Blog — The Greenest Blue

Holy doodles. I am so happy to be back in Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud. I didn’t realize (that’s a lie, yes I did) how much my heart missed this beautiful country that has managed to capture my little heart and squeeze it tight. It makes me want to cry thinking about my younger self and the momentous adventure it was for me to move down here at 25 with only a loose connection to a potential job and housing situation. That leap of faith led me to the most incredible experience and has introduced me to some of the greatest and fastest friends in my life.

Abroad Again

Something feels different. In a good, and weird, and uncomfortable way. This summer is shaping up to be a bit different than I would’ve guessed it to be. I just landed in Auckland this morning after spending the last three weeks or so in Iceland working for Smithsonian Student Travel. It was an epic trip, seriously. The beautiful, frigid, sub-Arctic island is loaded with geothermal, volanic, and glacial wonders, enough to delight even the most avid outdoor enthusiast.

I’m writing right now like I’m trying to create a travel brochure. I’ll admit I’ve been feeling off and non-commital in my writing lately. I have little desire to write something coherent. Instead, I show up to my journals and docs like I just want to work vomit and get on with my day. So I decided to, once again, stop putting pressure on myself to create something polished and just throw the spaghetti (writing and photography) at the wall (my blog and social media outlets) without the need to make them sparkle.

First Antarctic Field Season - Done! Also, All About My New Homeward Bound Journey

2) Life update two: I’ve been accepted into and am joining Homeward Bound! This is a women’s leadership initiative with the goal of creating a global network of passionate, inspired women in STEMM who are working to create change for our planet. I am so excited. We’ve already had our first online meeting, which will continue bimonthly for the next year. The culmination of this program is a 3-week expedition to the Antarctic with fellow members of my cohort.

When Things Don't Go As Expected During Fieldwork

We are winding down our fifth of six trips this season in partnership with Hurtigruten Expeditions. Our lab team collectively has managed to get an extraordinary number of tissue samples from both humpbacks and Antarctic minke whales, despite some challenging weather conditions that have persisted most of the season. We’ve managed to get some drone flights in as well, scoring some interesting behavioral observations and high-quality photos to use for morphometrics (measuring body condition).

A Song of (No) Fire and (All) Ice – Halfway through my First Antarctic Season

I’m halfway through my first Antarctic field season.

Words have been elusive to me lately. So I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Photography has always been fun for me, and I’ve enjoyed playing around with light, angles, subjects. But it’s taken on a new meaning for me during the last several weeks. It has become intensely therapeutic. It’s a simple goal I can set for myself each day: get outside and shoot. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is, just get out and shoot.

One Trip Down - Five to Go!

Overall, this frozen continent has been nothing short of captivating. Every where you look, there are towering peaks of rock and ice, luminous blue bergs drifting across the freezing water, penguins toddling along their paths, and birds soaring overhead. The animals that are specially adapted to not only exist, but thrive in this environment continue to amaze me. Blubber, special insulating feathers, and other physiological adaptations render these creatures capable of conducting life in a place that we mere humans must visit with only the fanciest and most expensive of equipment.

Crossing the Drake Passage

We finally made it to the Western Antarctic Peninsula! Our arrival was preceded by two long, but beautiful, sea days on the Drake Passage. This is known to be one of the roughest ocean crossings in the world, but we must’ve lucked out – the waves weren’t nearly as high as we were expecting. On our second evening, the sky absolutely lit up with the most glow, perfectly backlighting the blows of humpback and fin whales surfacing in every direction around the boat. It was like being in a dream!

Getting Ready for My First Antarctic Field Season

I am so behind. I want you to know everything.

UGH! I have no real way of trying to catch you all up on what’s been going on the last several months. Besides adopting an adorable and bratty pooch named Meli, I spent a month in North Carolina, went on a 10 day sailing adventure with my family in the San Juan Islands, spent 18 days exploring Alaska and the Aleutian Islands with Hurtigruten Expeditions, went back to San Juan Island to spend time with my brother, and then flew to Spain with my dad to help him launch his 550 mile journey on the Camino de Santiago Francés.

