Imagine escaping the cold Minnesota weather for a trip abroad to somewhere warm and sunny. Sounds amazing, right? Now imagine earning credits for that same trip.
Over winter break, I had the wonderful opportunity to do just that and travel to Puerto Rico through a Winona State faculty-led travel study program.
I jumped at the chance to go on this trip because I’ve always loved biology and learning more about the world around us.
Getting to experience Puerto Rican culture was another selling point for me because I know that understanding different perspectives will help me better advocate and care for my patients as a future nurse.
Let me tell you more about some of the major trip highlights:
We traveled to many places in Puerto Rico, our first stop being Old San Juan.
There was so much history and culture there, and the color and architecture of the buildings were absolutely beautiful.
Here, we also saw Castillo San Cristóbal, which is considered the largest fortress that was built in the Americas to protect the city of San Juan.
After Old San Juan, we traveled to 2 caves: the Manatí Nature Preserve Bat Cave and La Cueva Ventana (also known as the Window Cave).
I’d never seen a real cave before, and the view at the Window Cave was truly a moment like Hozier’s yell.
Then we went to Loíza where we took a Bomba dancing workshop.
This definitely got us all out of our comfort zones, and it’s a memory we’ll share together forever because it was a full immersion into a big part of Puerto Rican culture.
We also traveled to an island off of Puerto Rico called Culebra. We snorkeled with sea turtles and toured various beaches.
It really is amazing how beautiful our world is. There’s so much out there waiting to be explored!
Once we made it to Ponce, we toured the city, then swam and snorkeled some more in a bioluminescent bay.
This was a surreal experience because at the snap of your fingers you could see the little microorganisms (for my fellow STEM nerds: dinoflagellates) glow like sparks.
Nearing the last days of our trip, we also visited the only National Rainforest in the United States: El Yunque National Rainforest. And oh, it was so beautiful.
The vegetation was cool to see because it truly thrived. We also saw some waterfalls and got to slide down a natural waterslide.
Due to it being a biology trip, we took lots of samples along the way.
We sampled vacant spiderwebs and water from various locations to test for eDNA, or environmental DNA. eDNA helps us understand what organisms live or once lived in the sample area.
(Some students from our trip are using these samples in their Biology capstone project. They plan to present their research at the Research & Creative Achievement Day in April.)
We also went inside some bat caves, where we recorded their echolocation. That was such a cool experience—I’d never been so close to bats before, let alone listened to so many of them at once.
Final Words
Being able to get outside the 4 walls of a classroom taught me so much and gave me memories that will last a lifetime. It also gave me a deeper appreciation for saying “yes” and stepping into the unknown. There’s so much out there waiting to be explored!
I cannot recommend studying abroad enough. The Winona State Study Abroad Office makes it so easy—they plan and provide all the info you need, including the packing list!
There are also lots of scholarships available that can help you fund your trip. Even receiving just one helps.
That’s what I did, and I was able to receive a scholarship that was very helpful in covering my trip costs.
Don’t let the price of a study abroad trip sway you on never taking the leap because it’s truly an experience you don’t want to miss!
Learn more about all the places where you can study abroad at Winona State University.
