Let me start by saying, I don’t know where anything is on campus, and this unfamiliarity with my surroundings made it harder to choose a sit spot; however, a few days ago, I went out exploring with a friend. We walked past the specialty houses, passed by a large parking lot, and came across a fence with a nearby entrance to a short trail. Just a few seconds after we entered the trail, we came across a small, comfy spot free of trees. I immediately knew it would make a great sit spot. Close to campus and secluded? Perfect. The weirdest thing about this spot is that there have clearly been people there. We found an old, incredibly dirty rug, covered in a layer of dirt and grass, as though it had been there long enough for nature to integrate it into the surrounding environment. How long would that have been? I’m assuming at least a year or two. We managed to pull off part of the rug and fold it over itself. Don’t ask me why – we just felt like it.
Anyway, I went back alone at night. In hindsight, that was a really stupid idea for a first session. I was terrified of getting mauled by some animal or having a bug look at me too hard. There were a few dead leaves on the ground and small strands of grass grown out, but, for the most part, the ground was clear. Great, my fear of getting my skin obliterated by insects for this blog decreased just a little bit. I sat down, facing Northwest, and began to look around. My first thought was, “What the heck is any of this crap?” To me, everything around was generic- from the trees to the bushes- and I had only a vague idea of the kind of insects I was looking at. I forced myself to stay off my phone in the pitch black area, looking toward the campus lights nearby if I got too scared. But when I lay down and looked up, my first intentional observation hit. All the long tree branches around me were curved toward the spot I was lying in. I sat up, and looked past those trees, to realize that the other trees past them weren’t curved in that same pattern. Weird.
Listening to the crickets’ chirps and the soft, gentle breeze blowing past me, I soon relaxed my mind, got up, and started looking around. Instead of worrying about potential encounters with the native animals and insects, I found myself embracing the possibility of an encounter with these species. I began approaching insects on the ground. 
I saw plenty of spiders congregated together, I believe two different species, in small groups.
This puzzled me, as I always thought that spiders were entirely independent creatures. To me, though, them crawling in groups suggested that they were working together.
As I looked for more insects, I heard some high-pitched animal “chuckle” far away. I remember my immediate excitement to potentially run into it – unfortunately, though, that never happened. I found a few other insects, and I think I was able to identify the species of cricket I found (Gryllus veletis?) I hope that’s correct, otherwise this is going to be a little embarrassing.
I’m surprised by how much my attitude changed from the start to the end of my experience! I went from dreading the assignment to being genuinely curious about my surroundings. Having my first sit spot experience at night may not have been ideal for my fear of insects in nature, but I got over it. It turned into a relaxing, fun experience, and was definitely worth avoiding the afternoon heat. I think I’ll continue to go to my sit spot at night, at least until the afternoons become cooler. Overall, I had a nice experience, and I expect it to get better as I learn to pay greater attention to detail and get to know my spot better.
While picking three objects to follow, I tried to have a bit of variety. The first object I picked was a ground-cover plant that I couldn’t identify (but is likely very common). It was primarily made of dull green, yellow-stain
ed leaves with holes in them, likely where they’ve been eaten. However, I noticed that 3-5 of the leaves did not have holes in them. I’m curious if that’s coincidental or if there’s some reason that a few leaves remain uneaten. Next time, I’ll count how many leaves are completely intact.
My next object was the old rug on the ground. As I mentioned before, I’d pulled it off the ground and folded it over itself. It seems like a good place for some insects to choose as shelter, and I’d like to find out by checking for insects in/under it next week.
My third object was a flower plant at the “first entrance.” It had a few batches of very tiny bunches of yellow flowers. I wonder, are the flowers growing because they’re in season, or dying because their season is ending? Next time, I’ll see if the plant grows or loses more flower bunches.
Hey Mei! I really enjoyed reading your sit spot blog because I felt as though I was experiencing everything the same way that you did. I also especially liked your comment about spiders being solitary creatures, because I somewhat thought the same thing until I read your blog post.
I was wondering if you had any assumptions or predictions of what kind of animal emitted that high pitched squeal. Also, I understand that you plan to continue visiting your sit spot at night, but do you think visiting it during the day will award you with more opportunities to encounter different species of animals?
I think you did a fantastic job of capturing your thought process and putting it in such a format that allowed other to understand the kinds of things you were thinking.
First off, your blog was super interesting to read. You were very descriptive and I felt like a narrator was telling me a story. I think its super neat you decided to do your sit-spot at night. I wouldn’t have the guts to do that in pitch black darkness. It’s going to be interesting to see how your blog post change depending on what time of day you decide to do them. Will you do more at night? Some in the day? I’m curious to know whats munching on the leaves and hope you find out.
Hi Mei! I absolutely loved reading about your sir-spot. I think that you perfectly described what a lot of people’s initial reaction was to the assignment, and portrayed how interesting it actually was. I find it intriguing that you were able to really connect with the environment at your sit-spot and appreciate the value of the assignment and the whole experience, after not being too interested at first. I was able to imagine what your sit-spot could have been like. That’s pretty brave of you to go out at night and wanting to continue. Maybe next time, you can also do some research on specific types of sounds you heard to be specific with what you heard exactly.
I was wondering if you would ever consider going to your sit-spot in the morning or evening (even if it’s once), just to see how different it could be and the different species or animals you may see/hear. You should consider adding more details for your next blog post about what exactly your surroundings looked like, in your perspective (I would absolutely love to read what else you saw), to better envision your sit-spot.
I think you did a great job encapsulating the features of your sit-spot and portraying them exactly how you thought. I also loved how your writing style illuminated your emotions from beginning to end. Can’t wait to read more about your sit-spot and the species/organisms you fine.
Awesome journal!! From beginning to end it sounded like a few eerie situations happened at your spot and along the way there. I like how you went out at night by yourself to experience your sit-spot in a unique way. You have a cool writing style in this journal. It was humorous and well written and it was really fun to read. I think it’s a cool idea to keep going at night. You might get to see/hear some cool animals. The carpet on the ground probably has some cool insects underneath it!! That was a good idea.
It looks like an awesome place to have your sit-spot. It was a good idea that you decided to experience your sit-spot at night and that it wasn’t too creepy for you! I hope your sit-spot brings you lots of cool and interesting things to look at.