After 3 amazing weeks in Belize, I'm back home and am already missing my classmates beyond measure. While I know we were all ready to be home and see our loved ones, it will be a difficult transition to not be around this amazing group of people every day.
I cannot recommend the Belize field course highly enough! If you have the opportunity, do yourself a favor and take the class - you'll have the experience of a lifetime. You begin on the mainland with a night's stay at the Big Falls Retreat in the Toledo District of southern Belize, then set up shop on Lime Caye for 5 days. Lime Caye is a tiny island with extremely limited amenities and the perfect place to get used to snorkeling the barrier reef and to get to know your teammates. We then returned to Big Falls for 2 nights and were lucky6 enough to catch the total lunar eclipse from the middle of the rain forest. It was magical! The sounds of howler monkeys nearby and the lack of city lights made that a night to remember. The remainder of the trip is spent on South Water Caye where you have the opportunity to snorkel several times a day and encounter the diverse marine life of nearby patches of reef. Here you really begin to dig into your group research project, develop your ideas, and eventually present them to the class on the last full day.
It's hard to describe just how amazing it was getting to know this awesome group of people, but I hope the pictures tell a story. I was so incredibly lucky to be a part of this group and encourage everyone to pursue similar opportunities.