Aggies return from travelling the globe over the summer
It’s the beginning of a new school year, but only weeks ago students and teachers were traveling the world. Summer is often a time to relax the mind and body by travelling and visiting places close to, and far from, Logan.
From the Caribbean beaches of Puerto Rico to the hustle of Washington D.C., students have seen it all this summer. Now, they gather back to Logan, bringing photos and stories with them.
Puerto Rico
Marlen Rice, a sophomore majoring in molecular biology, spent a week in Puerto Rico with a fellow student and friend who was there for research.
Rice’s friend Tyler Nelson participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Puerto Rico to see how freshwater shrimp populations changed in the aftermath of a hurricane. Rice said he spent time with Nelson collecting data in a “safe rainforest.”
“They don’t have a lot of large animals,” he said. “There are two species of snakes, and there is really only one kind of poisonous snake, so it’s really not like a mainland rainforest.”
Rice said he saw many different animals and plants, including snails, lizards, orchids of many varieties and coconuts.
“The coconut trees were about 20 feet tall, so not that tall, and I just wrapped my thighs around it and slowly pulled myself up the tree,” he said. “I got to the very top and then I ripped down a coconut.”
Rice said he and Nelson spent one night on the second best beach in the world, where they slept in hammocks under trees.
“We didn’t want to have to pay to camp there in a tent, so we spent the night for free on the second best beach in the world,” Rice said. “We also went snorkeling, and saw all these really amazing coral.”
Culebra used to be a military installation and there was part of the island he and his friend hiked to that was supposedly covered in landmines, according to Rice. The two of them decided to stay on the path and not take the risk.
Rice said one of his favorite places was a small lagoon where there were bioluminescent organisms. The color was too dark for a camera, but the image is clearly printed in his mind, he said.
“We took a kayak and paddled through this swampy canal to get the the lagoon, and then the water starts to clear up, and you can see the fish around you,” he said. “We’d splash around and see the fish just dart away, and picked up water in our hands and just see these streaks of light running down with the water.”
Rice also spent time meditating in the rainforest with Nelson. He said the two walked to a quiet part of the forest, sat on a rock and slowed their breathing and thoughts.
“As you connect your thoughts, you accept that you’re thinking and move on,” he said. “Our minds are always thinking. We just need time to recalibrate.”
Rice said he spent about $530 for his whole trip, including his plane ticket, because of the generosity of those around him, and the two friends’ willingness to adventure.
“The car to get to the island, the kayak, sleeping on the beach, were all free for us. So it was a really cheap,” he said.
ENGLAND
Madeline Newhouse, a senior majoring in elementary education, traveled with her family to England during the Olympic games but didn’t go to any events. Instead she visited her grandparents who are serving a mission in the country.
Newhouse’s grandparents buy plots of land for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England.
“When you want to buy land there and there’s a house on it, you have to buy the house too,” Newhouse said. “So part of their job was also to fix up these 300-year-old houses and make them livable.”
On the day she and her family visited Cambridge, Newhouse said she was part of a group who “punted the Cam” or rode a shallow boat that was pullled down the river.
“It was pouring rain,” she said. “It was the only day it rained really badly there and the people who sold us the tickets said they had umbrellas in all the boats, so we go down to our boat and the guy said, ‘There are no umbrellas in this boat.'”
When the boat pulled under a bridge to attempt to wait out the storm, Newhouse was on the end and got soaking wet despite wearing a rain jacket.
Newhouse said she really enjoyed spending time at Cambridge University, touring the old buildings and going into the library.
“They have a lot of really old books,” she said. “They have the first edition of the King James Bible and the original manuscripts of Winnie the Pooh. It was so cool.”
She also visited other tourist attractions like Buckingham Palace, Downton Abbey, the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels, the London Eye and Platform 9 ¾.
While at the Tower of London, Newhouse said she didn’t see a ghost in front of her but she certainly saw one on the screen.
“In the bottom of one of the towers they had this video of the people on the upper floors and they were really there, but they also had a ghost just walking around it, so that was fun,” she said. “But the tower was so cool because that was where they kept the prisoners, and on the walls the prisoners had written things, like quotes and their names. It was all still there, from the 1600s.”
Most of the writings were religious from the extreme religious persecutions at the time. Newhouse said she was inspired by them.
WASHINGTON D.C.
Joshua Blume, a senior majoring in pre-law economics and international studies, spent his summer interning in Washington D.C. with lobbyist David Lee for Utah State.
“We called him Mr. Lee. Always,” Blume said.
Most of Blume’s job was reading and keeping up-to-date on politics and the events of Capitol Hil
l. He sat in on meetings, read The Huffington Post, The Drudge Report and Google News every morning, as well as Congressional Quarterly, which he said was the most unbiased source of news for the capitol.
“It’s written every night, and hand delivered,” he said. “It’s only printed when Congress is in session and it costs about $5,000 to about $7,000 a day.”
Blume said he also went to meetings with people from the Department of Defense about the Utah State University Space Dynamics Lab and the money they get from grants.
“The amount of money in grants the engineering colleges get is in the hundreds of millions,” he said. “They’re working on projects with John’s Hopkins, MIT, Stanford and then you have Utah State. They’re really good at what they do.”
Blume spent the Fourth of July on top of the mall next to the Washington Monument, and watched the fireworks burst.
“I sat there for four hours of 100 degree weather,” he said. “I was not about to leave my spot. It was a front-row seat.”
While on the East Coast, Blume said he took the opportunity to travel and see the sights. He visited Ithaca, the Shenandoah Valley and saw Wicked on Broadway in New York City.
“I would love to go back,” he said. “I would visit the other side of the Shenandoah Valley, and I would like to go back to D.C.”
– april.ashland@aggiemail.usu.edu