The Work Begins...

I should be reading the six cases for Policy class on Friday. I should be starting the novel, "Searoad", for Lit class. Or perhaps I should be reading some of my Oceanography text book. Instead, I am sitting at my computer, blogging, and drinking a peppermint hot chocolate. I'm terrible!

Mary, Jessica, and I tried going out for some folk music on Monday night. We quickly discovered that Mystic doesn't really have very many young people, other than us and most of the Williams-Mystic staff. Rather, it has many men over the age of 40. Eep. I walked into the bar, inquiring about the music, (which they said was actually a lot later), and realized there were at least 10 pairs of eyes on me. We got out quickly and went back home, only to have another guy honk his horn at us. Oy. It's a nightmare being so attractive sometimes. Kidding! Kidding!

Anyhoo, we had a lab yesterday, and when I initially saw it listed on our weekly schedule, I groaned, envisioning us standing around a lab, with test tubes, crunching out and calculating a ton of dull, dry numbers. However, I was pleasantly surprised, of course. (I keep forgetting how this is not an ordinary academic institution.) Instead, our lab was this: We were taken to Weekapaug Point, RI where we observed the rocky intertidal zone. It was cold, but beautiful. The water was calm and brushing up against the headlands. Rocks were scattered everywhere, along with a plentiful amount of seaweed. Jim pointed out three different types of snails. First, there's Common Periwinkle, which is the largest of the Littorinas. On our worksheet, it was listed as an omnivore, but Jim said it was an herbivore. When I inquired about the possible mix-up, he said it WAS an herbivore, but sometimes accidentally eats barnacles. Isn't that funny? It's kind of like accidentally eating a fly in your soup. "Waiter, waiter! There's a barnacle in my algae!"

Then there's Rock Winkle and Kelp Winkle. Both are herbivores as well. We also found Asian crabs, which are not native and is the most populous crab in New England. They are found from Maine to North Carolina, but are very rare in the Chesapeake Bay. (I asked.) But I do think I saw a few over the summer.

We also saw worms, (who contain all the organs you could need in a space the size of the head of a pin), and sea squirts, (who are our highly-evolved cousins, even though they look like dots and colonize together in orange or clear clumps, believe it or not). They both live on bottoms of rock in water so they will not dry out.

I'm shocked I can remember so much, but this is truly a hands-on environment. Instead of discussing theory alone, we go out and actually touch what we learn about. This is the way learning ought to be. I love this...wading through water on a chilly winter day, rummaging through seaweed and sea life!