Falmouth Field School

In the film group we are continuing to make our oral history video documentary film that the effect of tourism (specifically cruise ship tourism) has on the town of Falmouth, since a cruise ship port was built in 2010. For the last week we have been interviewing locals who work in the town asking them how tourism has been affecting their community. During many of the interviews people have said that they have seen the town change, since the cruise ships started coming. People have observed many new businesses and jobs have pop up around tourism, and new tourist traps are being built all around the town. These changes also not going to stop any time soon, their millions of dollars are being put towards transforming Falmouth into a tourist paradise. All the change that is coming makes it even more important that the town is documented, and that what our film does. With the film we are able to show Falmouth and it’s tourism as it stands today, and maybe another group will come back to Fa

Favorite Photos from the Jamaica trip  Jordan and Anna K with Ms. Claudine after an interview on day 8 Charlie and Ashwin amazed at the size of Charlie's ice cream on day 9 The film group munching on ice cream on day 4 Blake, Ashwin, Charlie, and Kamar painting the side of the house on day 7 Anna K, Emory, Isabelle, and Anna T at the Covey ruin on day 6 The students bonding at the Coach House in Good Hope on day 6 Emory and Anna K bonding with a student at the All Age School on day 2 Tyler digging a shovel test pit on day 10  Leon and Blake painting the porch of the house they are restoring on day 4 Students and faculty of the Falmouth Field School outside the Montego Bay Cultural Center

As our field school  comes to an end, I realized that I learned so much throughout this experience. Before this trip , I really didn't know too much about Jamaica and its culture. Over the last ten days, I was given the task to be in the film group, in which we have been connecting with locals in the town of Falmouth and interviewing about the impacts of the port and cruise industry. This was the first thing that really helped me understand the lifestyle of the people who lived there. I learned from each interview that the locals were very excited when the first ship docked and there was a huge festivity. Many people thought it would result in a huge influx of revenue for the community. What we found out, however, was that the port has its own shopping center, entertainment, restaurants; basically everything a tourist needs. This is the reason why many of the merchants in town don't make the money they're hoping for. I found this interesting because Royal Caribbean promised

before During our stay in Jamaica, the restoration group has been working to restore an old house in Falmouth. Three generations live in the house. One of the children living in the house even helped us paint the house. We had three men helping us restore the house. Kamar was the main guy that helped us. He was there every day, and he helped us with every part of the restoration. Mr. Hamilton brought all the supplies we needed, and he helped us with painting and repairing parts of the house. Edz helped us repair cracks in the house using cement, and he also helped paint. We started by painting the front of the house. The work on the front of the house was the most tedious because we had to do multiple coats to make sure there were no spots missing paint. After we painted the front of the house we moved on to painting the walls. The color we used for the walls was a nice bright blue. Painting the walls was a lot easier than painting the front, because we got to use paint roller

As our time in Jamaica comes to an end, I feel that reflecting on the work we have done is important. I truly feel like I know so much more about Jamaican culture and the town of Falmouth than I ever would have without such an experience. As a part of the film group I was able to form connections with the people of Falmouth through our interviews and get to know how the port and the cruise industry affects them. My task was to research the cruise industry for reference in our film. In my research I found that the cruise industry is the fastest growing leisure travel industry, with 27 million passengers in the year 2018. Each cruise line almost always operates at 100% capacity. A medium sized cruise liner carrying around 4,000 passengers brings in an average of $600,000 per visit per port. In the case of Falmouth this money gets diluted as it is spent in the port which is not part of Falmouth, maki ng tourism less profitable for Falmouth. This is relevant to our film because our topic

Anna K, Jordan, Alex, and Isabelle film one of their final interviews with a fruit vendor in Water Square. Jordan smiles with the bird he saved while the film group continues editing the film. Anna T. works on recording information from the shovel test pit she is excavating.   Leon, Tyler, and Dr. Connolley start digging a new STP before Tyler breaks the shovel. The restoration group gets some local ice cream to celebrate their finished project! Blake, Charlie, Ashwin, and Dr. Q pose for a picture with the family who owns the house they have beautifully restored.