nature girl.

I feel like these past two weeks, I've just been such a nomad. (Thanks for the thought, Janine.)

I'm enrolled in a summer biology course called Mountains to the Sea - basically it is a comprehensive summer environmental science course that covers the basics of watersheds in Georgia from literally the Mountains to the Sea. We started out up in the North Georgia mountains at Unicoi State Park and then worked our way through the Coastal Plains at Athens and in Augusta, then to the wetlands at Okeefenokee! (which was one of my favorite days so far, and was also yesterday.)

Today was pretty good though too. We started off at the Coastal Resources Division and went out onto a research troller (which is basically a boat that carries a big net behind it for fifteen minutes then pulls it up and you look at what you've caught) and we pulled out a lot of fish and shrimp, but we even got a lot of sting rays and even... dun dun dun... a shark! It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Then we went on a walk through the salt marsh, which I won't lie, I did not find to be quite as awesome. I mean, it was cool for about five minutes but then it got really really hot.

Then we drove up to the dock where we loaded all of our crap up on boats (and they mocked me for bringing my laptop, but there IS WIRELESS, ok?!) and we took off on the thirty minute boat ride to Saint Catherine's Island. It's a barrier island off the coast of Georgia and basically it's a wildlife preserve and rehabilitation center. I've only done two things while I was here: unload stuff off of boats and drive it back on a gator. So I can't tell you too much about what's ON the island currently, but that it's really hot, and that we are staying in replicas of slave cabins (one of them actually is an old slave cabin, but I'm grateful to know for my supersticious side that ours is a replica.)

Basically, we are going to have dinner at 7 then class for awhile (ugh) and then we will go out after dark and watch some baby sea turtles be released into the ocean =] then more class? idk. Historic tour tomorrow! And some more trolling and seining for offshore wildlife. I'm kind of excited about tomorrow, but not for class haha.

SOAPBOX: Something I really really don't understand - why all these scientists and biologists and conservationalists who know so much about natural things SMOKE?! And IN the nature that they so want to preserve. Maybe it's just my juvenile not all that intelligent mind that says - I don't know if dropping your tobacco chemical filled ash on the ground is good for the environment? It bothers me. Also bothersome: the thought that we cannot step on any human toes to fix our environmental problems. I don't understand - if we made the world aware of some of the problems that we have in our watersheds (or anywhere else for that matter) I don't know why people would have a problem with changing the way that we live - and even if they did, why they couldn't just pass a law and they could just gripe about it for the rest of their lives? haha. Maybe that's just me. But there seem to be a lot of problems that we have that are easily solvable if people actually KNEW about them.

I'm ready to be home, where taking a shower means that I won't really get dirty, just that I will take another one out of habit later on that day.

I also wish I had the energy to work out, but the days are really long on this trip.

After this: only three weeks left until school starts! Lord.