Colloquium

Debrief

Found this class to be much harder than I thought, but in the end it was worth it. The hardest part of this class was working the service learning into my schedule. Even though it is summer my program still consists of four class plus our clinical rotations, so adding more was a challenge. In the end I loved my service learning site and hope to go back when I am not as busy. I found the information we learned in class to be useful and I am definitely more aware of how things work around me. The class was always interesting and the way of doing and learning things was different every time. I like this because it kept me interested in the activities and did not get boring by always doing the same thing, the same way, at the same time, every week. Some teacher do not understand that even though the information being taught is different, if the way of learning about it is not then it still gets boring. I had never done a blog before and was a little skeptical about it at first but I actually enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to post pictures in the blog because sometimes words can only say so much while a picture says it all perfectly. I have always been interested in learning new ways on how to save energy and making the earth a little greener so this information was extremely helpful. Overall I enjoyed the class.

Shywolf Sanctuary

I did my service learning at Shywolf Sanctuary. I had a great time working there and plan on going back whenever I can. I learned a lot by being there. Not only did I learn safety and cleanliness about them but I learned a lot about how wolves interact. I was surprised at how similar their personalities are to ours, except for one small difference, they do not care what we as humans think of them. Some can be shy at first, but once they warm up to you they are very friendly and playful. Others are playful from the very beginning, and some just do not like certain people. I was amazing the amount of wolves they had there. The sanctuary is in someone’s back yard, and it is not just wolves, they have, panthers, bobcats, rabbits, foxes, and prairie dogs as well. Most of these animals have been abused, and others were just “cool pets” that eventually got old. Something I learned that really stuck with me is that they are not like dogs. While some are part dog and part wolf, it is easy to tell the difference between which side is more dominant personality wise, not just be looks. Some of the wolves look intimidating but are the sweetest things once you start playing with them. It was so important to build relationships with the animals because they really can sense how you feel. It is amazing to me that someone would take in all of these animals in their backyard. I know I could never be able to manage that, and I respect them greatly.

Ding Darling

I cannot imagine having to build a road by myself now, but to build one way back when without any real technology blows my mind. The road that you take through the trail was built by one man and it took him about four years, two to go one way and two to come back. Right at the beginning the tour guide pointed out the millions of little crabs that were sitting up by the mangroves. I saw all sorts of the little creatures, crabs, plenty of fish, birds, and even where a turtle lived. I had never been to Sanibel so I was amazed at how beautiful and reserved it was. Our tour guide was great; she gave us lots of information and related a lot of things to other states because most of the people on the tour with us were from out of state. She would stop whenever we had a question and made sure everyone had a chance to see everything she pointed out. I found it interesting about the birds that would set up their nests at the tops of the trees. They do this because they need a three hundred and sixty degree view of their surroundings. I did find it kind of strange that there are so many residential houses close by. At certain points toward the end I could see into people’s back yards. I do not know how pleasant that would be if that was my house, and I think it actually drew people away from the tour because I heard others on the tour talking about the houses as well.

Downtown Ft. Myers

I had no idea there was so much history in downtown Ft. Myers. You see it in the way the buildings were built and structured. I learned long ago that Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had lives here long ago but I never knew that Ft. Myers had been established way before that. The videos were very informational and it is cool to see how the area you live in came about. I think doing the scavenger hunt is a great idea for getting to know that area. I liked how the questions were informational but also had some fun ones as well. I probably learned the most from this field trip just because I had a lot of fun doing it. When I first went over the scavenger hunt I remember thinking Yoda? As we walked up and down the streets it was funny to see how many people knew we were doing a scavenger hunt for an FGCU class without saying anything to them. I really liked the painting at the Olympic building. I had heard about it on the news when it had first opened up so it was nice to be able to see it. Toward the end I was getting frustrated because I only had one left and I could not find it anywhere, but as I went to get something to drink from a store it was right there, and I just laughed. I think it was really cool that they used shells as concrete for the sidewalk.

ECHO

I really enjoyed this field trip to ECHO. I have been there two times prior to this trip but they were when I was younger so it was nice to see what things had changed and what had stayed the same. I did not remember the area where the bamboo is. I did not know that you could cut a piece of bamboo off and then put it in the ground and it would continue to grow. I also did not know that sunflowers could grow to be as tall as they were. At the end of our tour they had a little platter out for us to all try. It was definitely not your typical platter; it was full of leaves, fruit, and cactus. I must say I had never eaten cactus before but it is extremely good. I would love to be able to grow my own plants and vegetables, and there they give you ideas of quick and easy ways to do just that. I loved the little hut that is a replica of a school house in a third world country. This helps to bring to life what it is like to live in a third world country. I really like and appreciate what ECHO has been doing. Not only do they grow different plants and vegetables but they actually train people to go overseas and help out. World hunger is something that really tugs at me so seeing people and an organization trying to prevent that is great.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

I have the pleasure of living out in the estates, right by Corkscrew Sanctuary but I had never been there until this class. It was interesting to see how different things are there even though they are only a few miles apart. It was interesting to walk throughout the swamp and see how different things were. At some parts of the walk the sun was shining through all the trees, everything looked dry and brittle, and it was HOT. But then at other parts throughout the walk the trees were taller, it was more swamp like and a lot cooler. The best part for me was being able to see the alligators at the end. We also saw baby alligators with their mom. There were a lot of them and according the workers there and some others I have talked to seeing the babies is a rare thing. It was kind of a peaceful walk; all you really heard was nature because everyone tried to stay quite so we could see as much as possible. I went with a group of people but I noticed that I was always a little bit behind them. Something about walking through nature is just relaxing to me. When you get to end of one of the pathways there is a look out that is really pretty. It is like a huge open field with what looked like prairie grass and different little flowers. I was amazed at how big some of the trees got when walking through it. Some of them would curl around each other and just kept going. Also there were different types of flowers when the land got lower and there was not as much sun. It was much more colorful and was really pretty. Also on our walk through the swamp we saw three black racer snakes. One was trying to go up one the huge trees and the other two were just slithering around in the grass. I seen plenty of snakes living out here, I even had a rattle snake at my front door one time, but I have never seen a group of snakes interacting before. It was really interest to see the differences from my backyard to there. It just goes to show how close things seem to be but yet how different they really are. Unfortunately I did not get to see very main animals besides the alligators and the deer. I just saw a lot of lizards and bugs. When reading the information in the directions about the wood stork I thought we would see them as well, but again I did not see anything. We did see a hawk, but I do not what kind it was, but it was really big. Going onto the field trip I was thinking that the possibility of seeing deer was really good but we never saw any, although I did see one crossing my street on my way home, which I found to be rather ironic.