Here I am sitting in my little bungalow in Moorea, French Polynesia. The waves are lapping literally 10 ft in front of my door, and every once and a while a wild rooster crows (they have completely taken over the island). It's a pretty idyllic place to be for the next nine weeks.
I am here as part of the UC Berkeley Biology and Island Geomorphology class, in which twenty-two students learn how to be scientists by working on individual projects and eventually ending up with a scientific paper and oral presentation. Lucky for me, in order to do so, I need to live on the beautiful island of Moorea for the next nine weeks, 12 km from Tahiti in the Society Islands group of French Polynesia. In case you have no idea where that is, here's a map:
So yesterday I boarded Air Tahiti along with ten of my fellow classmates and flew from LAX to Tahiti. Once arrived, we attempted to take the 10-minute plane ride to Moorea, but weren't able to get last minute tickets, so we ended up catching a cab and then taking a 30-minute ferry ride over to the island. Moorea is gorgeous -- I was half expecting to be disappointed, since nothing ever really looks like it does on the postcards, but this time it's the opposite -- it's better. The island is full of luscious green jagged peaks, coconut palms, beautiful turquoise waters, wild roosters and chickens, and little crabs that scurry around when you approach. The ferry we took over had a huge Polynesian choir on it, made up of hundreds of women wearing colorful dresses and elaborate head dressings, all singing and laughing on the way across -- it was really quite the experience.
Our professor Brent Mishler came to pick us up at the ferry dock in his jeep, and drove us over to the Gump Research Station that is owned by Berkeley. The station is right on the water in an area called Cook's Bay. The dorms are right on the water as well, and I was lucky enough to get the only bungalo, so my two roommates and I live in a more secluded area than is separate from the other students' dorms. We are about 10 ft from the water, and immediately all jumped into the water for a forty-five minute snorkel -- we saw amazing tropical fish, sea cucumbers, colorful clams, little Christmas tree snails, and lots of other amazing species. We later walked over to the local supermarket that is in Pao Pao, the nearest town...the supermarket is about all that makes up the town.
Anyway, that's about all for now...pictures will come soon. It definitely seems like the next nine weeks will be amazing. The island is so gorgeous and it's a lot of fun to speak French again, although the Polynesians do have an interesting way of rolling their r's.
All right, off to socialize with some fellow scientists!
sounds awesome!
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