| Written by Alexis K. |
Although I’ve never gone on a Study Abroad trip (I’m a home-body), a couple of my friends have! Justin graduated from the Camden College of Arts and Sciences in 2017 with a Biology degree. During his study, he took a course that included a trip to the Florida Keys. I asked him some questions about his experience:
“Why did you want to take a Study Abroad course?”
I’ve done research at Cornell and at Rutgers–Camden; however, both experience were restricted to the lab environment. I wanted to do field work and actually learn the research that I was conducting hands-on with marine life.
“Why did you choose a course with a trip to the Florida Keys?”
A friend recommended the Marine Ecology course and, after reading about it, I knew I wanted to go. 70 percent of the world is made out of water and to finally have the opportunity to register for a course that involved observing even a small portion of it got me interested.
“What did you learn in relation to your trip?”
We visited Cudjoe Bay multiple times and were able to catch and tag lobsters. We were able to see if they would return back to their original sponges. After a few days of observing, we concluded that the lobsters didn’t necessarily return to the same sponge; however, they did stay within the area and didn’t travel far away from the mangroves.
“How did you finance the trip and do you feel as though it was manageable?”
I’ll be honest: the trip was a little costly. I received summer aid from Rutgers–Camden to help pay for the course; however, for the trip, I had to pay out of pocket. In order to receive the aid I did, I applied through the financial aid office. It covered the class credits, but I had to pay the airfare, hotel, and food costs.
“Do you feel the cost of the trip was worth all that you did there?”
Although I invested a good amount of money into the trip, I would definitely say it was worth it. I was able to learn so much while still having fun.
“What planned activities did you do with your class?”
This course wasn’t designed to require us to work all day. The last day was a “fun” day: we took a trip to Key West, ate some exotic foods, and took a snorkeling trip at the Coral Reefs.
“Can you briefly describe the highlights from your trip?”
There are two major highlights from this trip I want to talk about: 1. seeing the coral reefs and 2. swimming with a shark! We don’t have many reefs left in to world due to the increasing water temperatures, so I’m glad to have had the opportunity to see the marine ecosystem of the reefs: the sting rays, colorful fish, barracudas, and even sharks all living together in peace was so beautiful and it made me think about how we, as a nation, must try to protect this ecosystem. When we were in Cudjoe Bay, we had just finished cleaning up for the day and our instructor yelled “Shark!” We all gathered around the mangroves and noticed a nurse shark just lying at the bottom of the sea floor. Although nurse sharks are gentle and don’t attack humans, a shark is still a carnivorous animal. I was scared and wanted to swim toward the shore as fast as I could. Then, the instructor pointed out that there was a tentacle in the shark’s mouth. We realized that the nurse shark was lying on the sea floor to try and catch an octopus that was swimming around in that area.
“Would you recommend Study Abroad to incoming students?”
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in marine biology or Study Abroad in general to all incoming students if they can make it happen!