A day of firsts!

Today Group A went to an Archaeological dig! Although I didn't find anything, some groups found silverware, parts of book, and completely intact bottles! For me, the most exciting part of the day was peeing in the woods for the first time. It's hard to find a good spot to use the bathroom in the middle of a forest because you have to look out for poison ivy, thorn bushes, people, and other creatures. Fortunately I did not encounter any of these things! I also had another first today. Palmer found a tick on my shoulder! It was really creepy knowing that a tick was sucking my blood, but Milena and Maren got most of the tick out of me, then when we got back to Hoffman, Maren got the rest out. Tonight we went to the archaeologists' house to roast marshmellows to make s'mores and have a dance party. Milena had never had a s'more before, so she got to have an interesting experience making one even though she hated it! During the dance party, many new dance moves were invented including the wheelchair, the itch, the flaming torches, and my personal favorite, the shake and bake. Tomorrow, we are canoeing and rock climbing! I can't wait!

Jeannie

Hiking.. again!

We have done a lot of hiking at SEI.

Today was no different. In the morning we hiked to a beautiful place in the nearby South Cumberland State Park. Our wonderful and most amazing counselors said it was an easy hike (which I found out later was so that we would not be psyched out before we began… I’m still unsure as to whether this method is really effective.) They said that is was downhill the entire way there. But I was actually surprised by the way it was really just climbing over a mountain so that you miserably hiked up for the first part but then you spent the second half of your trip going on a mostly gentle downhill among some lovely forest.

The cave was fantastic. As soon as you reached the crevice in the rock, the air felt 10 degrees cooler. It was a huge opening in the rock that went back deep into the rock. Most people sat on the large stones scattered throughout the area, went into the cave to test their adventurous side, or decided to dip their feet into the cool water to soothe their aching feet.

Here there must be a clarification. The water was not cold. It was FREEZING. Coming from a place in Florida where there are several springs that remain in the low 70s throughout the year and having swum in several glacial waters, this water felt the coldest of them all. After several minutes of walking in the water your feet would begin to tingle and become uncomfortable. After getting out, it was painful to walk again, even on the sand. Many people had, quite ingeniously, left their water bottles in the icy water so they could have nice, refreshingly cool water to drink on the way back to the vans.

However, few people noticed the rocks under the water. Much of the rock on the bottom appeared to be several large flat rocks that were the most beautiful shade of green. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to look up the kind of rock it was.

All in all we had a fabulous time and the ride back to beautiful Sewanee was very pleasant. In some places on the sides of the roads there are still some wildflowers left and driving through the mountains is always so beautiful.

Maren

Friends... who knew?

I remember watching all twenty-nine of us running and dashing to McClurg dining hall. An array of colors- blue, pink, green, beige, and orange- caught my eyes as the boys pushed and shoved. The girls walked along at a more relaxed pace. Metal forks and plates crashed together. It was a rush for food. A rush to regain energy. A rush to sit among friends. That’s what we have grown to be in a number of days, true lifelong friends. We all sat and chatted our lives away. Not at all paying heed to our sore muscles, and our extreme intense hike to Buggytop Cave. We were a time of relaxation and reconnection. Little did we know that our night was also going to be exciting!

That same night after dinner, we gathered at Spencer for a game night. That alone sounded fun but the night took an interesting turn of events. As we sat waiting to receive further instructions from Mary Beth, Charlotte, and Trevor, we managed to have fun just sitting there. Laughter filled the hall as we all caught up with each other and told embarrassing tales about what happened in the groups. Eventually, we all separated in groups of types of game. The three popular games of that night were: Charades, The Battle of the Sexes and Spit. While playing Spit, there was a frenzy of hand slapping and Jeannie and Scott seemed to be in an intense match against each other. Neither would admit defeat. But for the most part, The Battle of the Sexes was the ultimate team builder game. Guys against girls, naturally the girls won but it was a fun process to see the faces of the boys, when a question about what a corset was. There was the occasional mind teaser for the girls when it came to cars but overall a fun night. And yet, it never crossed our minds that the next day was July 4th because we were too busy simply having a good time or trying bubble tea for the first time or trying to dance to Spanish music.

