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

The calming effects of nature

For the majority of today we counted snails in upper cove, upland, and exurban areas. We split into groups and measured out two meter square areas to search for ten minutes each. We got down on our hands and knees and sifted through the leaf litter. When we found a snail we would measure its diameter and record it. This was interesting not only because we got to look at different types of snails, but also because there were so many other bugs we had the chance to observe. It also became more fun when my group incorporated an acorn “war”. When all of the data was put together we realized that the exurban areas had the most snails. Why this is so is a question biologist are still trying to answer. Snails are such an important part of the ecosystem, yet little is known about them. For example, I learned that birds need more calcium than is in its body to lays eggs, so it eats snail shells to get the amount it needs
Also today I learned the coolest thing, at least in my opinion, about the forest. That is that the plants give off chemicals that get into your blood stream and physically make your body more peaceful and calm. I found this really interesting because every time I am in the woods I feel relaxed, but I always thought it was just because I loved nature so much.
After playing with snails all morning we got to cool off in the reservoir. This was so much fun because there was a rope swing and a low platform in the middle that leaned into the water when to many people stood on one side.
After we washed the muck of the day off and had supper we went to a concert on campus. The band performing was The Culprits. I really enjoyed it a lot, which surprised me because I generally listen to country music.
We are now almost half way through the program and I can easily say that I am having a super awesome time. I absolutely love all of the adventures that Sewanee has to offer.

Heather

Musings and Music

Hello Parents or other people interested in the SEI 2011 camp!

Currently speaking is Tadhg Young, with my roommate Graham Turbayne (awesome name, right?).
As I write this I am listening to Journey's Separate Ways, perfect for blogging! Now onto the more important stuff, like things that actually have to do with the camp.

Today was great. We studied the snail populations in certain areas around the campus. This was done by dividing the entire SEI camp members into 5 groups and having them choosing random plots of land in either urban (well as urban as this campus can get), suburban, and exurban (the area between rural and the suburbs). At one point I had about 8 snails on my hand, the level of slime was pretty epic. Our professor was Dr. Haskell. He liked snails, but more importantly he was BRITISH!. The accent was amazing. Oh also, I believe the exurbs had the most snails.

Okay now I'm hearing Hotel California, Graham has great song choice. So what happened next?

We all went to a large reservoir, cleverly referred to by our counselors as "the res". This was awesome. Rope swings. Random adrift docks that sank with too much weight. we all started to push people off the dock until someone got hurt. Then we continued to push people off the dock, just without that person. Truly twas a wondrous time we all had.

Finally we finished with a concert from Dr. Evans son's band The Culprits, and they were really talented, and rocked the house so hard the music camp directors were complaining. Now that's what I call music.

Well that's all for this blog entry,i'm gonna go finish listening to Dream On.

We're tired, hungry, aching, but most of all happy.


Bye parents!

Tadhg

Nine snails

Who would have thought that finding snails in such a HUGE forest would be so hard? Definitely not me. Well I was wrong….very wrong. Searching for these small creatures for three hours only ended with a victory of nine snails. Pathetic right? Luckily the other groups were able to scrounge up enough of them to put together some legit data. After the long hours of snail hunting we ended up cooling off in the reservoir and then headed off to The Culprits concert in the quad. The night ended with a short but laughable game of truth or dare, and then it was off to bed for a good night’s sleep.

Hailey