Trying to spot the silver lining.

So I made it through tests, finals, and papers and emerged with fairly good grades and a lot of relief. My first big hurdle I had to overcome at the start of this summer was moving into my new apartment. I live in Greenville, which is close enough to home that I can get home if I needed to, but far enough away that it is a little inconvenient to make the drive (for me, or for others). I have been here for a little over a week, and it has been an experience. Due to my upbringing, I already knew how to cook, how to budget money, how to do laundry, and mostly everything required to be independent. I did buy a few things for the first time like stamps, envelopes, tape, and household things like that. I was NOT, however, prepared to feel the isolation. When planning out things, I generally neglect to think through the negative side of things, and I never that about how isolated I would be. Greenville has turned into a ghost town since the semester has ended and mostly everyone has gone home for the summer. I have never lived on my own, so it is weird to not have someone always around. It was a little hard at first, but it is gradually getting a little better. I do have friends here, but they are busy or have children and lives of their own, so I need to keep myself entertained. I work 20 hours a week at the school, but it is a very independent job with little to no supervision or corroboration with others. I feel pretty confident that things will start to look up when I start my internship in a few weeks, though. People will also be coming back to the college to start doing their research.

I can tell I am growing up. I am doing what is best for my future, when I would MUCH rather be home goofing off and squandering time with my friends. Growing up is not a fun process, though.

Well it has been about a month since my last post. SOOOO much has happened that I think it is time for an update.

1. First off, most of my time has been devoted to keeping those grades up and getting through this semester.

2. My next major concern for the past few weeks was trying to get approved to live off campus next year. At Greenville this is an EXTREMELY hard task, and it took a lot of arguing, a few mistakes, and a lot of pushing on my part but it got done. So that makes it official! In the next few weeks I am going to start cleaning out my new apartment and moving things in, and by this time next month I will be moving in! This is going to be the start of a very big stage in my life and I couldn't be more nervous or excited!

3. I decided that I am going to apply to 5 graduate schools. This is a nice round number and ensures that if I don't get into one I could still possibly have somewhere to go that works for me. At the moment I have Illinois State University, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, and Florida Atlantic University on my list. All of these schools offer a different subject of research that could be good for me; birds, primates, hyenas, and dolphins. I still have a long time to decide what is best for me, but it's nice to get a head start.

Graduate School Madness

I have always planned on going to graduate school. I am only a Junior, but I figured you couldn't start preparing too soon, so over Spring Break me and David made a trip to Illinois State University. I spent a day talking to people about graduate school, and Dave spent the next day talking to a transfer specialist and touring the Center for Visual Arts. We both learned alot!

The question everyone I met with was, "How can I make myself stand out above the hundreds of applicants that apply?"

drumroll please.........
1. Keep a high GPA.
2. Score over 1200 on my GRE
3. Be a TA if I can at Greenville
4. Do a couple of internships
5. Do undergraduate research
6. If possible, get research published in a Scientifc Journal
7. Apply on-time/a little early

sigh, that is a lot to keep in mind! I have one year to prepare, wish me luck!!

my first summer on my own!

So far this semester, I have been super busy and stressed planning out how to spend my summer. I was really REALLY interested in doing an internship, and I knew that I had to somehow get paid this summer. Well, I applied for 3 internships and got 2 of them! That is pretty huge for me! so let me layout exactly what I am going to be doing this summer:

I'm staying in Greenville all summer. 20-30 hours a week I will be working in Snyder. I will be feeding the current animals we have and doing basic research on their natural habitats and care. Over the course of the summer I will also be finishing a major freshwater tank, researching and introducing new animals, working on 2-3 nature trails we want to introduce, and basically anything anyone asks me to do. This is an internship, but is also flexible enough that I can control my own hours and projects.

for the entire summer, every Tuesday and Thursday I will be going to St. Louis to the World Aquarium from 10:30am-6pm. There I will be doing behavioral research, which is want I want to do for my career! Hopefully, at the end of the summer, I will be able to publish my research in a Scientific Journal.

Through all of this, I am taking a summer class for part of summer and also studying and practicing to take my GRE.

Because I will be in Greenville all summer, I found an apartment to live in for the summer and all of the school year. I'm finally out on my own!

This all may sound like a lot, but I am ready for it!

=]

stress, planarian, the best cat ever, and a riddle

It has been awhile since my first ever blog. What has been going on with me? Well, let's just say I have been up to my eyeballs in Chemistry, Zoology, Biology, and working at the Bond County Humane Society. The life I have built for myself does not seem to be an easy going one, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Although my high stress is likely to lead to some sort of disorder in the future such as taking too many naps, not sleeping at all, or living as a hermit for the rest of my days.

I have so many thoughts I would like to share on here, but to think them through and type them out would take so much of my time that I cannot spare right now. So this means that you are stuck with my boring daily life. Good news! I got two Planarian from the lab we did in Bio. I left them here one weekend, came back, and there was a new one in the petri dish! Yes, my planarian's tail fell off then grew into a new planarian! I know this may cause you some jealousy, but its ok. Also, my dad adopted my favorite cat from the Humane Society. She is a special needs cat that had slim chances of ever finding a home, but my dad fell in love with her and took her home! Well, I will leave you with a lame chemistry riddle:


Q. Which would dissolve best in water? A brown bear, white bear, or black bear?




A. The white bear because it is polar!!!!!!!!!!!!!



=]

The first, but not the last.

So I finally caved and got a blog. Basically, I have learned so much about my self since I have moved away to college in the fall of 2009. I have had to reevaluate and strenghten my beliefs; I guess this is what growing up looks like. Now, I have this blog so I can get these things out of my crowded head and onto something I can flip through later. If only I had a real Pensieve! So now you get to read through everything from my educated beliefs on Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, my daily adventures at the Humane Society, and my nerd-ness to my newfound thoughts, my beliefs about love, and other random things. This is going to be the one place I don't sensor myself or my thoughts. So, good luck and hold on for the ride!