My apologies—I had a really busy last few weeks (and was actually sick for the last one as well). It’s been… what? 3 weeks? 4 weeks?
Well, not much has been going on with the leatherback project—I’ve tagged, measured, and drawn blood on the females and helped to excavate a nest from the North Friar’s beach with Dr. Stewart. It’s very frustrating being on nest excavations on that beach—you find where the nest could potentially be and start digging down about 3 feet… only to shift your weight to get deeper into the pit and cause it all to cave back in. It took us almost 2 hours to get one nest excavated and get the eggs counted. We found 4 hatchlings along the way, but it’s almost a very disheartening job. I once heard that only 20% of the eggs laid actually hatch, and of those that don’t, they develop about halfway. However, releasing the 4 that we found was rewarding enough that it gave us motivation to keep going for the night. I really hope our efforts will make a difference for this species—they’re amazing animals to work with.
Robert, one of my firsties (that’s what we call the newbies down here) had a birthday mid-June, so we planned a surprise birthday party for him at Rock Lobster. The way I figure it, you really can’t plan “surprise” birthday parties beyond the first one of new semester—they all expect it beyond that point. ;) We went all out—party hats, leis, a birthday crown for him, etc. I tried a new cake decorating technique using stencils and buttercream icing—it came out mostly alright… I’ll be working on it, but it makes for something more personal on the cakes. Bonnie got him toilet paper as a gift in the meantime, but we all pitched in on a video game gift for him. Delicious food, free sangria, cake, and laughs at the restaurant, and then we went on to the casino at the Marriott. Karim was the only one that won anything, but it was a good night overall.
Midsemester break weekend! One day off meant I got to go home for a long weekend. You don’t realize how much you miss things like Wendy’s or Target until you go back into them after 6 months. I went out to dinner with my family at a sushi buffet and had some of my dad’s French toast for breakfast the next morning… got some shopping in (I needed new sneakers and jeans BADLY) and went to Rachel’s wedding. She made a beautiful bride and she and Jon looked so happy together. It was really nice to see them again and to spend a weekend with my friends and family back home. Wasn’t too long that I got sick of everything, but wasn’t long enough just yet either. Just gotta make it through to December now!I think I got sick while in transit back down here—so I spent most of a week going to class and then sleeping. I literally did NOTHING but sleep. It was pretty bad. Luckily, it was just a cold, so I’m pretty much over it by now. (Hooray for amazing immune systems that you develop while working with children!)
P.A.W.S. had another adoption day—brings our total to 25 for the semester so far. Woo! I also had the volunteer feeder for the campus tortoises visit me at the adoption day with 4 hatchling red-footed tortoises. They’re currently under the care of Dr. Stewart, but they’re SO adorable.
Volleyball has been going REALLY well this semester so far. We're 4 wins/2 losses as of right now. :) I think our new team shirts brought us some luck. I'll have to get some team pictures this week.
Some of us got some fireworks and we had a little impromptu firework show last night in celebration of the Fourth. Wasn’t perfect, but it was fun—especially watching Trent run out to stamp out anything that caught fire in the meantime. (Don’t worry—we did it all properly. We had a security escort and the proper permits and everything.) It’s nice to see so many of us students uniting to celebrate holidays to make things feel less like we’re isolated on this rock in the middle of the ocean.
Academically, this is still a tough semester. I may be repeating the term, but it doesn’t make immunology any easier. Dr. Gyimah is SO detail-oriented that it’s impossible to predict what will be on his exams. I’m still not doing so well, but I’ve gotten better grades than I did last term at least! There’s so much information that you don’t get the first time around that makes a lot more sense the second time. It’s pretty overwhelming at times. Not to mention, walking dogs during a week you have 2 exams is NOT a very helpful thing either--you wake up at 6:00am, go and walk 3-4 dogs (which takes about an hour), go to class, do it again in the afternoon, go home, shower/eat/take care of your own pets, and sleep. Then you do it all over again. You have virtually no energy to study. :(
And one last picture for you guys: Dr. Walker dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow for the pink class' win of the most money raised for the Josh Project. ;)
Well, I think that should be enough of an update to satisfy you faithful readers. :P Until next time!
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