Little Miss Meli - What I've Learned From Dogs

I’ve been wanting my own dog since I was probably 4 or 5. Specifically, I wanted a chihuahua. I think to my little child brain, a chihuahua was the perfect size to be my little furry shadow. I ended up getting a kitten when I was 8, and that launched many, many years of loyal cat fandom and ownership. There was Hallie, Dexter, Frankie, Meko, and then Boomer (RIP my darlings). My siblings took care of their cats, Cocoa and Velvet. Michael also had a not-so-furry bearded dragon named Spike. The Fritz family adopted a loving if overzealous black lab named Pepper. We had a house appropriately full of little humans and creatures, and I loved it. The feeling of caring for something gave me so much meaning back then. When I left Boomer behind with my parents when I went to college (something they never let me forget), I felt a yearning for his snuggles and purrs and leg rubs. But this was what you did when you went to college. You left them behind and went on to the next chapter of your life. If you were lucky, you were able to bring your pets with you. I wasn’t.

The Evolution of The Greenest Blue

There is a new academic year upon us, tests looming on the horizon, nerves getting frayed about deadlines and due dates once again. I’m sitting here on the brink of my second year of my PhD, pondering the role of this blog in my life. I started it only four years ago, although writing and art and critical thinking about life’s mysteries have all been a part of my life for much longer. But as my societally-applied job roles change and my goals shift, I’m left trying to figure out how to weave together these different threads that are all so important to me…to maintain my sense of self in a cohesive fashion, while staying open to growth.

The Mental Repercussions of my First Year of Grad School

I want to present this post as a raw, unfiltered reflection on my first year of graduate study. Every time I try to talk to people about the year and why I think it’s been so hard on me mentally, I find myself tripping over my words and trying to explain everything in a socially appropriate, let-me-make-it-easy-for-you-to-understand manner. But the transition I’ve taken into graduate school represents so much more than just a “next step in my career.” And this is where I think a lot of my anxiety and overthinking has stemmed from.

Reflections on Quarter 2 of Grad School

So, long story short, the quarter finished. I still feel so unprepared for what I need to do for my own research. The questions I’m asking, the experimental design, data collection methods, confidence…I imagine it will come together with time, and I fondly remember what my friend Oliver told me once about being in research/grad school: “None of us know what’s going on, we’re all just making it up as we go.” I guess, in a way, that’s sort of what science is. I’m not out here trying to be the best at what I do. I’m out here trying to be the best version of myself, and learn some things along the way while hopefully advancing our knowledge of the planet and our relationship with it.

No Matter Where You're At in Life, This is What Every Single One of Us Needs

Something somewhat poisonous has been brewing in my psyche over the last twelve years, and it wasn’t until this last month that I finally gained some more comprehensive clarity as to what that might be. I had some help, as I often do, from a book and an author who speaks her truth so vividly, curiously, creatively, and with such an awareness that I couldn’t help but stop and pause. And her words brought forth the beginning of a period of processing where I was able to look back and identify certain trends in my feelings over the last decade. There was an underlying commonality to much of the discomfort I’ve been experiencing.

What has manifested as uncertainty…self-inflicted pressure and unrealistic standards…negative self-talk…crippling indecision…commitment-phobia…insecurity…selfishness…anxiety…was a concrete problem that I believe many of us are facing. The symptoms may vary greatly depending on the individual. But the signs are all over our disjointed society. Loneliness.

Reflections on my First Quarter of Grad School

The transition back into “student mode” was more difficult than I was expecting. I prepared as best I could, excitedly stocking up on colorful Pilot G2 pens and bright college-ruled notebooks. I cycled a lot of my old college-Lauren clothes back into my wardrobe, things like sweaters and nice boots and button-up shirts that have long been stashed in my parents’ basement. You don’t need many nice clothes when you work on a boat! Going back into the world of academia, I wanted to not only look sharp, but more importantly, feel sharp.

Collective Transformation vs. Individual Action - What’s More Important to You?

Collective Transformation - what does that even mean? To break it down into its simplest form, collective transformation (to me) means to embrace change and take action as part of a community. You have the benefit of absorbing the passion, motivation, and intention of like-minded people when you align with a mission, so even when your personal motivation levels are low and you are confused about what you alone can do next, you can turn to your community and take direction.

