June
has bought about some mixed feelings, towards the end knowing I only have one
month remaining in this beautiful place yet at the same time I got to spend
more than the typical 3-5 nights to become close to a group of 16 students
through the commencement of the CSU field course program. This month was therefore full of late nights,
some early starts and an array of tired journal entries. My snake friend never returned but I gained a
whole bunch of friends from Minnesota, Los Angeles and Monterey Bay.
What
happened this month:
- I finished my Spanish course at CPI Monte Verde, and Spanish reached an all-new level of complication.
- Us staff made all the final preparations for the launch of the CSU program.
- I had my first ever Burrito!
- I met the previous and third of the Teaching Assistants (SL)
- I got to meet the 16 CSU students, all with different and interesting backgrounds/experiences to share - a lovely group of selected students, and friends for life!
- I learnt their names, moulded myself into the TA role, and enjoyed some nice meals out with small groups.
- We all got to play lengthy games of traditional street football - Mejengas! Great fun J
- I saw the most beautiful bird in the world - a male Resplendent Quetzal, from a couple of metres.
- I got my machete back, which allowed me to learn more things under the park guard role
- I got to learn from the full array of bird, plant, fish, research design and statistics lectures from the L's.
- There were quite a few more insects around, and with them more storms and impressive displays of lightening.
- I became heavily involved wide a wide range of interesting research projects undertaken by the students, namely; Hermit Crab Olympics, Hermit Crab Shell Selection, Gastropod Desiccation, Sea Cucumber Predation/Camouflage/Habitat Selection and Tidepool Blenny Diversity…
Overall I got
the opportunity to convey all the interesting things I had learnt around the
station in the park to the students, as well as discovering new things
alongside them and enjoying laughs along the way.