Snorkeling Tingz’

Early in the week, we went on a field trip to conduct fish surveys at two locations close to Hospital Point. This required the use of a 5x5m transect, fish guides, and a dive slate. An abundance of Damselfish were observed at the first location. At the second location, there were more Parrotfishes observed than Damselfishes. It was interesting to see the comparison between the abundance of species at each location since the locations were so close to each other. In the middle of the week, we went on our last field trip as a class to calculate seaweed abundance at the airport site. This required the use of a 1x1m transect and two scissors. After our field trip, we came back to the classroom to conduct some calculations. The productivity per area (in grams per meter squared) was found to be 17.48. This week consisted of three final exams and two essays. An exam and proposal for ESPV, an exam for TCE, and an exam and mini essay for PRM. I found that it was particularly difficult this week to balance both my academic and personal needs. On one hand, I felt that it was important for me to perform well on my exams because my parents and I gave everything to have the opportunity to study abroad. On the other hand, I felt that it was important to take care of myself, emotionally and physically. In the end, I decided that doing what I can while also listening to my body was best. I mitigated being overwhelmed by allowing myself to take frequent breaks in between my study sessions and getting enough rest each night. All in all, I am happy to report that I survived. I am completely done with my four classes that I started a little over two months ago. To celebrate the end of our semester, we had a group gathering at OM, a restaurant in town that specializes in Indian cuisine. The buttered chicken is divine and better when paired with an order of garlic naan and a tajmatini. Thursday, November 10th was a Panamanian holiday known as Los Santos Uprising Day. This is celebration commemorating the foundation of Bocas del Toro and Panama’s struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire. One of the main roads was shut down and the park was filled with vendors who traveled to Bocas for this holiday. It felt so surreal to wake up at the end of the week and realize that classes were done. During our fish surveys and seaweed abundance field trips this week. Our initial directed research (DR) meeting was conducted at the end of the week. Myself, along with three of my peers, met with our social science professor to talk about what we would want to investigate for the next month. I will talk more about this topic next week!