Moving to Santa Cruz

How’s summer 2021 going for you? How are you handling the news, the chaos, the uncertainty? I’m constantly on the world’s rockiest rollercoaster of emotions, especially lately - I’ve just moved to Santa Cruz, where I’ll be starting grad school in the next couple of weeks. I’m taking classes for my first year before transitioning into research/TA mode.

To say I’m excited would be an understatement.

To say I’m ready for a change, and have been ready for a while…also an understatement.

Six months ago, I didn’t know what form this change would take, or where, or how, or when, but I’ve been open to it, and here I am. I’m supremely excited to make friends knowing I’ll be in this one spot for a long time (multiple years, what??!!??), find a favorite yoga studio, find my coffee shop (both of which I think I found today).

A Mid-Summer Adventure to Big Island: Travel With a Purpose

Hey! It’s been donkey’s years since I’ve last posted and I wanted to share a cool adventure that’s in the works. This is a different style of trip than I’ve done before, and I’m excited to switch it up. For the next two weeks, I’ll be guiding a high school service trip for 16 students from around the country (and a few from around the globe!). I’ll be working through Putney Student Travel and Nat Geo Student Expeditions, two awesome organizations that host epic service-focused and educational adventures all over the world. Although my leader orientation was remote this year, I can tell that this company brings together remarkable individuals to create life-changing experiences for the adventurous high schoolers that embark with us. SERIOUSLY. They have a knack for it. I met another guide in Maui while she was leading a middle school trip, and she was literally in the middle of through-hiking the Appalachian Trail when she took a break to guide this Putney trip. SO COOL.

Hawaii, Mindful Travel, TravelLauren FritzJuly 24, 2021Big Island, Hawaii, Putney Student Travel, adventure

A Lesson in Timing, Trust, & Intuition - Back to School After 7 Years of Marine Tourism Work

There have been some big life changes in the past month, and I am thrilled about them. I’m a little bit nervous to talk about them on here, because I’m worried there’s a part of me that still doesn’t believe it’s real, or that I can succeed. There’s even a bit of imposter syndrome sneaking in, which I HATE. But more on addressing that in another blog post.

Basically, here’s what’s happening: I’m going to be attending graduate school in the fall at UC Santa Cruz in the department of Ocean Sciences, studying humpback whale stress physiology. I was fortunate enough to receive an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship which will make this much more financially feasible. As I learn more about what being an NSF fellow entails, I will certainly share that here. But this is a big change in my journey, and I wanted to share this process with you!

What's Maui Marine Tourism (Whale Watching, Snorkeling) Like During the Pandemic?

Hi from Maui - just wanted to check in and give a few life updates! The last few months have been a f***ing whirlwind, and in a mostly good way. There are positive whirlwinds, I can confirm – they shake you up and make you reevaluate what’s important to you. Even as I write this, my mind feels like it’s spinning at a thousand turns per second. The last few months have brought a lot of change, a lot of life lessons, a lot of new experiences, a lot of new people, and a lot of talking through masks…so my voice is basically always raspy or gone.

Moving Mountains with Photography - A Chat with Landscape Photographer Luke Praschak

Luke is an amazing friend. We met thanks to our mutual use of Facebook marketplace and Sony camera systems, and immediately clicked with our passions for content creation and nature. I fondly remember our first meeting at the Salty Fox coffee shop across from the Friday Harbor Ferry Terminal, oat milk lattes and bright summer sun lighting up the conversation and the streets. I don’t want to give away too much of Luke’s story (he’s going to share it down below), but what I will do is warn you to prepare yourselves to be blown away by the beauty of his photographs. He specializes in landscape photography, mainly of the North Cascades. San Juan Island residents are blessed to have this national park essentially in their park yard, and in my opinion its one of the hidden gems of our national park system in the U.S. A bit removed and not as easily accessed as the others, I think it provides every bit of the magic and breathtaking alpine views of the more popular Glacier, Ranier, and Olympic National Parks without the gawking crowds.

Marine mammals inspired me to seek a greener lifestyle. What inspires you?