Entry #2

Throughout my 21 years of life, I have had many experiences outdoors. When I was young I lived in Virginia and would love to "adventure." My backyard was woods and trails and I absolutely loved it. I definately got to use my imagination whenever I ventured off with friends or family. It was full of huge trees, creeks, mud, dirt, and in the winter-time of course snow. It was also full of animals; deer, rabbits, crawfish, squirrels, etc.

My old house in Virginia.



Being the youngest of 2, I had to follow in my big sisters footsteps and join a girl scout tribe. Although I don't remember the name of our tribe or the exact locations we went, I have very fond memories of the outdoors during these years. (..and the time we got locked out of our cabin and my mom had to climb into the 2nd story window to let us in and save the day)

Like everyone else, I had to grow up, and my time "playing" in nature lessened. However, I have been playing soccer ever since I can remember. I was always at soccer practice after school or at night and my weekends were also full of soccer. My family also liked going places that had to deal with the outdoors also. While we lived in Virginia, we would go on tours to visit the White House and walk around to different historic locations. When we moved to Florida, our family time was spent outdoors at Disney World, Sea World, etc.

This made my overall relationship with the outdoors a great experience, and the fact that I'm still playing soccer in college makes me still feel connected to nature in the same way I was as a child.

I was a little worried about starting the class I admit. Some anxieties I had were having to memorize endless animal names and ecosystems. One thing that I have definately learned is that there isn't always necesarily a "wrong" or "right" answer to things asked in this class. It's very opinionated and open minded which I love. I love getting the chance to share my stories about my past experiences with nature and also being able to listen to everyone elses stories.

In all honesty, I felt like a kid again when we went on our wet walk. (My favorite field trip thus far) On the campus tour, I felt like I learned and gained knowledge about our campus that I hadn't really known before. I knew we were a "green" school but I learned about our highly engineered buildings and their connection with the AC units to help save energy, our newly installed solar panels which hope to save money in the long run, and even our boardwalks on campus share a purpose.