When Dr. Johan Erikson and I (mostly Johan) planned out the Environmental Science Semester, one of our goals was to incorporate what I’ve been calling “collateral learning”. One form would be experiences that did not seem to have a direct academic content purpose, but nevertheless created an impression, or formed a memory, that both enriched the student experience and perhaps looped back to things they have learned or will learn.  With this in mind we made a side journey to the iconic Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.

True confession time – this is the region where the summers of my youth were whiled away in blissful exploration, long before mobile phones and e-mail accounts or social media intruded upon one’s ability to leave the world behind and drink in the experience. It was perhaps naive of me to imagine that our group would be struck with that sense of child-like wonder by a simple hour-long visit. Yet, the enthusiasm with which the students sprang onto the rocks and fanned out to explore, marvel at rock formations, look for critters, or get lost in the sunset gave me  hope that a little bit of wonder would cut through the whirlwind of modern life and settle in our minds.

When I told the students that this was one of the most famous, most photographed or depicted lighthouses in the nation, there was some healthy skepticism. After all, it looks so simple and plain, no red stripes, no grandiose house attached. We later confirmed that this is the lighthouse depicted on the Maine state quarter, from the currency series of state quarters. Some were interested in the history, and in the fate of lighthouses in the modern era. No one could fail to take interest in the fantastic rocky point on which the lighthouse is set. When I asked, “What would Johan say if he were here?” there was a great combination of eye rolls and friendly groans, but also smiles and chuckles – one part “Really? Academics again?” and another part appreciation of the life we academics lead, viewing the world with one eye on the wonder and beauty, and the other through the lens of our training and discipline. I think in the end, the students managed to keep their eyes on the wonder and beauty, and that’s just fine for this episode of collateral learning.

Gotta love Canada, eh? We had some interesting adventures in our northern neighboring country. We started out our journey in Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick. There, we braved the swarms of man-eating mosquitos, survived a 20 mile bike ride around the park (well, mostly), and made it through the hot sun and waves of the beach. There was one accident on the bike ride…Andrew Merlino somehow managed to kick off on his cruiser a bit too fast, causing it to spin out, scraping up his hands, creating a smiley face of scabs (Dude Gravelstar). Erin, forgetting that there weren’t any hand breaks on the bike, came crashing into him, shouting “Sorry!” as she careened into his back tire. Both sustained minimal injuries, but survived the ride. Nhu wore he super-heated bug armor, protecting her from any bugs who dared to challenge her.

During the nights, those of us who stayed up watched the flawless night sky, awed as numerous shooting stars flew across the sky.

Our next destination was the lovely city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where we stayed in a great hostel. While there, we visited a beach in the nearby town of Lawrencetown. There, we scaled the loose dirt of a drumlin, measuring the sorting of the sediment and rocks, the strike and dip and trend and plunge of the exposed oblate and prolate rocks, and mapped out the profile of the cliff-face.

One night, the moon appeared, after not having seen it for almost a week! Though we got many strange stares, we managed to snap a picture or two of the lovely light. While in the city, we all got to try poutine…I don’t think my tastebuds will ever be the same after that scrumptious snack! On the last morning, we packed up, and picked up some Tim Horton’s, because how could you go to Canada and not have some Timmy Ho’s while you’re there, eh?

We made our way back to New Brunswick, to Fundy National Park, making a pit stop at Joggins Fossil Cliffs. There, we toured the shoreline with our guide, Dr. Melissa Grey, finding ancient ferns, 300-million year old “trees” (actually club mosses), roots, shells, and even giant centipede tracks! While we were at Fundy, we visited the Hopewell Rocks, amazed by the wave-eroded structures, impossibly standing on their narrow bases.

Sadly, the trip to Canada came to an end far too quickly, though we continue to travel to amazing sights! Who knows what we’ll find next?

~Ayla

Our tired group woke this morning to shaking tents at 7:30 a.m. (by Bobby and Dr. Erikson). Breakfast seemed to have a flavour of DEET mixed in because of all the bug spray we put on to deter the swarms of mosquitoes. After that we had a lecture on atmospheric circulation patterns.

Then we went to Kelly’s Beach (here in Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick) just a 2 minute drive away. Except it wasn’t all play and instead much our time was spent measuring the beach profile. We measured the slope of the beach from the crest of the beach berm down about 40 m to the water, and then underwater for another 90 m all the way out to a shallow sand bar. For each part of the profile, we determined variations in sand sizes using a stack of sieves. When we had some down time it was nice to cool off in the ocean (to our surprise a bit warmer than at home) considering how hot the sun was. Unfortuanetly some of us got a bit burnt from the sun’s rays. We had some great finds out at the sand bar, including crabs, hermit crabs, snails (some small and some quite large) and most interesting Andrew caught with his hands an unsuspecting flounder (a strange looking flat fish with both eyes on one side of their head).

Bobby delivered our usual lunch of cold cut sandwiches to the beach, this time treated with oreos. After completing our profile for the afternoon we went back and had a dinner of chili and pasta with cornbread and salad. Dessert was amazing (strawberriy short cake).

Tonight is on our third night of actually camping (10^th night total). We’re making it along really well and excited for the many days ahead.

– Matthew Pfannenstiel