Today was relaxing--I woke up, talked to Jon, and went to brunch (fantastic as usual). I then ran to lab fast, and met with friends at noon to drive to Cattle Point. Three of my friends here this year have cars, which is quite novel. Hannah, Tanya, Kristen, Daniel and myself all packed into Hannah's little car and drove to Cattle Point. We had a lovely walk around the area, enjoying the beautiful views from the headlands. It was fantastic just to be able to chat and enjoy the beautiful views the island has to offer. After our walk, we headed [View Full Entry]

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I've been super busy! Work is long and I've put many hours in, but I love what I do. ^__^ The first week out at Friday Harbor Labs was nuts--I basically arrived for the best low tides of the year, so I spent the first week working my tail off. Looking back, however, it's amazing to see how much I really got done in that time period! I did predator surveys at three different sites, set up choice experiments, and was working on lots of stuff having to do with the predators of the snails I study. The second week was [View Full Entry]

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What a nuts week of travel! I've spend more time traveling in this past week than I have in a good long time. Plane from lovely Brisbane to Los Angeles, to Boston (30 hours of travel there, not including driving time back to Jon's apartment, at least another hour and a half). Not a bad flight--I managed to sleep most of it, and had enough time between flights in LAX (even though my luggage was just about the last out of the plane, with Suzi's bags, and I had to perform the great baggage shuffle, making things at weight for travel [View Full Entry]

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What a fantastic night! I'm blogging on Sunday evening, and I can't believe it was only yesterday that Nell, Trent and Katy left, and just this morning that Casey left with Melissa... I'm the last of the 'X-Men' to be here at IH. :( I finished my genetics final on Friday morning, much to my relief. It was a big exam--60% of my marks (eep!). The test was held in a huge room (the Exhibition Hall), and I had a slight heart attack before the test. I went to the building I thought my exam was in, only to not be [View Full Entry]

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I don't even want to think about it. Pipes made me cry a little afterwords--the guy who teaches me (who is extremely gruff but really nice enough...) told me that I'd come a long way since I started not so long ago. He told me that I had to find a teacher in the States because I was leaving just as I was getting somewhere. Duncan doesn't give compliments easily, and told me to keep my chanter and practice heaps. I was very sad, and went back and cried on Nell's shoulder a little (sorry Nell... I don't even want to [View Full Entry]

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Today I was going to give up studying Genetics and enjoy myself... I was going to go to the rainforest! I hitched a ride into the city with Casey. We managed to find the hotel where Bushwackers leaves from without trouble. I called home to wish Dad Happy Father's Day, and then ate my brekkie (fruit and cereal--yum!). I met up with two other ladies who were going on the same tour and waited for the Bushwacker's bus to come pick us up. (Funny enough, the guy who gave us our tour of the rainforest was the same fellow, Matt, from [View Full Entry]

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Whew! I'm a little exhausted... Taking five classes is not really a problem, until it comes to finals. I always seem to forget that part, and am continually taking 5 classes at a clip each semester. You'd think I'd learn. However, UQ is really nice in that you've got a study week to prepare for finals. I was initially hoping to get lots of travel done during SWOT-VAC, but no such luck. I figured I couldn't well go off on holiday having to write three major papers and prepare for two exams. I wrote lots during my study week. I was [View Full Entry]

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The most exciting things that we did this week were discover the goodness of Greek Yoghurt (yum, caramel, or lemon sorbet, or passionfruit yoghurt, anyone? Yummm), and go to the Australian (‘Steve Irwin’) Zoo. I ended up not going to MARS on Thursday (and evidently missed nothing), because Jon, myself, Katy and Keith ended up catching a bus and a train to the zoo! It was a little harrowing, because the bus was making a million stops we thought we’d missed the train at Toowong and would have to wait at least an hour for the next one. Fortunately, however, we [View Full Entry]

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After arriving late into Sydney and catching a taxi to our hotel (Legend Has It, formerly known as Footprints), we collapsed. Jon was at first skeptical of the room, which was literally a bed and a microscopic bathroom. We both ended up agreeing that the room was better than the one in Cairns, however—it was extremely quiet and very dark, perfect for getting lots of good sleep. Additionally, if any parties were going on, we certainly didn’t hear them… We got up early the next morning and went on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of Sydney and Bondi. We planned where [View Full Entry]

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We caught a late flight to Cairns from Brisbane Airport, having had no trouble at all getting through security, etc. in Brisbane. We sat next to a fellow who worked on patents and environmental conservation, and who was keen to talk to Jon. We got a shuttle from the airport to our hotel, and were dropped off across the street from Gilligan’s Backpackers. We had to wait *forever* at check-in, and Jon was getting slightly exasperated by the slow desk clerks and the loud party at the bar attached to Gilligan’s across from reception. We finally check in and collapsed in [View Full Entry]

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