two oceans aqaurium outing

As part of the life science 152 module, we were required to take a trip down to the two oceans aquarium.

Years have past since i last went to the aquarium, so initially i wasnt keen on going with the university, since in my mind, that would be quite boring becuase we would be working the entire time.

turns out, it was the complete opposite. we could 'worjk and play' at the same time. like learning made fun LOL.

it was a really great experience since i could learn so much while having so much fun at the same time. i wouldnt mind doing it all over again, even the trip on the bus was great!
 its really i pity i had to miss out on the camp since, by hat ive heard, it was so much better than the aquarium outing. oh well, you know what they say, you snooze, you loose.

anyway, i still got ot go on at least one outing which was amazing and i wouldnt trade it for the world.

When I heard about the outing, my initial thought was "boooooring", since I thought I'm gonna have to walk around in a bushy forest looking and trying to distinguish between different plants that looks exactly the same. I was expecting to be swamped with flies and other irritating insects crawling up my pants and top.

In an amazing turn of events, it actually became such a lovely trip. Even though getting there wasn't the smoothest of rides, since we opted to take our own transportation, and nearly got completely lost, and even when we finally found out which way to drive, our nerves were still tied up in knots since we thought we won't make it in time and we'll have to pay R.90 to get in. And as my friend Tara was taking those turns like she's auditioning for Fast and the Furious 7, sigh's of relief filled the air as we saw the bus right in front of us!!!

The nature reserve was so beautiful, the sites, views, animals and overall adventure of the day were so amazing and my friends and I couldn't stop taking pictures.

          When we got there, we were told that we told that we would need to walk up a trail to the top, to reach the lighthouse. I nearly had a heart attack, I'm unfit and I can't stand walking up steep hills and trails, but for the sake of science, I just had to grin and bear it.                                      

                                                       

 Even though the walk itself the gruesome and horrid, and literally killed my legs, it was still tons of fun. We were able to take pictures by the lighthouse, and even write our names on it and leave our mark lol. The view from the top was breathtaking, however it sort of felt like we were about to get blown away by that wind. The walk back down was a little easier, and we managed to get Bradley to be our photographer as well, even though he nearly had a heart attack coming back down since he thought the bus drove away without him, that moment of panic and look on his face was so hilarious, we couldn't help but laugh, and then Riaan calmed his nerves when he called him to the bus, since they actually waited for him.

                                                                       Then there was our run in with the baboon. As we heading down, this baboon pops out of nowhere and runs directly towards us! I've never seen a group of people get in a car that fast lol, my friend Tanya Witbooi took the cake though, we were still running and she just jumped right into the first open bakkie she saw, luckily for her, it belonged to one of our friends.

Our next stop was Rocky Beach. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to.  We were allowed to walk around and "if we are brave enough" could also take a walk up the mountain top, I tried, but it wasn't worth it. My poor legs couldn't deal with all this walking up trails and stuff, so I just opted to stay on ground floor and enjoy the view and despite the harsh weather conditions, the say still turned out beautifully.                       

My ECP (extended curricular program) experience thus far

So, first week of orientation arrives. I know no one and the university is huge, so im telling myself already that im never gonna be able to get to my classes and im probably not gonna survive this place. Then I changed my mind, positive thoughts Kelly, positive thoughts.

I get introduced to all the other students in my course and see one of my high school friends Charne! So now I at least had a friend I could get lost with. As the week progressed, random conversations with a few people became something I looked forward to and new friends were created.

I thought im gonna lose my mind the first week of lectures since these people were talking about places and buildings foreign to my ears, how on earth was I gonna get to all my classes on time, what does all these bigs words that they use even mean? I didn’t even know how to send an email to someone and here I had to hear that it is gonna be a normal thing to do.

After settling down, I came to learn that my lecturers, facilitators and demonstrators were very helpful people. They were always there when I needed assistance and still are. Im learning something new everyday and this is only yet the beginning.

Out of all the modules, ISC 153 has to be the most challenging for me but that’s probably because I have to do all the work myself and no one lectures me on how to do it. It’s a challenge but I hope to pull threw at the end of the year. The work is a lot and also difficult to understand but with the help of my facilitators, I was able to make it this far and learned so much in the process.

My life science lecture Maryke has to be the nicest person I have ever met. She ensures that you understand the work and is always there to help out when you need it. Not to mention her lectures are also fun and lively wherein each class member can participate in.

Practicals are definitely the best way to end off the week at campus. Its interesting, challenging and Riaan makes sure its fun as well. It’s a great environment to learn in and theres always something fun to get out of it, even the loooong “boring” ones have some fun in it, that is of course minus the report we had to write, that was just bad, and long as well. I thought I’m never gonna finish it.

Tutorials are a great way to learn and apply that which you learn in lectures, although I have to admit that the one’s where we not allowed to use books are just junk. But alas, its all for my own benefit.

In conclusion, I have to say that the entire experience thus far has been interesting, challenging but also bucket loads of fun. This is one experience I wouldn’t wanna change, even with all the challenges and annotations that comes with it.