Today we all went to the island of Motukitiu on Aitutaki. This island was previously a pit stop for planes traveling the Pacific in 1950 to 1962. During this time planes could not travel far distances, so Tasmanian Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) built up this island for wealthy travelers to visit. This island has one […]
The group visited a marine lab on Aitutaki today and met with Charlie Waters. Charlie recently finished a PhD focused on the giant clams of the Cook Islands. These clams were heavily overfished until they became functionally extinct (could not reproduce in the wild). Clams are important filter feeders in the reef ecosystem and are […]
Please work
It is Friday night, and I am already trying to think about my answers to all the questions I will be getting when I get home. If someone asks me what my favorite part of the trip was, then I would probably say (as of right now) collecting trash on the motu yesterday. It seems […]
After a couple of days of being here I am happy to say that I am getting used to the flow of things. The jetlag is going away, I’ve become more familiar with area and the number of times I get lost in the tube have reduced to a manageable amount! Unfortunately, we leave in two days which means this success will be short lived. It also means making the most of the little time we do have left.
Today, we had a chance to pick what we wanted to do for the day. After making a trip to Hyde Park, we were set free to do what we wished. For us, that meant a lazy day at the park.
Laying down for a couple of minutes allowed us to do a little people watching and we actually made quite a few observations. For example, there weren’t a lot of people with dogs. Every once in a while we would see maybe one but overall it was alarming considering the immensity of the park one would think there would be several dogs
After a while of observing we decided to head back to the hotel where we all dispersed and did our own thing. I choose to go visit Camden Market to try and get a little souvenir shopping done. When we got there the market reminded me a little of Venice. It was a constant flow of shop after shop and while most sold basically the same thing there were still an overwhelming amount. There was also a food court that wa similar to the Borough Market. We stopped and got a freshly squeezed watermelon drink and shopped around.
This was by far the most crowded place I have been to yet. I can see why considering there are probably over 50 little stands within the market.
It seems as if every day I become more and more accustomed to the way life is here. It will be heartbreaking to leave it but I am learning so much during this experience. I can’t wait for the rest that is to come!
On Thursday we left with the start of the sun peaking across the water to do a full day of surveying in the lagoon surrounding the main part of Aitutaki. We left the dock and zipped across the clear turquoise water to see the amazing coral reefs in the lagoon. As the boat stopped we […]
On Thursday we left with the start of the sun peaking across the water to do a full day of surveying in the lagoon surrounding the main part of Aitutaki. We left the dock and zipped across the clear turquoise water to see the amazing coral reefs in the lagoon. As the boat stopped we […]
London, UK 16:00
Hello again! I am back to update everyone on my first three days in London. Our class has done so much since we arrived here on Tuesday! For our first dinner in London we ate at a traditional British restaurant called the “Boot and Flogger,” where I tried bangers and mash for the first time. To be honest, I agree with any foreigner who says traditional British food is bland. The sausage and gravy was not as flavorful as I had hoped, but I am glad I got to try the dish. On Wednesday morning we hit the ground running with a tour of Westminster Abbey, staring at the size of Big Ben, watching the changing of the guard, touring Buckingham Palace, and going on the London Eye. It was so much fun! Then on Thursday we toured the London Tower, walked along Tower Bridge, and went all the way up to the 72nd floor of the Shard building. The views were spectacular, and the picture I included in this post shows what my view looked like from atop. After the Shard, four of my classmates and I presented at Borough Market. A local outdoor market in London. The smells were amazing and all of the food vendors were out selling every sort of food imaginable. I think we gave a great presentation and I am happy the rest of the class was able to see Borough Market and try some food themselves. Finally, today (Friday) we got to walk through Hyde Park. The size of the park was magnificent and the history of how it came to be is very interesting. I love being in England and seeing sights/artifacts that are older than the United States. For now, I am off to dinner in the city, but I will update again once I visit more sights this weekend.
Ello from London! Sorry I haven’t posted since I’ve arrived! It’s been a crazy busy couple of days here and I haven’t had any time to write. We touched down Tuesday afternoon and it’s now Thursday evening, so I’m gonna give y’all a little recap. Actually, it’s a big recap, but I want to document as much as I can!
Tuesday:
When we first landed we took our first ride in the tube and popped up about a block away from our swanky little hotel. After we checked in, my roommate, Ben and I were surprisingly impressed with our room. It’s super modern with all kinds of cool features like a rain shower and a bathroom window that switches from clear to opaque with the touch of a button.
After we got settled in and cleaned up we headed out on the town. All 15 of my ‘classmates’ and I walked around for about an hour, taking photos and buying souvenirs until we ended up the oldest pub in London called “The Anchor”. It’s right next to Shakespeare’s theatre. In fact, they say he used to be a regular. The remainder of our first night in London consisted of cold beer, bonding with new friends, and lots of laughter.
Wednesday:
I woke up at 7am after a late night feeling surprisingly refreshed and energized… probably because I was so excited for my first morning in London. Wednesday was probably the longest day of my life.
