Amelia here! Another fun-filled week of internships, birthday celebrations, and capstone data collection at the Outer Banks Field Site. Starting out the week right, Tara turned 22 October 2nd, and as per usual, we went all out. Surprising new talents came out as people danced, filmed, and produced a music video (true masterpiece) for Tara’s special day to Taylor Swift’s “22.” And of course there’s the sensation that was her lemon cake:
Following these festivities, people volunteered at Bluegrass Festival throughout the week, with most of the town seeming to converge on Festival Park Wednesday through Saturday to listen bluegrass bands perform, eat food, and have a good time. October 6th marked the first Friday of the month (25 days until Halloween!), so downtown Manteo livened up for First Friday. On the first Friday of every month downtown Manteo has a street festival from 6 to 8pm, featuring live music and artisans and deals in local restaurants and businesses. It’s definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already!
However, the main highlight from Friday was splitting up into groups and collecting core samples and gas flux readings at Jockey’s Ridge and Edenton, NC. As part of the Edenton group, we decided to make a day out of the hour and fifteen minute trip: arriving, collecting all the samples necessary and exploring downtown Edenton. Arriving at the living shoreline in Edenton, we split up into groups to take core samples from the high and low marsh and get gas flux samples in fifteen minute increments.
Despite some setbacks – all part of the scientific process of course – it felt great to get out in the field, tromp around in our extremely fashionable waders, and make additional progress in the natural science portion of our capstone project. After completing the school related part of the trip, we went downtown. There we got dinner at Governor’s Pub, 10/10 would suggest the pizza, and found some great deals in a local consignment shop.
Meandering down to the waterfront we unexpectedly also got a history lesson, learning that one of the earliest organised women’s political actions occurred there in 1774, with the creation of The Edenton Tea Party by Penelope Barker. The plaque describing the event was placed in front of a picturesque colonial house, with a back porch you can sit on and look out on the sound. Delving into our marine ecology knowledge, thanks to our weekly classes, we noticed a cypress tree completely inundated with water, featuring the distinctive cypress knees for support. It was quite the trip.
Well that sums up a broad recap of the week: highlighting the accrued knowledge, experiences, and skills generated from our field site. With the semester flying by much too quickly, here’s to commemorating the support and instruction and interesting anecdotes we get from our teachers, internship mentors and fellow students every week!