Written by Dilini.

After 10 wonderful days travelling around Sri Lanka, it was finally time to end our academic tour and depart Sri Lanka. We started our final day with a frenzy of packing, then the two last article presentations by Induja and Kalindu. Next was one of our favourite activities – breakfast! with a buffet full of local food like coconut roti, milk rice, tea buns, crocodile buns, roast paan with several other side dishes and delicious Ceylon tea and coffee.

Following the breakfast, some of our students went to enjoy the sea breeze at the beach adjoining the hostel, while others completed packing their bags. An academic field course is never complete without a final test. Moving away from regular final paper, we held a quiz about Sri Lanka geography and biodiversity, where each group spent about 4 minutes at each of multiple stations answering the questions. Although students were not very happy with all the questions, they did very well in the end.

After loading our bags onto our buses, we left the 234 Weligama. On our way to Colombo, we stopped for lunch at Galle Fort. While everyone else was enjoying regular meals and drinks from the menu, Olin, Aili, Induja, and Ravindi decided to build their own dishes mixing different food and drinks that they ordered – fusion-fusion cuisine. After the delicious lunch, we all walked along the fort wall enjoying the scenery of the attractive Galle beach, some buying coffee and others baked goods from a tuk-tuk bakery. We took a modern toll highway most of the way to Colombo arriving at dusk.

In Colombo we stopped at the Laksala Souvenir Shop. Most students spent their remaining rupees buying gifts for friends and loved ones back home. Some of us had hard time deciding which item to buy as there were myriad handmade items ranging from small keychains and fridge magnets to huge elephant carvings and traditional wooden masks plus a range of teas, coffees and spices. We stopped at the Independence Memorial Hall, a national monument in Sri Lanka built for the commemoration of the independence of Sri Lanka from British rule, Ravindi, Induja, and Kalindu gave all of us gifts to thank for the wonderful opportunity they had over the last 10 days. Then we headed to The Steuart by Citrus, to enjoy the farewell dinner organized by Ashan, our outfitter. We then drove to the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport with heavy hearts and said our goodbyes to, Steve and our Canadian students departing for Toronto, and Dilini, Ravindi, Induja and Kalindu remaining behind and wishing all safe travels.