Off to a good start.
The few days before I went back to school were pretty brilliant. I went back to VA a few days early to hang out at my roommate's house with another friend of ours and go have DC History Adventures. We ran around all over Washington and saw giant ferns and Soviet spacecraft and totem poles and a giant metal spider. We also met up with spastic_visions for pizza, which was a good time as always. Unfortunately that was the only day we could get into the city, but we checked out Quantico and the National Museum of the Marine Corps as well as Old Town Fredericksburg, which is just gorgeous. Tea shops and book shops and little curiosity stores were everywhere, and we met a South African Mastiff in a cafe. I certainly wouldn't mind living there at all.
I'm back now, with a VERY full course load (depending on how the research and magazine stuff works out, I'll be taking anywhere from 17 to 23 credits, holy crap), but very much looking forward to this semester. All my classes are going to be fun and are things that I'm good at. My professors are all on a sliding scale from inoffensive to really freakin' cool. Also, somehow none of my classes start before noon. #winning
OH. Apparently there was no need to fret over not being involved with sciencey stuff once I dropped the Wildlife major, because a friend of a friend in the department knew a doctoral student who needed an assistant when it came to cataloging data he'd collected from Madagascar. A few days ago I got an email asking if I was interested in this research project and if I wanted to participate -- apparently I'm one of the only undergrads with the required skill set already in place and came highly recommended from my former prof (thank you, Red Knot Project) and so I jumped all over it. Long story short, I get to spend the next few months analyzing camera trap data from the Malagasy Rainforest and identifying fossas and lemurs and other freakish and wonderful animals. Basically this means squinting at blurry pictures of creatures running through the darkened jungle and entering their species and condition into a massive spreadsheet, BUT STILL. SCIENCE. AND -- THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING PART -- BECAUSE OF THE WORK REQUIRED, I'LL BE NAMED AS A CO-AUTHOR OF THE EVENTUAL PUBLICATION. AHSDKAJSDHKASDHJ. Seriously, getting published as an undergrad? Holy shit. I meet with the rest of the research team on Friday, I'll keep you updated.
I'm back now, with a VERY full course load (depending on how the research and magazine stuff works out, I'll be taking anywhere from 17 to 23 credits, holy crap), but very much looking forward to this semester. All my classes are going to be fun and are things that I'm good at. My professors are all on a sliding scale from inoffensive to really freakin' cool. Also, somehow none of my classes start before noon. #winning
OH. Apparently there was no need to fret over not being involved with sciencey stuff once I dropped the Wildlife major, because a friend of a friend in the department knew a doctoral student who needed an assistant when it came to cataloging data he'd collected from Madagascar. A few days ago I got an email asking if I was interested in this research project and if I wanted to participate -- apparently I'm one of the only undergrads with the required skill set already in place and came highly recommended from my former prof (thank you, Red Knot Project) and so I jumped all over it. Long story short, I get to spend the next few months analyzing camera trap data from the Malagasy Rainforest and identifying fossas and lemurs and other freakish and wonderful animals. Basically this means squinting at blurry pictures of creatures running through the darkened jungle and entering their species and condition into a massive spreadsheet, BUT STILL. SCIENCE. AND -- THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING PART -- BECAUSE OF THE WORK REQUIRED, I'LL BE NAMED AS A CO-AUTHOR OF THE EVENTUAL PUBLICATION. AHSDKAJSDHKASDHJ. Seriously, getting published as an undergrad? Holy shit. I meet with the rest of the research team on Friday, I'll keep you updated.