After eating a delicious English breakfast, we all packed into the tube and headed downtown where we met our tour guide named Shawn. He was a stereotypical Londoner with a thick cockney accent and a funky, charismatic personality. He took us around and enlightened us on the incredible history of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the changing of the guards. We then parted ways with Sir Shawn as we nicknamed him and made our way to Buckingham Palace (pronounced Buckingem) where we took virtual tour with a little smartphone-type thingie and headphones. It’s really fascinating how old this town is and how much it has evolved yet is still the same in many ways.
Believe it or not, we then WALKED a mile and a half to the London Eye. If you don’t know, it’s a GIANT cantilevered ferris wheel on the River Thames that fits up to 25 people per capsule. We had another guide for this 30-minute ride who was in his 20’s and also gave us some great insight on the local nightlife. The London Eye was truly an incredible experience that I will never forget. I must add that I had the world’s greatest hot dog in line for the Eye.
It was about 4:00 pm and we were released by Dr. Jenkins (our professor) for ‘cultural time’, which basically means ‘go have fun’. By this time we all kind of fell into two groups of 7-8, and we named ours the “Turn Up Team”. I have to say, LOVE THESE PEOPLE!! We have already grown so close and made tons of great memories.
Next thing we did was buy tickets to The London Dungeon, a funky show/maze/haunted house thingie that depicted some of the darker history of london, such as Jack the Ripper and King Charles I (who was beheaded for treason in the 1600’s) . We had two hours before we could enter, so the Turn Up Team decided to turn up and head to a nearby pub. The London Dungeon was quite the experience after a couple ice cold Heinekens :).
On our way to the tube station I reminded everyone to get their passes out only to find that mine was missing. We eventually found it, but when I was upset about losing the $100+ pass everyone offered to pitch in to buy me a new one. It was so refreshing to know that my new friends care about me enough to be so generous.
We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and hit the local scene again.. but this time just with the Turn Up Team. After eating some deliciously authentic pizza at a tiny little Italian restaurant we made our way to Belushi’s, a small sports pub attached to a low-priced hostel. Here, I made friends with a couple of Scottish chaps who were visiting ‘on holiday’. Shortly after I made friends with two trendy Londoners who live in the neighborhood, Simon and Matt. I introduced them to my team and Simon and I ended up hitting it off. We bought each other beers until the wee hours of the night and exchanged contact information. He’s going to “show us the real London” tonight after dinner. 
Thursday:
I think we all woke up on the struggle bus this morning. (Our Turn Up Team weren’t the only ones, either. I heard several others say they only got 1.5-3 hours of sleep and had the stories to make it worth it.) So what do you do in this type of pickle? What else? Get a bloody mary! I drank it in the shower and when I got out I felt like a million bucks again.
Once again we scarfed down a delicious English breakfast (packing a few treats for the day) and hopped onto a double-decker city bus headed for the Tower of London. Here, we saw the breathtaking crown jewels in all their glory. I was expecting to see just the present Queen’s crown and some other large diamonds.. boy was I wrong! There were thousands of years of the English Monarchy’s crowns, sceptres, orbs, swords, rings, spurs and much more. It was the most incredible collection of jewels any of us had ever seen. Honestly, it’s probably the most incredible collection in the world.
As we continued to roam the Tower of London we saw huge collections of armor, weapons, and even an old jail cell with carvings all over the walls from prisoners in the 13th century. I was blown away by just about everything in the Tower of London, especially the dark, cold, ancient vibe it gave. It definitely made me feel some type of way.
Next up.. Tower Bridge. Finished in 1894, it consists of two massive towers tied together at the upper level by two horizontal walkways as well as a 200-foot central span that is split bascules that raise up to allow large ships to pass through. We walked across it on our way the the Shard, London’s tallest building.
The view from the Shard was truly breathtaking. This 87-story building is the tallest building in Europe and we were lucky enough to visit the top floor! We could see all of London and took some incredible photos. I’ll just leave these here for you:
Finally, we ended our Thursday tour just around the block from our hotel at Borough Market, London’s largest and oldest food market. It dates back to 1014, but it’s probably way older than that. One of the groups in our class did a presentation on it, then we roamed around, bought some delicious street food, craft beer, and tea, then headed back to our rooms to get some rest and plan our night. I’m pretty sure everyone fell asleep except for me. Partly because I’m writing this blog, partly because I don’t sleep.
We made dinner reservations at a British pub at 8:30, and plans to meet our new friend, Simon at another pub just around the corner at 9:30. We all have an assignment where we have to go into a “space” of London and emerge ourselves in the culture. Turn Up Team chose to do Soho, an area of the city I understand to be similar in many ways to West Hollywood. We are going for an extensive pub crawl from 9:30 to ???.
Well, as you can see, this trip has been a HUGE success. Definitely one of the most fun trips I’ve ever been on. Actually, one of the most fun things I’ve done, period… and it’s not even 1/4 through! Stay tuned for more on my experience.
p.s. This post is super long because I haven’t been able to post for the past few days. I’ll try to post shorter blogs more frequently! Thanks for reading 
Today we rented a second boat. This allowed us to take the entire class as a whole to several sites across the southern extent of Aitutaki Lagoon (across much of the lower third of the map below). We were able to snorkel an explore a wide array of subtidal communities and get a good sense of […]
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