life's a lot to think about, sometimes

mi corazón se enamora

2009-03-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

i'm way behind in blogging... but as the quarter comes to a close things are getting busier and busier. the weekend before last i went to rome with a bunch of girlfriends from madrid and my friend kyle, who's currently in the berlin program. we spent the weekend seeing the famous sites and eating lots of pizza, pasta, and gelato.

after climbing the 535 steps to the cupola at the top of st. peter's basilica, we followed the scent of cedar back into the main cavity where i attend the only church service i've been to in europe - in st. peter's! not a bad place to get some church time. even though it was in italian and so i really didn't know what they were saying. i did catch onto the part about paz (or whatever it is in italian) and managed to pass some peace to my friends, just the same as we do in the states :)

the next day we sent alex off on her own to find the pope while the rest of us explore the pantheon and surrounding neighborhoods. i was so proud of alex for finding her own way with her newly studied map reading skills! she's so capable when she's determined enough to do something!

then came dead week with lots of papers and presentations. not much to say there. but this last weekend gave me a nice break from the chaos as i flew to the canary islands with jessica and amy. we spent a ton of time on the beach near our hostel in las palmas on gran canaria. saturday we went to the south side of the island and rode some camels over the sand dunes - it was pretty amazing! then we caught a bus up the mountain to the pico y caldera de bandama. we first climbed a little ways up the volcan (volcano) surrounded by cacti, lizards, and lava rocks. then we hiked down into the caldera (crater) left by the adjacent volcano. it was a beautiful scoop out of the earth with sharp rocky sides and greenery growing all around - more cacti, grass, and even some trees. there was actually a tiny farm at the bottom of the giant pit. it was really really cool!

finally we returned to las palmas and spent the evening walking along the beach. it was almost completely abandoned. we watched the sun set as we crawled the tide pools looking for creatures. we found the small bottom dwelling fish whose names i can't remember, several different species of sea stars, lots of barnacles and limpets, a crab, and jessica found a nudibranch! the only i've seen in the wild! it was definitely the find of the evening. it was a little hard to convince my friends it was soft and squishy since it just looked like a spiky stick in the darkness, but eventually we all petted it before it crawled back into it's little cave. so awesome!

the next morning we went to the beach and only laid out for a couple minutes before we decided it would be more fun to get in the water - it was so warm anyway! jessica and i went swimming, and following the theme of some older women around us, decided to try the whole "topless beach" idea. then realizing there was no one around, we thought "why not" and finished the job with some brief skinny dipping. a fish swam by, but other than that there were no spectators.

we went to our favorite italian restaurant for lunch (all we ate was mexican, italian, and chinese food all weekend) and finished with some helado (gelato/ice cream depending on your language of preference). we watched the waves crash over the rocks as the sunday afternoon beach filled with families. there was even some kind of paddle ball tournament in the sand.

finally we made our way to the airport to return to madrid for finals week. my ipod ran out of battery about 3 minutes into the flight, but it was ok because i happened to be sitting in the middle of about half of the navalcarnero futbol team! the guys kept me chatting and laughing for the rest of the 2.5 hour flight - talking about soccer, the usa, english/spanish (a couple of them new a few words of english), and looking through my ridiculous pictures. they liked the camels the best. it was fun to have a chance to practice my spanish with such friendly and attractive young guys...

yesterday my flamenco class had our final performance - success! i remembered all the steps! it was so much fun, the skirts are just great. unfortunately only one of our classmates showed up to watch (along with one host mom, a boyfriend, and the 3 staff members) so we decided to redo the show tomorrow night at Bing dinner for the rest of our lazy "friends" (you can tell my opinion of most of the people in the program could be a lot better) it's neat to get a second chance to perform though, especially since we've been working so hard all quarter! tomorrow i have my last final and then i have a 10 page paper due by friday, but i want to get it done tomorrow so i can enjoy my final trip here - to valencia for the crazy las fallas festival! it's a huge fireworks party on the beach celebrating valencia's patron saint, San Jose. so i guess that means i should really get on that paper. can't wait to see you all in the next week or two!

os quiero!

pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178471&id=220245&l=fbae5a484c

i'm gonna let it shine

2009-02-23T03:52:00.000-08:00

wow - it has been a busy week! i started off monday with some studying for "midterm season" (which here consisted of one hour-and-a-half long spanish test) before meeting manuel, my language exchange buddy, for our first charla (chat). he was nice and we had fun talking about music and traveling. hopefully i'll get to see him again soon!

