37,000 ft.

You wouldn’t expect that at 37,000 feet trapped in a 737 you would be experiencing nature. However, the unexpected is indeed a possibility any time when living in a world where mother nature does not care too much about her inhabitants. Today is November 10, 2018 and as I am writing this piece, I am at exactly 37,000 feet in an American Airlines aircraft experiencing severe turbulence while on my way back from Boston. It’s not every day that the pilot comes on the intercom and says that he has requested help from Air Traffic Control about our situation and we should stay calm and stay tuned. Earlier in the day it was reported to other pilots that the weather was fairly clear expect for some odd air patterns at high altitudes. So, in other words probably not the best of days to be flying across the country.

At the same time though, it is one incredible view from up here – the clouds floating thousands of feet below you instead of above you (creating shapes only the imagination can be thrilled by), the rivers that you can make out go on for miles and miles, and the air temperature somewhere around -60 degrees Fahrenheit (easily could kill you in a matter of seconds). You don’t really think about how the world is not ours and we don’t owe it a thing. When flying through mother nature’s skies it takes some severe turbulence to get you to think of this tin can as something other than natural and normal. We are fighting against the mighty winds, the sudden weather changes, and the unexpectedness of the Earth up here; in some way, it’s scary to think no matter how hard we try, mother nature will do what it wants, whenever it wants, and to whomever it wants.

 However, I think one of the best things about flying is being able to experience the world from a whole new perspective; you can see the tree tops, become eye level with the creatures of the skies, and see some pretty rad corn mazes. It really puts your life into perspective as well – go live and breathe in the fresh outdoors, climb the mountain you thought you never could, bend down and look at the tiny ant carrying that piece of bread – you really never know when it could be your last day to do so. Today, at 37,000 feet, I am grateful for the many experiences I have had with nature and the many new experiences (such as this severe turbulence) I get to have each day. It is definitely one of those days where I will be kissing the ground once I land – thanking mother nature for allowing me yet another day to be part of her world.

Amon Carter Museum

After many weeks of rain only occurring during our Wednesday afternoon class, it finally stopped – and so did going to the nature center. As much as we all enjoyed the nature center it just didn’t seem possible with the few classes we had left to make the trek back out there. So, our class decided that we would go to the Amon Carter Museum to see some of the landscape paintings. We were all excited to be able to blend the arts with our nature class, and we definitely found some amazing art pieces there.

It was slightly disappointing that they had part of the museum closed for renovations, so we couldn’t see all the art pieces they usually offer. However, I think that the pieces they still had available were beautiful and really spoke to the values of our nature class. I’m going to talk about one of my absolute favorite paintings there – it is called Thunder storm on Narragansett Bay. It is an oil painting by Martin Johnson Heade and the piece highlights the intensity of a storm swirling up on the coast of Rhode Island.

The piece stood out to me because of the darkness of the background and the contrast of the tiny white sailboats caught in the storm. Another really cool aspect of the piece is the faint yellow lightning strike that is in the center of the canvas. I loved how Johnson was able to capture such a dark atmosphere while at the same time keeping the seaside calm and steady. It was beautiful to me and transported me to the seaside as well.

When a painting can spark a thousand memories, you know it’s a piece you will remember. I was definitely excited about this museum in general because I had never been before and after seeing this piece, I would go back in a heartbeat. I could spend hours looking at paintings and loved that our class had the ability to go see some; especially because I think it really tied to our coursework. We spend lots of class time talking about scenes from works of poetry or discussing short pieces from nature writers and it was a great experience to be able to put a face to some of those discussions.

I really appreciate Dr. Williams coordinating all of the trips we have been able to take this semester – each one I like better than the last. This class truly has been like no other, and I believe that the honors college works extremely hard to get their students those real-life interactions and real-world adventures to experience outside of the classroom.

Harvard Yard

College campuses are home to some of the most beautiful parts of nature in the world; at least I think so. I recently had the incredible opportunity to visit Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I had seen beautiful campuses before – Texas Christian University is by far one of the best with the seasonal flower changes, trees on every corner of every turn, grass that is only not green in December, and not to mention the indoor plants that sit in nearly every classroom.

But, there was something about Harvard Yard that made you feel like you had never seen anything like it before. It is 22 acres of pure greenery – everything from grass that is as green as a professional golf course, to flowers planted on every inch of the sidewalks, to the huge oak trees that sit right up next to the academic buildings. The acres of grass make the campus feel more like a park than a college campus.

 I sat on a bench in the middle of the grass and thought about how I felt – not realizing how many emotions I was experiencing while just sitting on that bench looking around. I felt joy when looking at the tiny little flowers swaying back and forth with the wind – it made me smile when one flower got tangled up with another (it was like they were friends holding hands together). I felt sad when I saw someone toss their empty paper coffee cup onto a patch of grass – I walked over, picked it up and threw it in the recycle bin that was a mere 15 steps away. The grass is as just as alive as we are. I felt excited when it started to rain because you could almost see with your own eyes how the trees perked up that they were finally getting some love.

Having the opportunity to walk around and see how much of the campus is filled with nature made me so happy. I love knowing that as much care given to the students of Harvard is also given to the greenery surrounding them. I am incredibly grateful to go to a school that also cares just as much about the natural world as the artificial one. I hope I get to travel to many more college campuses soon and see the nature that surrounds them. I am a firm believer that students, faculty and staff are happier and healthier individuals if they are able to sit outside alongside nature and do their work. I am not nearly as appreciative as I should be to attend TCU and live on one of the most beautiful campuses in the world.