Recently, the PLP 8s went on our first field study, to the Oregon Coast. So, I’m going to tell you how it went.
So, why did we go to Oregon in the first place? Well, we started by learning about media, and advertising. I was assigned a business that I was going to visit in Oregon and make an ad for. I did some research on my business (Clark’s Restaurant), and then, it was Oregon time! Or not…? Well, you see, the trip is usually early in the year, but because of Covid 19, it had to be moved back to the end of the year. And unfortunately, that led to conflicts. On the first day of the trip, I also had a band cabaret that I had worked very hard to be ready for. So, a deal was arranged where me and the other 5 kids in band would go 1 day later. But unfortunately for me, the plan was to go to Clark’s on the first day, so I didn’t get to go. But that wasn’t the end of the problems.
The bus that they took to get to Oregon broke down and we didn’t have enough room to get everyone home. So what happened? Well, after over 10 hours of rescheduling and replanning, we eventually left home… SIX HOURS LATE. We stopped in Burnaby to pick up another van, but it wasn’t ready for us, so we had to wait for almost an hour. With the delays that occurred, a six hour drive, became a 10 hour drive. I learnt a lot about patience, flexibility and adaptability that day.
From there on, the trip went normally, so I’ll get to the meat of this post, what I learnt!
One of the places we went where I learnt a lot is the Hatfield Marine Science Center. We actually went on two separate occasions because there was so much to do. I learnt about many things, including tsunamis, crabs, shrimp, ROVs, and more. ROV stands for remotely operated vehicle, and, I got to build my own! I designed it before building it using small pvc pipes, and I added pool noodles to get it to neutral buoyancy.
Another interesting activity we did was a tour on a boat called “marine discovery tours”. On this tour, we set crab traps in the river before making our way to the ocean. While unsuccessfully searching for whales, I learnt how they have one of the longest migration routes out of all of the animals in the world. After collecting the crabs we caught, we learnt about why the world wouldn’t work without what we didn’t expect to be too useful, plankton. Plankton is used in pharmaceuticals, diet supplements, pigments, and more, but there wouldn’t be any fish to eat, there wouldn’t be nearly as much oxygen on earth, and most importantly, THERE WOULD NOT BE ICE CREAM!!! Or, ice cream would be… let’s say… different…
Anyways, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Christmas Day 2022, and since this was my first real travel experience since then, I learnt a lot about that too. I learnt how hard it is to calculate carbs for my meals, especially at buffets, and the fish place (where we shared a meal with a classmate). Often, I would get more food after my shot, so I eventually ended up adding more insulin to my shot in anticipation of the arrival of more food. I came home with the newfound skill of being able to independently handle my diabetes.
All in all, it turns out, Ore-gon all right! 🤪
Here is the journal I put together during the field study!
And here are some other pictures I took!
