By Nora_Wolcott
As a Molecular Biology major at GW, I’m accustomed to spending long hours in the lab. Here, my friends in the UofA School of Science were shocked to learn this, as their system is quite different. Instead of having lab sections for each course, there are fieldtrips that take you to different exotic island locations to conduct scientific research. When I initially found out about this program I was less than thrilled, as it cuts into travel time I could’ve otherwise planned myself, an annoyance that has not fully dissipated. However, I have learned that there are several large perks to being an exchange student on these scientific field trips. The University pays for our transportation and lodging, a huge plus for a semi-broke college student trying to travel across this large island. In addition to this, they take me to locations I may have otherwise overlooked, as they are not always those advertised on TripAdvisor and similar travel sites. My weekend trip to Wenderholm State Park was an excellent example of this phenomenon.
I went on the Wenderholm trip for my General Ecology class, a course slightly outside of my usual scientific interests, so I was fairly skeptical about the trip. However, when we got to the location it was absolutely stunning. In order to reach the terrestrial ecology station we had to take an hour-long hike up a mountain, and though I consider myself fairly in-shape, by the time we got to the top I was panting like a dog. The view from the top was spectacular, all sheer cliffs and rocky islands stretching along the coast. Later in the day we made the trek back down to the beach to do some marine sampling. Under the shadow of a clay-streaked cliff we spent hours surveying periwinkle species on the shore. Towards the end of the day the wind began to pick up, and we were completely unsheltered on the beach, so I can’t say I was reluctant to leave; but all in all it was a great day, and I’d take it over 4 hours in an Orgo lab any day.
This was not my first field trip, and it won’t be the last. A couple weeks ago I made a weekend trip to Goat Island for Marine Ecology, and in mid-April I will take a longer 4 night trip to Whangeri. The Goat Island lab was fairly rigorous, but also a beautiful free trip to a location I may not have otherwise been able to rent a car to see. My mid-semester trip to Whangeri is also an exciting landmark for me, as I don’t know if I would’ve been able to stop back at this location in the 3 months I have left. Ultimately I really do enjoy the fieldtrip system, and if I had any sway with GW’s Bio department I would urge them to incorporate such hands-on experience into their curriculum. While there aren’t exactly locations like Goat Island or Wenderholm near DC, I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Virginia Beach for Genetics, or the forests of Maryland for Developmental.