It’s looking like another breezy and beautiful day here in Eleuthera. The vibe on campus is refreshing and energetic after a morning run-swim. There’s something inspiring about exercising as the sun rises. Every time I took a breath while swimming this morning, my head was greeted by a gradual glowing sun. We started the run-swim in the gray-blue dark sky, and by time we got out of our final cut, the sun was at a pleasant height, casting it’s bright glow across the ocean.

As you all have probably learned, research takes up the entire afternoon on Thursdays. Because we have so much time with our research groups, Thursdays are almost always field days. However instead of entirely field work, some of yesterday’s class was spent preparing for our Project Introduction Presentations. Today, every research group is presenting their projects to their fellow students, faculty, and some scientists at CEI. It’s a chance to inform everyone of what we have been spending so much time and effort on. After much preparation today is this big day, and I cannot wait to learn about every ones projects.

Today is also the student’s research midterm. Wow, midterms already. It’s crazy to think that tomorrow will wrap up our final official academic week, with kayak and down island right around the corner. I believe we find out what kayak group we are in on Sunday! It is almost surreal that this time has come already, an trip that has been anticipated since day one starts in less than a week. A trip in which we will spend 2 days, and 2 nights with nothing but food, water, a tarp, a journal, one personal item, and ourselves. For most of us, the most time we’ve spent alone is 4 or 5 hours. I can’t imagine 48 hours by myself, and I can’t wait.