Introductions, Preconceptions, and My Sense of Place....

Introduction:

Hello and welcome to my blog for Colloquium. To being I'd like to introduce myself: My name is Carolina O. This my senior year at FGCU, go class of 2016!! I am an Elementary Education major and in the future I hope to teach second grade and eventually teach at the college level. I recently moved to Naples from Fort Lauderdale about two years ago. When I moved here I enrolled at Edison Ste College (before the name change) and was the last class to graduate under the Edison name :). Afterwards I enrolled at Florida Gulf Coast University and absolutely love it. This semester I am in my level one internship and I am just as excited as I am overwhelmed to say the least; I just hope everything goes smoothly.

Terrible picture but here is the last graduating class of Edison State College (photo: Carolina Ortiz)

Preconceptions:

My preconceptions about Colloquium....oh man where to start.

Of course I have heard both good and bad things about the this class. The general consensus is that we shouldn't be forced to take a class that has nothing to do with our major, which I agree with to an extent. I think that many times we take classes that do pertain in someway to our major and they end up being a waste of time. That being said why not take a class in which awareness is brought and we learn just how we impact our environment. I personally love nature. Whenever I can I like to go to the beach and just sit, I'll talk more about that later. Could you imagine if one day we had not more beaches to enjoy because of what harm we are causing the environment? To some degree it is somewhat "annoying" that if you don't take Colloquium you don't graduate; it sort of cancels out all the effort you poured into your other classes. All in all, I am looking forward to this class and to learn how to lessen my own environmental footprint.

My Sense of Place:

As I mentioned earlier, I thoroughly enjoy going to the beach whenever I'm not at either of my two jobs, school, or internship. Like the video we watched in class, I think whether we realize it or not we all have a spot/place we like to go to and just feel safe or comfortable. For me whenever I go to the beach, I feel like I can just unwind and let go of everything even if it is only for a couple of minutes. For the most part I like to go around dusk when there is less people and the sun is setting. There is just something about laying on a blanket in the darkness while listening to the waves crash on shore that is so soothing.

 This picture was taken by me close to the pier. (photo: Carolina Ortiz)

 This one was also taken near the pier (which if you haven't noticed, it's my favorite spot). (photo: Carolina Ortiz)