Farewell FIO

I can't even believe this class is already over. The first day of class, I was driving on I-10 to UNF and I remember thinking that I already knew that my drive back going home was going to come before I knew it. I was definitely right. Driving home Friday left me with a saddened emptiness, but also a feeling of satisfaction and enthusiasm.

The last week of this field study course was exhausting, but very rewarding. The first day was spent on a boat going up and down the St. Johns River, which was an experience just in itself. I have lived in Jacksonville for the past year and I always knew that our river was in bad shape, water quality wise, due to all the dredging and pollutants entering in. However, I honestly had never really seen the river except when I was downtown but I didn't think that was a good perception to base my thoughts off of. Boating down the river for quite a while gave me the exact perspective I wanted. Basically for miles, all there was on either sides of the river was factories, ports, and other forms of development. We even saw some dredging going on. The walls were made of concrete, there was hardly any natural vegetation in sight, and the channel was relatively narrow. However, once we got farther out of all the congestion, the environment eased into a much more natural layout. Seeing how overdeveloped the river sides are made me uneasy because it was so industrialized, with no buffer system for what runoff enters such an important aquatic ecosystem.


Next came the 24-hour study. Even though I slept on a cooler, had to get into dark water with alligators too close for my comfort, and forgot a towel, it was a really amazing experience. I found it so interesting that we were looking at how the Guana Lake/River changes over the course of a full day. This isn't something I really ever thought about - how different the biotic and abiotic factors get at night. I not only learned vital information from this study, but I also got a great sense of teamwork and how you work with a group under conditions that aren't necessarily ideal. The 24 hour study also gave me a final chance to become familiar with technology used in this field, as well as how to take useful and organized data, which is definitely a valuable skill to have because bad data equals bad stress.

Our last day in the field took place on beaches all over the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. As I said before, I live in Jacksonville but I am not all that familiar with everything yet so it was awesome going to different beach sites that I have never seen before. Dr. Hackney taught us all about the dynamics of beaches, tides, inlets, and the difference between man-made structures and natural ones. We even got to go dip netting in some tidal pools and found cool littler critters like starfish and small fish.

I am beyond grateful for the experience and opportunity I have been given through this course. Not only did I meet amazing people that I will always have a place in my heart, but I also just got so much more knowledgeable. I didn't realize to what extent until this last week took place and I knew so much that I didn't know before the class. I feel very confident in my future and I will apply all the lessons I learned towards school and my career. This class was exactly what I needed to push me one step further into what I want to do in my life and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to have a once in a life time experience. I will miss you all, IJLSA :)