The Last Hurrah

 

It's finally upon us, the last full day in San Salvador! A bittersweet mix of emotions today as we prepare to say goodbye to Gerace Research Center and the people we have been living and working alongside this J-term. While many (most) of us are excited to no longer be covered in bug bites, and to be sleeping in our own beds again, we will all miss the wonderful experiences we`ve had here over the last three weeks.

A few of the more stubborn people decided to wake up early again to see the sunrise. Attendees gave it an average rating of 8.69/10-today's sunrise was arguably one of our favorites.

Today breakfast consisted of cream cheese-less bagels, eggs and cereal. This was very much a rude awakening after being spoiled at Club Med all day yesterday. 

After breakfast we had our last class meeting (despite Amy's plan to get everyone to revolt against Mike and have no more class.) We went over the plan for the rest of the day, for leaving tomorrow, and our very last figure analysis (we`re all glad to be done with those). 

At the end of class, we discussed the takeaways of this course. The highlights:

1. Humans suck for the environment, But we can get better if enough people are educated and trying to change the way we do things (this is our hopeful addition to Mike`s doom and gloom takeaway) 
2. Marine ecosystems are fragile and heavily impacted by human activities- especially global warming, overfishing, and nutrient pollution
3. We must be mindful of our privilege when coming to this island- both in terms of what we bring here, the waste we produce, and our carbon footprint in travel, but also in how we tell other people to be environmentally conscious (we can't just tell people to `stop fishing,` for example)
4. Rule #10 should have been rule #1 

After class the day was ours. While the groups that procrastinate their projects did a mad dash to get it done, the other groups put the finishing touches on their proposals and headed to the beach (Laughing at those who were still working). For multiple people on the trip they officially finished the last assignment of their undergraduate degree today! (Congratulations to Ingvild, Julian, Kayla, and Helena!)

Lunch consisted of leftovers from earlier this week- although we think most of us were still thinking about the Club Med bread. 

Afterwards most headed to the beach to make the most of our last day (and procrastinate packing).

For dinner tonight, we are joyfully skipping meatloaf and going out to the local Columbus Tavern! Since the trucks are not allowed off site after 5:15, the restaurant sent us our own chauffeur (a school bus) that picked us up at 5 pm to take us for our last evening out.

Waiting for dinner we got to lounge on the beach and watch our last sunset. Dinner consisted of fried chicken, some delicious conch (for those of you living vicariously through us, it tasted like a slightly sweeter and fluffier calamari), Mac and cheese, and of course the much beloved carrot cake. Dinner ran a little long as people danced, sang to the 2010s music the restaurant had on, and played hopscotch (we also had to wait for our driver to finish up his drink). Some of the group finished out their night by walking the 45 minutes to The Short Stop Bar while others sat on the beach stargazing. The remainder of the group went to bed in preparation for our long travel day tomorrow. 

Tonight our dreams will be filled with missed loved ones and arguably more important much missed comfort foods (sorry Mom). 

So long, and thanks for all the fishes

Bye for now,

Chloe and Jacob