Final Impressions

FINAL ENTRY

I can not believe the semester is already over! I have to say I REALLY enjoy this class. I was very surprised that I liked it as much as I did. There was a lot of work that had to be turned in but if you kept up with it then it was good. The wiki group project was fun as well because I got to work closely with students in my class.

Now I can relate to every other student that told me you are going to come out of Colloquium loving it.Before I took the course I did not understand why but now I do. I have a better out look on life and more aware of what is happening to our planet. Now I am more cautious about what I buy and if I will be able to recycle it. Also, I am more involved in our community and I have continued to do community service hours as well.

I really enjoyed everything and had a great time!!! Thank you Professor Davis :)

Sense of Place

INTERVIEW



I interviewed my grandfather that lives in Miami where I am from. My grandfather was born in Havana, Cuba and lived there till he was in his early 40's. Him and his family did not move to Miami until 1960. He was explaining to me that if I had to switch from where I live today and move to Cuba and live were he was raised, he said, "I would not survive." Then I began to wonder why and I can totally understand why I would have a hard time. In the past 50 years our world has changed drastically.

My grandfather did not grow up with cell phones, computers, air conditioning and the list goes on. He  began working on the sugar cane field at the age of 10. Education was not the biggest priority in Cuba at his age and that is why he worked on the fields. This was the only way he could get money. His parents did not give him a weekly allowance, he had to earn his money. He would walk everywhere and if it was far he would ride bike. He told me that every childhood memory he has is him being outside either working in the sugar cane field or just being outside with friends and family.

My grandfather says that he misses a lot living in Cuba and if it wasn't for Castro he would have never left.He told me that he thinks its sad when the family gets together and his great grandchildren come over all they do is either sit in front of the TV or just sit in a room playing with their gameboys. I remember when we were little when we went to my grandfathers house all 10 of his grandchildren would rush in say hi to him and go straight to the backyard and we would not come in until the sun went down. He does not understand how society has changed so much on how children are growing up. My grandfathers sense of place is sitting in his front porch with his neighbors playing domino's.

He think that they are missing a big part of growing up by not experiencing the outdoors. I began to talk to him about sustainability and I had to explain to him the exact meaning of sustainability. I also explained to him about this course and what I have been learning and he loves it. Now every since the interview he has called me every week asking me what we did today in Colloquium.

-photo was taken from

www.google.com/images

Downtown Fort Myers

DownTown Fort Myers

At the beginning of our field trip to downtown Fort Myers we stopped at a cemetery that many years ago was a popular place to get buried at. This is where Edgar Watson was buried. He was murdered and was part of a very important unsolved mystery. Edgar Watson was born November 11, 1855 and died Oct 24, 1910. We visited the cemetery on October 26, 2010 two days after his death 100 years earlier. I thought that was very cool!

After leaving the cemetery was headed to downtown Fort Myers. Since this is my first semester at FGCU, I was excited to see downtown Fort Myers because I hadn't been there yet. On our way we passed by two very important houses which I think were Henry Ford and and Thomas Edison and they were next door neighbors. I had no idea that they lived in Fort Myers let alone were best friends.

This was the first thing we see when we all got off the bus. It is a memorial for Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Samuel Firestone. They all created products that benefited each other. For example, Edison was always trying to find new products to create rubber in making tires, Ford made cars, and Firestone made tires and would use the rubber that Edison was creating to make his tires. This was definitely the most interesting and exciting thing I learned on this field trip. I thought it was so cool that we were walking on the same floor these three very important people in our history once walked on.

The Calusa Hatchet River was used for transportation up and down the rivers. Page Air Field was used for training camps for the pilots. Also Buckingham Air Field was used during World War II to train bombers. Many people began coming to Florida also because tarpon fishing was very popular and Southwest Florida was known to have the best tarpon fishing.

I fell in love with the downtown area. I love how they have created the area to look like old times and not so commercialized. The roads are made out of bricks and the buildings still have the old look to them. Also some buildings have not been reconstructed since the first time they were built. I love the feeling it gives downtown. I definitely want to go back and continue to learn more about everything. I had no idea Fort Myers had such a history behind it.

-all the pictures were taken by me-