tuesday was the midterm and it was quite easy, as stanford spanish tests tend to be. then for lunch a group of us went to hare krishna, a buddhist monastery that shares their large-portioned vegetarian lunches with the public. for just 5 euros we had huge plates full of salad (with avocado!), fried eggplant, a delicious vegetable medley, brown rice, and apple tarts. we topped it off with a couple glasses of this lemonade flavored tea. it was awesome! i also enjoyed the pre-dining meditation - we got their early so i got to sit in on some chanting. it was really energetic and different than tassajara, but still awesome. then they concluded by explaining a little bit about their religious practices, particularly their chanting to krishna, all in spanish! it was quite an experience, and really made me miss monterey :)

wednesday wasn't super exciting, except that i got my grant proposal in, which is nice. now i've completed all of my bazillion applications for this season except for soco, which is no big deal because, knowing stuart, it has absolutely no bearing on whether or not he chooses me to be an ra.

thursday was busy, but fun mostly because it led to friday - the first day of our bing trip! we traveled west to extremadura, the region of spain closest to portugal. first we went to a monastery/castle - home of carlos I and later filipe II (his son). next we drove through the Parque Nacional de Monfragüe (it would have been a lot better to be walking) and stopping to walk a little bit down the road to view some birds. we saw lots of cigüeñas (storks) and buitres (vultures). it was interesting, but not really what i would have called a "nature experience" like they were claiming. i guess for the people walking down the road in heels it was...

which brings me to a little side note: there are several social groups here, and if you don't let them get to you, they are quite entertaining to observe. the most interesting is one we call the "pink ladies", despite the fact that they usually don't wear pink - even though they claim it's their favorite color. last night my friends and i were eating dinner at a picnic table and four or these girls came up started talking to us. it was totally like a scene out of grease where the popular girls start talking to the nice, smart kids for no apparent reason, then critique their food. a couple of them asked me what i was eating. when i replied a spinach and cheese crepe, they got all excited, only to complain about how disgusting it was when they realized it was creamed spinach, not fresh. another thing i find quite entertaining is that these girls were leggings as pants. now, i think leggings are a lovely addition to any outfit, but should definitely be worn with a skirt, shorts, or even under jeans for warmth. these girls wear nothing else but some sort of high fashion sweater and jewel-studded sunglasses that cover half of their faces. i can only assume they are trying to draw attention to their highly exposed buns as they saunter down the street.

anyway, back to adventures...

from the park we went to a farm where we had to get off the bus and chase cows off the road before we could get to the actual premises. there we found lots of black-hooved pigs, the specialty of the area. we saw all of the adorable little piglets running around trying to find their mothers for some milk. the constant motion of tiny hooves and swirling tails was so cute. then they took us inside and showed us how delicious these little piglets can be! even if i weren't vegetarian, i don't think i could have eaten them after seeing them squealing in the mud, but i suppose it is important to know where your food comes from.

during this farm adventure i made friends with our visiting professor's kids, two 4-year-old twin boys. they are the sweetest kids ever. they sat in front of me on the bus and i told them the purple pumpkin story as we drove to our hotel. all of this in spanish of course! it is a little intimidating to hear 4 year olds correcting my spanish (and laughing at me when i make mistakes) but i still love them. we arrived at our hotel in yuste - charles v's castle in the countryside. we really did spend the night in a castle! it was beautiful, complete with orange trees around the walls and storks on top. spaniards love their castle - i think i counted 6, mostly in ruins, on the drive in.

the next day we traveled to mérida. formerly known as augusta emertia (where maximus/russell crowe is from in the movie gladiator), it was one of the principal cities of the roman empire at its peak. we walked through the ruins of the theater and antitheater (where they had the lion fights) before heading to our hotel. it wasn't a castle, but it was still extremely beautiful and somewhat resembled the alhambra. the bings really know how to travel. after a large lunch we had a free afternoon. those of us that are actually interested in things other than getting wasted and partying (or running like 5 times a day *ahem - pink ladies*) went to visit the reservoir. driving there reminded me of my long drives with ward on the little roads of colorado to get to our field site this summer. it was a beautiful hilly countryside with a few trees, rabbits, and birds. i can imagine it filled with butterflies a little later in the season. we arrived at what appeared to be a large lake, climbed on the walls around it, and had rock-skipping contests (which i totally dominated thanks to dad and a few trips to yosemite). then we decided to see who could throw a rock the farthest. jordan did really well with a nice crow-hop, and we all kept launching rocks until we saw one land about twice as far as any of ours. then we turned around to see jerome and realized we can't really compete with our quarterback...

