for getting a scholarship and I
think that's probably true for a lot of people
because study abroad is very expensive and
because it's such an important opportunity
and that opportunity should be available to
everyone and getting a scholarship really
made that possible for me and many other people
on my trip as well.
