Tomorrow morning marks the end of Spring 2015′s first month! Here’s what student Tallis Blossom had to say about her first 30 days.

It’s fast here. Always something to do, someplace to go. It gets a bit hectic and stressful at times. But the overarching experience is amazing. Every day here is a new adventure (or five), and you have to be ready to roll with the punches. We’re over a quarter of the way through and it seems as though we’ve been here for a year and for a second, all at once. I feel like I have known these people my whole life, yet I know only the surface of so many of their lives. Each day I learn a bit more; the place unfolds and the people share more stories with me. I find myself falling in love with these people. With this place. Sure, it’s hard. Every day we learn new content, we reach deeper into ourselves to discuss Omeros in Literature and culture in Histories. We write about a higher level of the food chain for Marine Eco, sitting 40 feet beneath the surface of the water. Research hands us another scientific journal to summarize, and takes us out to sein in thousands of mojarra with the hope of catching even one juvenile bonefish. We run farther before breakfast, we study harder after dinner. Yes, it’s a place that forces us to search ourselves, to push ourselves and wonder and question and bond with each other. The tight scheduling forces me to not be homesick, which is nice, because if I take too long of a break, I begin to think about what everyone at home is doing. And while I will be excited to see everyone again, I need to enjoy this experience, to milk it for all it’s worth, because I won’t ever get it again. I’ve given myself 100 days to sink into the ocean, and go home more alive than ever.

Tallis Blossom