we took some more pictures and headed back to the city to see the ruins of the roman aqueduct, complete with many stork nests and mothers guarding their eggs. we watched the sun set as we walked back to the hotel. most people wanted to rest some before dinner, but jessica and i decided to continue on to see the museum of roman ruins. we went with our guide isidro, alycia (my louisvillian friend!) and renata, so there were more staff members than students. it was a nice private tour with the chance to look at and talk about exactly what we wanted to see. we saw the ruins of a roman house, several frescos and tiled-murals, coins, jewelry (which would still be in fashion today), and lots of statues.

finally we retired to the hotel to get dressed in our carnaval outfits (it was the first night!) and head out for dinner. the scene was a cross between halloween and a mediaeval art fair. there were boths with food and pastries (i got a baked potato!) and lots of little crafts for sale. kids were running around everywhere in halloween costumes. around midnight, just as i was heading to bed, a concert started in the square right outside my window. i fell asleep to what sounded a lot like rock songs from the 1950s.

sunday, the final day of the trip, we traveled first to cáceres. there we walked tiny sloped streets between the houses of the noble families, which weren't far off from castles. after lunch on our own we continued our journey to trujillo where we climbed the tower of the church of Saint Mary where nobles were buried. after viewing the city we walked up another street to the castle-fortress set on the edge of the old city for protection. we walked its walls as night guards would have done, taking pictures in every tower. finally we retired to the bus where most people slept through the 4.5 hour journey home. it was a great trip!

check out the pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175148&id=220245&l=ffa4d

pay my respects to grace and virtue

2009-02-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

greece was incredible! our plane was late arriving on friday, but people were friendly on the metro and with a little help we made it to our hostel before dinnertime. as we set out in search of a restaurant, we saw a wall with some columns peeking out of the top up on a hill. someone wondered if there were some kind of ruins, but we were too tired and hungry to investigate. my friends ate the traditional mousaka while i had roasted red and green peppers stuffed with seasoned rice. we also shared a greek salad, which was delicious. we topped it off with baklava, which is way better in greece than anything you can find in america. then we went back to our apartment-style hostel and watched a little greek tv. we found a sherlock holmes movie in english with greek subtitles, so we actually understood what was going on!

the next day we woke up at 7 (6 spanish time) and walked over the the main office to eat before setting off to explore the ruins. at breakfast we met several other hostel residents including an exchange student from brazil living in paris, two from illinois living in salamanca, and a guy from san luis obispo. there was also a guy from canada who, like us, was only staying two days. when i mentioned that was a long trip, he clarified that he was actually on a larger trip around europe, but that still made the whole room laugh. after our toast with marmalade and nutella, we set out for the acropolis, only to discover alex's batteries were out of charge. we picked up some postcards while we waited for her to run back to the room, only to discover her other batteries only lasted about 3 pictures. (rechargeable batteries eventually die out after several years...) anyway, we wound around the acropolis looking and tons of partial columns and two ancient theaters, one restored and one still in ruins. they were really neat. it's amazing to try to imagine how the greeks built all of these things! then again, they probably had some strong men... being that it was valentine's day and we were a group of 5 girls, 4 of us single, we very much enjoyed all of the good-looking greek men, of which there were quite a few...

we finally made it to the top and climbed through some more columns to make it to the parthenon! unfortunately it was under restoration, so there was a lot of machinery blocking the view, but we still enjoyed the site. hundreds of pictures later, the five of us set off to go down the hill, walking around another, smaller, temple on the way down. then, since i was in the lead, we off-trailed a little bit and ended up on a pleasant hike down the hill complete with lots of trees and several strange piles of caterpillars on the path. not sure why they were there...

we found ourselves at the entrance to the greek agora - the marketplace if i remember my hata correctly. we explored the old church, climbed some trees, wandered around ruins labeled as the former locations of a prison, several temples, bathhouses, and other important buildings in the center of the city. it was so beautiful because not only are the ruins pretty, but it was all in the midst of trees and clovers sprouting up everywhere. it was refreshing to see so much green! after a quick walk through the agora museum, we found some lunch nearby. i had baked eggplant with feta cheese and a tomato and cucumber salad. the street vendors kept coming up to our little outdoor table offering things like flowers, flashlights, umbrellas, balloons, and sunglass. we also had a little boy (6 or 7 maybe) come up and start playing a tiny guitar-like instrument. later we were serenaded by what appeared to be the greek version of a mariachi band. catherine was elated!

