Well, it’s about time to finally wrap up the Mile High Chemistry both in the lived experience and the tag-along blog commentary. So, the big question becomes, how can I possibly describe the experience to people who haven’t lived it? I can’t really. It becomes one of those moments where I am forced to acknowledge language’s own short comings. There just is no way that language can re-create a physical experience for anything.

This May Term was so special to me, and I certainly hope that it is to the others in the class too. Sure, we had our moments that we were frustrated, or that we snapped at each other, but especially considering the close quarters, that’s to be expected. I can honestly say that I have never laughed that much, that hard, that frequently. It’s really a special group of people: it’s because of our driven natures that we all ended up in the honors program, but we’re not so secluded in academia that we don’t know how to be silly and goof off as well.

When I think of this class, I not only think about sitting in the lab, bending over our lab manuals checking to see if we mix 6N NaOh or just plain old NaOH solution into our water samples next, but I will think about the trips to the hot spring, the night we sat out together waiting for an epic meteor shower that never showed, the day we went rock climbing, or the night that three of us decided to go camping. This class was so much more than just a class, it was a lived experience. And it was an extremely positive one at that. I have never experienced anything like it, and I doubt I’ll ever get to again.

The pictures that I have included are some of the blooming plants that we saw around SNARL both during and towards the end of our trip. I figured the final post was as fitting a place to put them as any other. Perhaps my favorite flowers are the little white ones peeking through the cracks in the asphalt. You can continuously see them wilting during the day, but both during the sunrise and sunset, at the beginning and end of each day, you can see the flowers at their brightest and most beautiful bloom.

If I had to absolutely use language to describe this experience to anyone, I would say it’s the best thing that’s happened to me at the University of Redlands.

Until Next Time,

Joe