Live a lil' in my shoes...: Final Exam Officially Over!

Wahoo! The pressure of this exam is finally gone and I cannot express how ecstatic I am!! After a full day on non-stop studying I am burnt out from the books. Although, as much as I was happy when it was over and I sent it to all my teachers, I was a little upset because I felt like we should have been given more time. We have three teachers here and it was a combination of all of their lectures, separated into 3 parts. For my first teacher, we had 9 short answer questions (which are a few sentences long), and then we had 2 essays! My second teacher had 4 questions that we had to write a paragraph each to explain the questions. Lastly, my third teacher had about 15 questions that was a combination of short answer and paragraphs for the answers. We had to complete all three parts within two hours! It was definitely a time crunch, and when they told us we had 15 more minutes I started freaking out because I like to skip around a lot and come back to questions. At that point I raced through all of the ones I had skipped and finished them. I got all of it done in time, but it would have been nice to have an extra 30 minutes or so to go over everything and maybe explain in better detail about some questions. But, what is done is done and now I'll just be waiting for my grade!

After the exam was lunch, and then right from lunch we had a field trip to a beach call Coast Guard. It is at the very North tip of South Caicos and is a really good site for mangroves (which is the nursery habitat for a lot of fish species). We brought along all of our snorkel gear and headed out in three different vehicles. On the way we stopped and took pictures of pretty scenery as well as the occasional donkey that was on the side of the road. We actually pulled up to a group of donkeys together, and there were about 4 baby donkeys. They were so cute!!! :) When we arrived at the beach we were split up into two groups. One group went straight down to the mangrove site, and the other went out to the other side of the beach and rode the current all the way around in a loop back to the mangrove site. I started out at the mangrove site. When we got in the water we had to swim over a patch of upside down jellyfish before we were able to look around and swim off by ourselves. Even though they sting you, I cannot deny how beautiful they are! Some of them were really big (like bigger than my head) and some were as small as my palm...but they were all different colors and mostly neon! Once we swam over them I snorkeled along the coastal line where all of the mangroves were. These aqua plants have prop roots that stick out of the water, and in between all of the roots is where all of the baby fish are. It was really cool to see all of the fish I have been studying, identifying, and looking at outside our research center in a mini-form. They were so little and adorable! I even saw a few baby barracudas (I think I saw the mommy too because it would not leave me alone and was following me the entire time I was along the coastal line, it was about 5 feet long!). There was also a really pretty orange, yellow, and purple starfish in the sand. After about 20 minutes of snorkeling at the mangrove site it was our turn to go ride the current on the other side.

For this part of the snorkel we had to swim against the current to get further out into the ocean, and then we just let the current take us along the tip of the island. We passed a huge deep area with some of the biggest coral I have ever seen! We also saw a Southern Stingray and an Eagle Ray too! The fish here were much bigger because it isn't a nursery ground, its the actual pelagic zone. After viewing all of the pretty coral and cool fish, we were brought back around to the mangrove site. The second time I was at the mangrove site I went to the opposite side of the coastal line and was snorkeling next to the sand flats. I still saw some fish, but it was mainly just pretty to look at, especially with the reflection of the waves from underwater. I saw a crab just running sideways and I followed him for a while, eventually he saw me and he scooted himself backwards into the sand a few times until he was completely invisible! It made me wonder how many other crabs was I swimming over? LOL! I also saw a lizard fish! It was the coolest thing I think I have seen here yet. This fish was swimming with its tail but also using his fins/arms to walk on top of the sand!! It was just skipping about and was super fast. I ended the snorkel looking at a really stunning cowfish, it was similar to the cheetah print ones I have mentioned seeing before, except this one was turquoise! It was beautiful!! Overall, I had a very successful snorkel :)

When we were done we hung out on the beach for a little bit and looked around the old coast guard buildings (which is why the beach is called coast guard) and then it was time to head back for dinner. I took a salt water shower right after dinner because I was covered in sand, and yes I feel clean now :) I'm actually laying in bed and really looking forward to my night. As soon as I post this blog I will have a relaxing evening watching a movie or reading a book, with no worries about studying or any homework, woo!! So with that said, good night everyone! :)

Here are some awesome pictures from today too!!