Programs Blog

Friday October 5, 2024

Location: Somewhere between Los Angeles, CA and Nadi, Fiji

Weather: pressurized airplane cabin

Hi! My name is Emma Johnson, and I am a junior studying geology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The past few days that ended our time in Falmouth were a whirlwind of final classes, finishing up assignments, and packing for the next leg of the semester. It feels good to finally be on a plane heading towards the ship we have been working up to for the last six weeks. Plus, the airplane has carved out some precious time to reflect in the moments before transitioning into life on the ship.

Though often rooted in New England histories, or datasets we could view from home, classes in Falmouth were always presented with the understanding that we were preparing for the boat. It is easy to see those weeks as training, or a precursor. In some ways, they were – the opportunity to get to know my classmates in a lower-stakes, community setting not only makes this impending transition feel easy, but also has me excited to learn from them in this new context. Frontloading some of the academics has set us up for the practical work at sea. However, reflecting on the plane, those weeks were such a standalone gift. I am sure that you all will hear more about the sea side (sorry) of things soon, but I wanted to highlight three places around campus that built my sense of place in Falmouth and played a part in building community before this study abroad program leveled up to the “abroad” part.

The bike path. I had not spent much time in the Northeast at all before this program, and a fall in Massachusetts has brought beautiful weather for biking. The first weekend, Raquel, Hatuey, and I biked the northern stretch of the bike path that runs from Woods Hole to north Falmouth. It turned into a five hour ride (including stops for beach and gas station snacks). We were still all getting to know each other, and the trip was the beginning of our exploration of the area, to be continued in the weekends to come. The bike path was a route for independence, too, a way for people to take alone time and have a solo adventure (even just for coffee).

Racing beach. As someone who has grown up on the East Coast, this was my favorite place for the rare treat of a sunset over the water. As the weeks went on, the late, warm sunsets slowly transitioned to earlier, crisper dusk. One night, every student on campus walked down to the beach to try their luck at seeing bioluminescence. We were rewarded with flashes that look like the edges of a sparkler’s flame.

Martha’s Vineyard. A trip to the vineyard over Labor Day was the first of a few weekend trips that I would take during my time in Falmouth. It was festive, and brought a sense of exploring a quintessential Massachusetts location (we had watched Jaws the night before), as well as the foundations of camaraderie from bits of travel with my classmates. We decided to take a bus to Aquinnah, or Gay Head, and walked the beach. I saw my first seal of the trip, swam in front of clay cliffs, and rode the ferry back happily tired. I have been delighted every time we used the Gay Head lighthouse as a reference point in our charting exercise.

There is a sense of feverish excitement as we make out way towards the Seamans, but there was also a bittersweet goodbye as we moved out of our houses on campus. A bus ride, two flights, and a season change later, I am thinking about all of the ways that the past few weeks have shaped my intentions for the weeks ahead. I imagine we’ll bring quite a bit of Falmouth with us.