Today was rough on the brain. We had most of what earned the college credit at the end of the week, today. And, just saying, everyone was more than ready to go back to their dorms by the end of the color meeting.
The day started the same as yesterday, except when we got out of the “Southside” breakfast hall, a pack of delegates stood waiting to be put into their respective groups. It was field visit day! In other words, we were able to take a visit to a place of our choice.
Due to the fact that we are not able to say the place my group visited to insure that people do not take it as a tourist’s attraction, I will not able to describe that part of my day to you other than, it involved a lot of learning and was freaking awesome
In other news, we had an environmental simulation today in which we played the role of representatives to a few select countries in an ecological threat situation. The simulation began with a one hour documentary on the Ross Sea and the over-catching of toothfish (Toothfishes? Teethfish? Whatever.) Then, we went through the simulation. It was really intriguing and I learned a TON about the sustainability of marine wildlife and the effects of the fishing industry on a predatory species.
By the end of the simulation, everyone was practically sleeping they were so tired. But we had to do the reflection, we all stayed awake for just a little longer.
In the reflection, I was somewhat surprised with how respectful and mature each of us were. We all waited to speak without having to raise hands or follow a system of organizational speaking and we used previously learned information to make our statements more thought provoking and worthwhile.
The color group meeting was brief and included a run-over of tomorrow’s activities, and when that was done, a collective sigh of relief washed over the entirety of the group.
In retrospect, this day has to be the best one so far despite its mental tax.
Summer Student 