We are family

Today was rather eventful, in lack of a better term. Each morning it seems everyone appears more and more exhausted, yet once we reached Spencer Hall this particular morn, it seemed that everyone was a little more excited. Garbed in their swimsuits and soaked in a sunscreen/bug spray mixture, we all were anticipating the swim at the lake on the Saint Andrews campus. Nicki Hubbard and I, Emily Jackson, were prepared with our infant-sized, CVS innertubes either covered in cartoon sharks or, my personal favorite, with a dinosaur head protruding from my tube. Much to our dismay, our swim time was cut short, as Dr. Evans spent all but about 30 minutes informing us on the evolution and identification of plants. Though I did in fact enjoy his lesson and ended up learning a lot despite my background in AP Bio, some of my enthusiasm was lost when I came close to being rudely bitten by the large black widow traipsing near my foot, protected by a mere Chaco. We finally made it to the swimming portion, where we learned most of us have much trouble treading water for more than 5 minutes at a time. After lunch today, we climbed back in the vans for a geology lesson with Dr. Knoll. Possibly the steepest, most precarious hike I’ve ever been on. This only added to the excitement! Finally, on the way back uphill, we were given the opportunity to submerge ourselves into a cave tucked into the limestone. Many ventured, of course, into the forbidden areas within the cavern, while I was only mildly adventurous by traveling past the slippery rocks almost an entire story above the main crowd. After several attempts of sliding down a steep rock to exit the cave, I decided it would be best to go back the way I came up. The teamwork I witnessed today was awesome, as everyone was basically forced to assist someone else in order to ensure their safety. Overall, everyone’s been bonding incredibly. Though it may only be the fourth-and-a-half day, we’re all really beginning to feel like family.

Emily Jackson