Week 6:
Baruch Institute for Marine & Coastal Sciences

June 25, 2013

It’s the end of the sixth week, and there are only four weeks before I say farewell to this place. Something I realized a few days ago was that no matter how much you dislike something about an area (e.g. the weather), you will still develop an emotional attachment if you stay long enough. I think this is true of people, too. I think I’ve bonded with this region in several ways. In the mornings, I notice the humidity level. On the way to the lab, I look at the same spot off the side of the road, because that’s where the turkeys show up.

This week has been an awesome one. On Monday I collected two sets of tiles: one deployed the evening before, and another deployed a month ago. I spent a day and a half cleaning them, transferring them into tubes, and spinning them in the centrifuge – there were so many of them! I actually had to stop and rest every once a while because the muscle in one part of my back hurt because of the repeated scrubbing motion. However, when my advisor Rhawn and his family came, my sore back ceased to hurt. They took me out to dinner, and we talked for quite some time. I was ecstatic to see people who were familiar to me. It made this place feel a little bit more like home. I shared stories of my experiences here, and they told me of their summer trips. It was a warm and relaxing catch up – extra credit for the good seafood and the cooperative weather. The next day, Rhawn came to the lab and I introduced him to some of the technicians who work at the lab. Around 11:00, John and other trustees came to the lab for the Dean’s Environmental Scholars Annual Trustees Meeting. I’m very glad I got to see John and Deb, whom I had met once before when I had stayed at John’s place. I also got to know Jack, who used to be John’s student. I was lucky enough to attend the first half of the meeting, and I was given the opportunity to summarize what I was doing and what I had done so far. I also was given the chance to hear the experiences of former Cornell College Fellows from their mentors. In all my life, I have never attended a meeting with such a clear agenda. There was the Call to order, Call roll of Trustees, Approval of Minutes and Old Business, among other things. I was amazed by the formality of it all. For the rest of the afternoon, I cleaned over 200 dirty tubes (they don’t clean themselves) and sorted part of the tide data from online.

There was a huge sample of data, because one of the samples I collected on Monday was out in the field for a month. This means that there were 31 days of tide data (62 high tides) for me to “play with”. On Thursday I took Rhawn and his family to my fieldwork site to show him what I do, and I deployed another set of tiles while there. The temperature was in the low 80s, and the breeze was refreshing. Rhawn’s two girls were excited by the tiny fiddler crabs that crawl in and out of the mud and the birds that rested on the boardwalk. While Tracy was doing an SET reading at Site A, I fell into the marshes. I was at the furthest plot and, as I stepped on the branching boardwalk, one of the boards detached from the boardwalk, and the side fell into the mud. Thankfully, the majority of my body came out un-muddied. Coincidentally, Tracy fell into the marshes right after I did. She came and helped me get unstuck and she helped reattach the board to the boardwalk. When we were on our way back, Tracy ended up falling into the marshes once more in the same spot that I had fallen. I’ll admit that I laughed, as we had both fallen on the day that my advisor and his family just so happened to be there.

Afterwards, they took me out for a big lunch and I celebrated my initiation into the ranks of those who have fallen – a true coming of age. Friday was memorable: it was the first day that I drove to my field site in the stick-shift truck on my own! I was a little nervous because I am used to have Tracy sitting next to me while I drive. I managed to overcome the upset stomach, and I made it to the site, collected my samples, and drove back to the lab, all without hitting anything! I am now confident enough to say that “I can drive.” I will say, though, that I need more practice before I get on a real road. I felt so cool when I was driving by myself.

Over the weekend, I went to the beautiful Brookegreen Gardens with Rhawn’s family. While there, we went on a historical site tour, spent some time at the beach, visited the wildlife zoo, and had a relaxing picnic.

Rhawn’s family left for Charleston on Sunday morning. I really enjoyed the time I had with them and I was so thankful that they made this trip down here to see me and the internship site. On Sunday, Tracy and I went to watch World War Z and then had a great lunch at an Italian restaurant. I’d have to say this week has been the best week I’ve had here, and I’m now prepared for my last four weeks with more heat and bugs. Sort of.