Field Trip - Campus and Trails

http://www.manhattanconstructiongroup.com/kraft-construction/projects/by-type/education

 The Campus Field Trip I had at the beginning of the year was interesting. Our tour guide Erica mentioned a lot of things that I had never known about the school before then. Like that Howard Hall was considered a sustainable building just by how the lights are different, the air conditioning, and how the building was built in general. Another thing that I thought was cool was the advertisement boards they have outside and how they have solar panels on top so that way they can capture the sun and then during the night they are lit by no electricity at all.

http://audubonoffloridanews.org/?p=4757

The first field trip we went on I thought was a nice trip. I had pretty much had a stressful week by having a paper turned in earlier that day and having the field trip was a nice way for me to calm down and actually not stress out so much. One of the things that really caught my eye was the three pictures of Florida from before humans, when humans started taking over, and present time. I thought it was horrible how humans had come into the Everglades and started to take over by draining out the swamps and marshes to make neighborhoods and cities for the benefit of humans. Even though we learned the hard way, I liked how now humans are starting to put the Everglades back together.

Another thing I that caught my attention was how Erica pointed out that some of the Bald Cypresses in the Corkscrew Sanctuary could possibly be over 500 years and the fattest/largest ones are the oldest. We did see one that was around 200 years old and it was a pretty big one.

http://www.robsheppardphoto.com/downloads.html

I also like the water lettuce that we saw as we walked by at one point. There was so much of it and it covered all of the water that we could see. I am not sure if you could eat it or not, Erica never said. Probably not though it does not look like something you could eat.

http://erikakentcolloquiumblog.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

The recent campus trail field trip was interesting. I liked how it was a nice day outside. One of the things that I learned that I had no idea about was the huge water collector that froze water overnight and then during the day it melts and cools off the buildings around campus.

The trail was a nice at first. I felt like I was in a jungle. Then though it started getting really muddy and wet and it was not as fun anymore. I could not see what was in the water so it was a lot harder to walk around and it kind of made me paranoid on whether or not I was going to get eaten or bitten.

But it's okay I survived the swamp!