Programs Blog

Thursday 26 September, 2024

Sea Education Association Campus, Woods Hole, MA

Cloudy, Chance of Slight Rain 64° F

Let’s jump into it. My name is Kiera Rennick; I’m a junior undergrad at Grinnell College currently majoring in Theatre and concentrating (kind of like a minor?) in Environmental Studies and Digital Media. I’m into performance studies, technical theater work, making zines, punk music, and spending pretty much all my time thinking about people and art and the tactile world around us, and how the heck we all intersect. I’m from Columbus, OH, and White Rock, NM: two very different locations, but equally important to my life! I’ve grown up with Midwest rolling hills, little lakes, grand mesas, and mountains that tower to the sky. I’m not so familiar with the sea, but I’d be completely lying if I said it didn’t call to me.

I’ve been having a brilliant time here, between all my classes and getting to know everyone. There’s so many different people here, with so many backgrounds and areas of interest. I think I’ve heard more names of shark species thrown around in the past five weeks than my entire life up to this point. It’s been a lot of late nights, tasty dinners, crunch time homework, random encounters and conversations. But still, there’s a lot of work, and there’s one thing in particular that I’ve been doing to keep my head on my shoulders throughout my time on shore here, which has been pressing flowers and polishing stones that I’ve found around Woods Hole.

It’s pretty self-explanatory, but to press flowers, I pick a stem or a bud, lay it downwards on top of some parchment paper and flatten it out a bit, and then fold the parchment paper over it multiple times until it’s pretty nicely wrapped up. Then I put it under some books, or in the back of my journal, for a couple of days until it’s nice and dried out and flat.  As for polishing stones, that takes a number more steps. Generally, it starts with sanding, then a coat of toothpaste (a mild abrasive) followed by a little wash, then a coat of mineral spirits, and then to give it just a little extra luster, I add a coat of clear nail polish. There’s definitely more effective ways to do it, but I’ve found these materials are the most accessible to me right now! Both are a labor of love, and take a while to complete, but they’re really wonderful to me.

We’ve got just a tiny bit of time left before we leave for Nadi and the ship. I’m really excited to get started up, perhaps a bit trepidatious about seasickness, but well, what are you gonna do? It happens. There’s a lot, actually, that needs to happen in preparing to leave. First off, repacking, which is a chore in itself. Then, I’ve got to download lots of papers for my research project, collect my journal and journaling supplies, and perhaps get any last-minute gear I find myself lacking in. Also, I have to say goodbye to this campus that’s become my home for the last five weeks, and goodbye to the people I won’t be able to contact over our journey. I’m so excited, but I am going to miss them! I think this sentiment is shared with most of my classmates.

Shoutouts! There’s too many. Hm. Okay, shoutout to my parents and brother, to my grandmas, and my extended family; thanks for convincing me to do this, it really is something. Shoutout to my friends back home in OH, to the online ttrpg games and video game groups that are begrudgingly waiting for me to return; miss you guys, please don’t kill my characters without me. Lastly, shoutout to my friends back in Grinnell. I love all of you so, so, so much—I’m having so much fun here, but you miss you all dearly. Talk to you soon!