The view from my new home is incredible. I live in a second story room on a refurbished coffee plantation that was built on an island created from 2 massive volcanoes. The porch outside overlooks a torn down building; covered with a mixture of a vibrant green moss and pruned ferns. Tall trees surround the concrete like soldiers around a fallen ladder. On the porch itself, the 3 other male students that I room with have set up 4 chairs, and we sit around and discuss pressing issues such as quality ice cream, indie rock, and NBA free agency.
There is a constant smell from the kitchen, which is very enticing to one’s appetite. This combats a strange scent of lemon eucalyptus, which reveals that us boys have been using our bug spray (your welcome, worrying parents, possibly mine). It is a fresh smell with tangents of strange scents thrown in the mix.
I wake up at 6:45 to a beeping watch on my right wrist tells me that it is time to get up and get moving. I quietly open the door in order to save my roommates and protect their beauty sleep. Making my way down to the end of the dock to watch the sunrise, melodies of birds, crickets and occasional mewing cat create a symphony of background noise. East is directly to the left of the abandoned dock, and in between 6:48 and 6:49 the sun peeks his bright head around the right side of the dormant volcano; its light radiating off of the lake and spreading its warmth across the island.
To conclude, this new experience is one that has taught me to live in the moment, and my reward is being gifted to me through the sights sounds and smells that have come to define my trip.