Sense of Place

Considering my neighborhood, I do not feel like its my neighborhood. The area around where I live was plowed down of original trees and bushes years ago, and then developers came in and randomly started building houses all over. So when considering the wildlife that is around we have borrowing owls that live in the empty lot next to me, some vultures that circle the area, there are plenty of loose dogs and cats, of course insects and other rodents.

If I take a stroll around the neighborhood I do not really consider it a neighborhood, nothing like the suburbs. In Lehigh there are a lot of streets broken up by "canals", which are just ditches without water unless it rains. So to walk around you are walking in a zig zag formation, like a maze.

I think it is important to associate with your environment whether it is where you live, work or play. That becomes part of life and where you reside. But for years I have not felt much of a connection to this area. I know that it is where I live, but beyond that I could not say that I could find a "sense of place" besides my home.

I think of my backyard as a playground, for my dogs. That is the closest feeling of place that I imagine my neighborhood. They treat the front yard as a potty area, and the backyard is the playground. They know some of their toys are out there, and when we go outside to hang up laundry or work in the yard they know they get to go and play.

Nature Walk

On our nature walk through the Eastern part of campus we walked through several different ecosystems including wet marsh, cypress domes, and prairie. Through our hour and a half we learned several little historical tidbits, facts about plant species found in Southwest Florida and how several species adapt to one another. 

We saw areas that like to be generally a little dryer and welcome fires, like the slash pine uplands. This area likes to be burned every 3-5 years to be able to clean out any "unwelcome" brush. As we were observing the area, it has been 6 years since its last fire and you can definitely see several different bushes growing. These could prove a problem in the future because with the bushes growing higher than the saw palmetto means that the fire will shoot up towards the taller pine trees; as well as burn slower and is harder to contain.

As we approached the cypress dome we found that it was rather dry. Normally a cypress dome could have water that reaches up to a person's knees and even as high as your thighs. Our guide encouraged us to come back one the rainy season is a little more upon us so that we can see how high the water is. In a cypress dome you could alligators, and that makes me not want to tread into those waters. 

I enjoyed the walk through Campus, it is kind of like our own little swamp. We don't have to travel all the way down to the Everglades to experience the swamp, we have a miniature version here on campus. Before taking the Colloquium class I did not know as much about the tree or plant species that we have, now I am able to identify some items that I see outside my house. The walk through Campus provides you with a better appreciation for nature and what Florida has to offer. 

Incoming Reflection

To start out, no one really knows exactly what to expect out of a University required class.. it does not always sound like a ball of fun if everyone has to take it. By going over the syllabus, the requirements for the class is not going to bad. To me it seems like a combination of the writing portion of a Composition class mixed with one one of FGCU science classes, Biology of SW Florida. Field trips are always fun because of the different aspects of Florida's nature that you observe, and journals help you keep everything logged from drawings to photographs and just easily bulleted notes.

I think Colloquium could be quite an interesting class providing us more insight into the area we reside. With previously taking a similar class, I have learned about different bugs, flowers, trees and other small creatures that reside in Southwest Florida. In my past biology class we were also shown which of these natural elements are native to the area and which have been brought down here. Though I have taken similar field trips, I am not a very big nature person. I do not mind being out in the forest, but I think I am more terrified on what kind of bugs we are going to find. Especially during the rainy summer season Florida is known for, I am constantly getting attacked by mosquitoes.. plus there could be some other poisonous bugs or snakes.

Within this class I am most looking forward to the service learning part of the class. I have always enjoyed volunteering and helping out different agencies. I am anxious to see how I will be able to connect my enjoyment for service learning with an environmental project.