Bienvenue readers!

Ben Porter

Bienvenue readers! Welcome to blog #8, and my official blog debut! For starters my day began by waking up from my makeshift floor bed at 4 am to the sound of Lila’s alarm and her moving about. Classic Lila waking up early to go run (don't tell her mom).

Totara house (my house) was out and about bright and early as always, as we are a highly motivated and energetic bunch. This morning’s hype song, brought to us by Aaron, was “Radioactive”, by Imagine Dragons. After getting super stoked Aaron “mimi” Blust, Rosie (chad) Chater, Lila “wheels” Olson, Adele “welty” Carcano, Flora “flobs” Kerner, and myself “bin” made our way down below. We met down with the rest of the group at 7 am for breakfast and to make the plan for the day.

By 9 am we were off on a day of field trips, our first stop being Te Fare Natura, an ecomuseum right around the corner from Gump station. Boy oh boy what a place. We were lucky enough to get a full tour of the museum featuring all kinds of scientific and cultural exhibits, including an ocean immersion room which was siiiiiiiick.

After the museum we headed next door to check out the CRIOBE (centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l’environment) , a research field station run by a collective of French universities. We met with multiple french researchers, technicians, and grad students who spoke about some of the work they were doing at the station.

We had so much to talk about at the station that we had to quickly run back to Gump Station for lunch where Evan “the survivor” Auger, promptly fell out of his hammock and caught it on video! A classic Evan move.

After a delicious lunch we headed back up to the houses to hangout and work on some projects together. It was a great, chill afternoon that was made even more relaxing by the downpours that periodically broke the silence. With everyone all rested and relaxed the gang headed out around 5 pm for a circumnavigation of this new tropical island that we have called home for the last week.

We ended the night with a group dinner out on the island. It was a great way to end a great day, surrounded by good food, amazing views, and some really great friends.

Until next time, Ben out ✌️

Ben Porter