How the days have passed by

I can’t believe the days are going so quickly; it seems like almost yesterday it was just my first day here, dreading the early mornings. But now I am saddened by the fact that the early mornings will soon come to an end, as well as the early snorkeling boat rides along with them. To catch the audience up on what has been happening the past few days every day has been a new adventure. We recently went to Rincón, where we snorkeled in a beautiful reef, and as most of my friends would know, one of my favorite parts of that day was swimming with tarpon in the open ocean, which was breathtaking. Following that, we went more into town, where we walked around and indulged in some food and gift shops, which was truly amazing. I’d never think that school would be so much fun, especially hanging around your professors on a daily schedule. Following that day, I unfortunately had some pretty bad allergies, but I didn’t let it stop me from continuing on with collecting data safely and thankfully, because of my wonderful peers who eased the load that day and professors who provided me with medicine, by Tuesday night I was feeling better, and by Wednesday morning I was ready to conquer all the surveys the day had to offer. One highlight I can’t leave out would be the wonderful opportunity I had to talk to some authors of scientific papers I had questions about, including former workers of ISER CARIBE, which was beyond awesome. So far, this class has been such a unique experience from academic exposure to hands‑on learning via dinners with professionals to getting more comfortable with my professors, cracking jokes, and learning from their years of professional experience. I’m having a great time here in Puerto Rico.