Archive for year: 2015

We are all a part of this world, nonetheless our presence isn’t the essence of the universe. Over the course of three days spent on Santa Rosa Island, I have seen the world go round. I’ve felt it move in waves. The experience woke me up. I could finally see the presence existing inside me being reflected all around me. It was magnificent. Everything seemed to come together in a sense of “unity, isolation, and place”, as Cause had clearly emphasized.

Belittlement is hard to overcome. Trust me when I say it’s not easy to stay calm when the waves start to sway harder, faster, and stronger than I could even imagine. But even though I struggled to get out of my little self and into the grand adventure that this island had presented in front of me, I realized I couldn’t do it alone. I couldn’t get out of that dark place that consumed me without letting go. Santa Rosa Island, with the help of the people who traveled with me had brought me clarity. One of these people being a very intriguing art sculptor and geology minor named Matt Furmanski. He taught me two things that I will always keep close to home. One being when Matt expressed that “Influences in our lives help establish the way we are”. Instantly I took that in spiritually, humanistically, and environmentally. He talked about the way trees grow, and how they’re influenced by the wind and the position of the sun. I could see clearly how my family is the wind and God is the sun to me. The realization in this has ultimately shaped me into the person I am today. Without these two reinforcements I couldn’t get through any of life’s challenges. For I know that I am not alone in this world and those connections are a part of me.

Acceptance has eluded me to humility in whatever experience I may face. For this is in relevance towards my own perception of Matt Fermanski’s quote of the “Geological scope of time”. He expressed how the birth of planets and the formation of mountains, ranges, and oceans are all connected within this principle. In that instance I was drawn to the environment around me, in knowing that just like me, it will constantly change on the outside. But my connection to the world around me, as well as the people is what stays the same regardless of what happens. Ideally, I’d like to believe that the environment will one day be balanced in that same connection with Universe but like most things in life, only time will tell.

Here we are, always close, never far from home. Through this experience and many others, I have come to see that home is living inside of me. Forever present, yet seemingly distant at times. I can’t imagine who I would be, let alone how I could be present in this moment without the comfort of home. Support is key to feeling any kind of joy. That same joy is what drives me to be me and move forth with gratitude each and everyday. Without the support I’ve been given from my friends, family, and professors, I wouldn’t be able to move forward without a shadow of doubt in my mind. 

My first impression on going to Santa Rosa Island to me was to be much more greener. And what I mean was that the island had a lot less vegetation that I expected. Going on about a three mile hike showed me how dry the island was getting when it came to the leaves on the trees and the plants on the ground. I also expected the island to be a lot less windy and I also expected for the boat ride to be a lot shorter. I expected us as a program (SURF) to come together and cooperate to become closer as friends and colleagues.

Day 1 

The first day of the trip was the boat ride. The boat ride was an awesome experience because the feel the mist of water mixed with the wind felt like nothing else. The boat tilting up and down against the current of the ocean was exuberant.

A couple of hours on the boat passed by and we had to stop at Santa Cruz Island because the boat was making a stop to drop off some people before going to Santa Rosa Island. Just looking and passing by that Island made me pretty excited because I got a little taste of what the island we were going to looked like. The rocks were ginormous and the water was a shiny blue the flowed calmly.

After the long three hour boat ride we finally arrived at Santa Rosa Island. We got off the boat with all of our belongings and headed to the cabin we were staying in. Us as a group settled in and went over the rules of staying on the island. Then we went on about a three to four mile hike and that was really beautiful. We went all through the canyons and though the tops of the hills.

After the long and tiring hike we got free time and that is when I got to explore. I got go up and down the pier and go down to the beach. The pier was beautiful with shiny light blue and green water and waves crashing not to far from the cliffs and rocks. It was really interesting to see how the cliff was formed with millions of unique rocky layers. The layers showed many years of past sea levels.

Day 2

The second day for me was the most interesting. We got into groups throughout all of us and went through three sessions of faculty explaining the different types of research they do. The first session was with a professor named Allison and she specializes in the study of birds. Her main point to get across to us was diversity. I have learned that there are so many factors that go into diversity like habitat, diversification, mutation, adaptation, and island geography. We also saw different species of birds including the ravens, hummingbirds, sparrows, and gulls. She also explained to us how we should love what we do as a future occupation.

The second session was with a couple of faculty that were trying to preserve the island’s wild life as much as possible. We took about a mile trip to a plant where they take care of the island fox that are injured. They also plant things in a green house to jump start vegetation  on the island. We took activity in planting all sorts of plants to create vegetation for the island. What I found interesting of what they do is capture fog into nets and use that fog for water. Filtering the water to drink and to water plants throughout the island.

I decided to disconnect yesterday, Tuesday, since I was planning to spend most of the way studying anyway. I was sure that being away from my phone, my computer, etc. would help studying progress much faster. When the day started I almost ruined it because usually when I wake up, the first thing I reach for is my phone. Just as I was reaching over I remembered but I decided to check the time with it only. After I took my sister to school, I went home and had breakfast. I will use my phone to look over the news or any social media while I eat breakfast but today I couldn’t and I felt like I was sitting wasting time while I was eating simply because I wasn’t multitasking. After breakfast I sat and talked to my mom for a little bit, not about anything in particular, just little things here and there. This actually happens pretty often, I didn’t need to promise to stay away from the phone for this to happen. For the rest of the time, until I needed to pick up my sister at noon, I studied and did other homework in my room with the phone in the living room I did have to use the computer to type up some stuff but I didn’t use it for social media or anything of the sort. At noon I left the house to pick up my sister from school and decided it would be the perfect time to take a trip to the store. When we got to the store I picked up exactly what I needed and then kind of wondered around just observe people I guess. I noticed that a lot of people were shopping by themselves. If they had company it was usually children too young to be in school. I think in a store people are kind of forced to interact because they can’t be on their phones while they push around a shopping cart. If they are with other people, there isn’t much to do besides talk, whether it be about the shopping or other day to day things. After the store I went home again and kept on studying/doing homework. The “experiment” ended when I go a text from work around 4pm that I had to answer. I didn’t find being away from my phone too hard because I usually don’t text/talk/look at social media constantly. It kind of made me realize though that sometimes you need it because other people need to communicate with you.