It’s hard to believe it, but we’ve reached the middle of our time here. Looking ahead, we really need to make the most of our remaining time. Looking back, we had one heck of a week!

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We began work in earnest on our Independent Student Projects, meeting with our respective mentors to figure out what form our end results will take. My mentor, Ian, seems pretty gung-ho about posters, so that’s what I plan on doing. We also continued to play host to the Warner family, eventually meeting with them regarding their assignments. I can’t vouch for the other mentor/mentee meetings, but this was a great chance for us to step into the shoes of a teacher and–in turn–a wonderful learning experience.

But the real highlight of the week was our Down Island trip. We headed out at the crack of ten on Thursday, ready for an adventure. And boy, did we ever find it! In the space of three endless days, we:

• went on a scavenger hunt through the settlement of Governor’s Harbour…
• made friends with a hermit crab that grew awfully attached to Shelby on Harbour Island…
• explored Preacher’s Cave, the community center of the first puritan settlers of Eleuthera…
• snorkeled and swam and spent the better part of the morning on a beach with incredibly soft sand…
• climbed the cliffs above Glass Window Bridge at the narrowest part of the island…
• bought gifts and souvenirs in Gregory Town (the best purchase by far was Scotty’s turtle-print clothes)…
• waded through the waist-deep underground waters of another cave, becoming mud-monsters…
• snorkeled with seahorses in what was perhaps the most magical moment of my life…
• slept out on the beach, under the stars…
• visited a native plant preserve, narrowly missing the mountain lion…
• inspired the creation of a zipline (we’ll see…)…
•  and otherwise managed to have a marvelous time, without too many squabbles over the music in the van

All things must end, though- it’s back to work for us!

This is Lulu Ben-Veniste, signing off.