Marco ’26, Rich ’26 and Max ’26 write about the groups bike ride through the Everglades and attending and FIU Basketball game.
The sunny, fifteen-mile bike ride in the Everglades’ Shark Valley began without sight of any valleys except an almost unmoving brook of grass and low trees winding with the trail, nor was there any fins except on the lazy backs of gar and gators lounging beneath the sun. For Marco, today was his first ride on a bike in a year – an important milestone! The rest of the nearly fifteen-mile journey saw the beauty of endless plains of grass and critters.
After our satisfying bike ride, we set off for the Ocean Bank Convocation Center for a riveting men’s basketball matchup between Florida International University and Louisiana Tech University. During the game, we were asked to participate in one of the time-out games. Unfortunately, all but one of us (Chuck) were under 18, so they had to find another group. After leaving the game, we got some tasty smoothies from a local store, Smoothie King. Apparently, we drained the store of its supplies – we saw its employees deliver stacks of new cups, and Max‘s order had to be changed because there was no more frozen yogurt! In the evening, as we waited for dinner, Adriana drew Celine a sketch portrait, made all the more impressive by the fact that she used a pen and thus had no margin of error. Today’s perfect mixture of nature and civilization taught us the possibility – and necessity – of the prosperous coexistence of the two. We go to sleep tonight thinking about the airboat ride tomorrow.
