Fare You Well, Merpeople!

What do you get when you put a dozen merpeople together and let soak in brine for nearly six weeks? You get a school that doesn't want to swim away from each other once the course is over.

Dr. Judkins Explaining Our Activities in the R/V Weatherbird's Lab

This has been one of the best experiences of my life! I've learned so much about ecology, biology, animal behavior, what really goes on in research labs, and I've made new friends who have the same excitement for all this that I do.

To every one of you, I miss you all already. I look forward to getting together again and I hope our paths will continue crossing on our journeys forward.

Thanks to Dr. Hogarth, Dr. Judkins, Dr. Hackney, Dr. Smith, and all the other professors for giving your time and energy to make this all possible. I learned something new with every activity and assignment, which couldn't have happened without your skills and hard work.

Thank you Monica for treating us all like your own, and for handling situations that I know were sometimes difficult with grace and dignity, and in ways that allowed everyone else to keep theirs. It really takes an amazing person to pull that one off.

Thank you to everyone in our group, during this time I've seen many examples of what being a good friend really means and it has made me feel I can be myself around you all. It means a lot to me that each of you has gone out of your way to make me feel included.

This last line should be "Goodbye, FIO Marine Field Studies!" but it's too hard to say.