This year and this last semester have brought forth a lot of experiences that I definitely won’t forget anytime soon. The first class to the Everglades was arguably the highlight of the semester. We had the perfect day wading in knee-waist deep water immersed in nature. With this trip, we marked the start of a new semester and a continuation of the knowledge we have learned in the past. The Everglades trip was uniquely not the furthest trip of the semester. We took a field trip to the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach. In other words, we reached close to the Miami pinnacle of immersion in nature and on the other we reached it in the form of the arts on the East coast of Florida. With a new semester also came new friendships to add to those which we already made. It made the trips enjoyable and helped add to the experiences by having someone to agree or disagree or comment on what we encountered.
The ability to be isolated and separated from the hustle of the Brickell by visiting the Everglades and the Deering Estate were unique ways to disconnect. The coolest moment of this semester was being in the Everglades and holding a moment of silence with our eyes closed. Hearing the trees rub against each other, the birds, and the gusts of wind, made me feel like I was the only person in the world. I feel like I attributed an escape to nature as going to the beach. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but by expanding my knowledge of peace in nature to the Deering Estate and the Everglades, can hopefully motivate me to visit these places more often.
Overall, I felt like this class provided an amazing platform for us to make inferences about how to act in the future based on the information given. By acting upon our experiences and what we are affected by, could start with the simple step of getting more informed to later raising awareness. Education is the key to keeping knowledge alive a passing it on to other people. I felt that classes to places like Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, which I visit every week, also were seen through a different perspective. I felt it useful to rediscover such places and put them into a new light, learning history about the places I had so many times driven or walked past.
Key Biscayne was also a highlight. It wasn’t quite a beach day but its familiarity and closeness to where I live, made it enjoyable. What was most enjoyable was going up to the lighthouse. The view provided as well as the history was pretty amazing. From a distance of the lighthouse, we could see many places that we had already visited in this class such as Coconut Grove, the Deering Estate and Downtown.
Ultimately, I felt like I always woke up looking forward to this class and it helped me make new friendships, gain knowledge and experiences that I would have missed out on. Truly the end of an era but hopefully a continuation of friendships.
Miami in Miami 