Kristen's Nature Blog

I actually miss the intense humidity of Tikal, Guatemala. I traveled there for my May Term in May 2017. We mainly stayed in Antigua, but over the course of one weekend, we flew to the jungle of Tikal and stayed in gorgeous huts around a glamorous pool. The only downside at the time, was how much walking outside for a simple two minutes made you sweat. The amount of perspiration that accumulated on the body in such a short time was chaotic. Don't get me wrong though. We all complained about the heat, but none of us took refuge in our air conditioned shelters. Instead, we sat around the pool and stared up at the tall, tropical trees that were filled with a plethora of colorful birds and interesting little mammals. Our hike into the jungle, on a journey to explore the high Mayan pyramids, lasted four hours. So you can imagine just how much we were all sweating. But it was hard to focus on that when our surroundings were so eye-catching. We even got to seek out two parties of ...

2/7/18 Perhaps the tone of my blogs will change in the future, when flowers bud and vegetation sprouts from the earth. When Spring is officially moved in, and when the temperatures average out at 60 degrees, I will write with a tone as bright as the sun. But for now, I feel that it's near impossible to focus on the good in nature. Not when it's been below freezing every day. I yearn to feel the heat of the sun and to smell the muddy earth as the snow melts away. I was to be greeted in the morning by the sounds of birds and the calls of children who can actually play outside again. Every day, I take myself back to the summer. During the summer of 2017, I spent three weeks in Guatemala. For the most part, we stayed in Antigua, where it was a Spring day every day. It was an average of 60 degrees every day, and when it rained, it only lasted about half an hour at a time. Then I went to Florida. It was hot and sticky in Tampa, but on the shores of St. Augustine, the temp...

2/7/18 Snowy expanse with no trees, no fields, and no road to know where I am. Since the blizzard, we have had only very minor snow storms (in comparison) take wake. Yet they've been enough to make getting to school quite the journey. For a while, going forty on the interstate became the regular. My drive to college is only about fifteen minutes, but after the snow fall it began taking thirty. Just the other day, after driving for thirty minutes on the snowy interstate, I parked my car on the street that stretches in front of my college campus. Temperatures were freezing that morning, so when I went to crawl over the snowy banks, I was relieved to find that I did not sink into them. It was the only good part about the cold weather. The wind was enough to hurt your cheeks and freeze the boogers in your nose. I passed over the bank and took the sidewalk on the quickest route to the history department. Little did I know that there was a massive, hidden patch of pure ...