Ingrid

Mud and Dirt and Fun

During the first hike today we went to a coal mine where we “stole” some coal and painted all over our faces with it. However, the second hike to Solomon’s temple was the most thrilling part of the day. On the way to Solomon’s temple all of us got muddy and dirty, but nobody expected what would happen on our way back. When we went uphill in the end of the hike, there was not a single person who had a clean spot on his/her clothes. All of us were crawling and grabbing roots and rocks in order to climb the steep slope while in the meanwhile sinking deeper and deeper in the mud. It was really fun, because there is no better feeling than not caring about how dirty you are and maybe this is the best way to become “part of the nature.” However, except the adventurous part, both hikes to the caves were very educational and we learned a lot about the history of Sewanee, about why people decided to build the college exactly on this place, and about the composition of the plateau which makes this place unique. The decision this college to be built here is largely because of the coal with which we painted our faces and the composition of the plateau which is made of sandstone and limestone is the reason for the formation of so many caves which serve as homes for a variety of species.

Milena

Buggytop and Bats

Day 8 at SEI also happened to be the first day of week two. After a more leisurely morning, the group set out on a hike to Buggytop Cave, a trail little bit south of the Domain. We were joined by Katie Wakefield, a rising junior at Sewanee who is doing research with Professor Zigler this summer on the Plateau. Katie led us on the hike, which happened to be one of our more challenging hikes to date. The rocky, sometimes steep terrain made for an enjoyable trip down to a 150 ft. rock face where the entrance of Buggytop Cave is located. We didn’t enter the cave as it was closed to the public to protect the bats that resided there from White-Nose syndrome, a fungus epidemic that is affecting bats all over the east and Midwest. Once we made it to the cave opening, we enjoyed the cool water the flowed from the cave, and the rocky landscape surrounding it. After we had cooled off and rested a bit, we made our way back to campus to enjoy a quiet afternoon and then “game night.” Everyone is excited for tomorrow and the fireworks at Lake Cheston.
Emma

Wizards, Goats and AHHHHHHH

Three words describe this day: Wizards, Goats, and AHHHHHHH.

Not enough for you? Okay okay, I guess I can go into a little detail for y’all (that word is amazing btw. Ariziona really needs to catch)

So for Wizards…Dr Evans took us out today to show us the plants surrounding the “res” as the people call it here. I wish he had been teaching me in AP Bio! That man made the classification of plants soooooooo easy! Anyways, after he showed us all of the plants, we were split into teams of four (mine was LGFM if you were curious) to find various plants. I was part of the winning team, which was pretty awesome. He called us the Botanical Wizards. That’s word number one

As for the Goats… Dr Haskell invited us to his house to see his awesome garden, bunnies, and most importantly, goats. They were super cute, but for some strange reason they didn’t respond to my goat speak. Either I cussed them out or told them to turn away. Regardless, they were super duper cute. That’s word number two.

AHHHHHHHH is what the majority of SEI said today at Fiery Gizzard. Why? We jumped off a waterfall!!!! I was really freaked at first, but then I jumped. My eyes were closed so I didn’t know where I was in the air. I ended up hitting the back of my legs. really. hard. (so now I am sitting in a really awkward position writing this blog post). Honestly, I think the worst part of it was the freezing cold water at the bottom. (but really, everything is cold in comparison to Arizona) Still, it was quite the rush!

Those are the three words. There is only one more week left and I can’t wait to see what is in store for us!
Felicity

Natural Climber?

Day 5 here at Sewanee and we are still all alive. Injury rates have been relatively low so I'd say it has been a successful first week here on the mountain. Today we started out with Dr. Smith who showed us his forestry class' success in the field and also taught us how to control the forest through several techniques like burning. On our way to lunch we stopped by the Sewanee student garden which Dr. Smith also had played a role in starting. In the afternoon we listened to a presentation on conservation, major environmental issues and what Sewanee is doing to combat these threats. Then, a group us went bouldering. While I discovered I am not a natural climber, watching the other monkeys in our group scale the cliff was very entertaining. We ended our day with a trip to CVS to replenish our snack stock and a quick stop at Sonic.
Palmer