we wandered through more of europe's narrow streets and found ourselves in plaka, the cute shopping districts my dad's friend had suggested. it was fun looking in the stores and finding souvenirs. we eventually wandered back to our hotel to drop things off before attempting to head to the seaside. this was an adventure...

we got on the metro only to end up going the wrong way, then back to where we started. everyone was staring at us like we were clueless americans, and it turned out we were. the metro was under construction. so we went out side and after some trouble got on a very crowded bus. we were worried about finding the right stop, but fortunately the nice woman next to us (pressing against my back as jessica and catherine smushed into my front) let us know when we were there. we took the metro the rest of the was to the mediterranean sea, only to discover that it was too late to catch a boat to one of the charming islands. we instead got directions to a beach and attempted to walk there. using landmarks and street signs, written in greek of course, with our map that was not in greek, we eventually found our way to this so-called beach. thank goodness i took physics in high school, only for the purpose of learning the names of some of those letters, which allowed us to try to match the symbols to the names we had on our map. the words "it's all greek to me" were definitely uttered more than once. the "beach" was actually a port with no sign of a coastline. when we asked the barista in starbucks, she assured us we were where we were trying to go, but there we no beaches around there. so we got some coffee to warm up and made our way back to the metro station in time to watch the sun set over a collection of very large cruise ships. finding our way back was much easier and we made it to the hostel with a few minutes to rest before heading out for dinner.

we ate at a place that was more italian than greek, but the food was still good. they also had someone playing the piano, and all of the tunes were familiar musical songs like edelweiss (sound of music) and maria (west side story). after dinner we decided to go for a walk and ended up at the parliament building at 11, just in time to see the changing of the guards! it was quite impressive in a ridiculous kind of way. their outfits (like all european guards i have seen) looked more fitted for clowns than government officials, complete with giant pompoms on the elf-like pointed tap shoes. they performed an interesting march - like synchronized swimming without water, slowing lifting their legs in unison before sweeping their feet on the ground and stopping their pompomed-tap shoes. finally they took their positions and a few of the tourists standing around ran up to take pictures with them. after seeing that they didn't get shot, we decided to do the same. satisfied with a very complete day, we headed back to our hotel for about 3 hours of sleep before heading back to the airport. it was an insane 48 hours, but totally worth it. i would love to go back when i have more time! gotta get to one of those islands someday...

now it's four more days of a school (and one spanish midterm) before we set off for our bing trip to extremadura, the region of spain nearest portugal. there are rumors that we are going to a pig farm to learn about the ham culture. should be interesting...

pics are up on facebook! (link at the top of this page on the right -->)

que mi alma no descanse

2009-02-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

wow, so much to catch up on! sorry i'm a little behind on the blog; things have been so busy here! last weekend mom and em came to visit me! i was so excited i got to the airport like an hour before they did, but it was worth the wait! that night we went out for an authentic dinner of tortilla espanola (potato omlette), paella, and churros con chocolate. ¡que rico!

friday we went to toledo for the day. we went inside the giant cathedral and spent over an hour looking at everything there was to see. between mom's theological knowledge, em's historical knowledge, and my spanish, we could figure out everything! it was really neat. we spent the rest of the day trying to keep up with mom and we explored the ancient spanish city. it was the capital for a long time before madrid! we ended the day with a sampling of mazapan, the delicious almond sweet that is something like cookie-dough.

saturday and sunday we hung around madrid, seeing museums and walking in the park. we actually spent the majority of our time in this amazing vegetarian restaurant we found close to the hotel. we ended up eating there 3 times in 48 hours! it was so nice to see mom and em and get a little break from having to keep myself up here. i could just let down with them in the hotel room with our delicious greek yogurt that we kept on our balcony (aka refrigerator).

last night i went back to the same vegetarian restaurant with melissa and catherine. it was a fun girls night filled with yummy food, tasty sangria, and lots of laughs. this morning we got to school at 9am to head to el escorial, king filipe II's summer palace in the mountains. we saw the relatively modest living quarters and the pantheon that contains the tombs of almost all of the Catholic monarchs of spain. there is also a separate mausoleum for the children who were never rulers and the queens that did not produce children that were rulers. it was very interesting.

meanwhile the blizzard was raving outside as we were north of madrid and in the mountains, so it was quite cold. afterwards we went to el valle de los caidos, the memorial to the civil war and the site where franco is buried, but it was closed due to snow. it wasn't a complete loss though. watching the snow dust everything outside was so beautiful! the landscape reminded me of kentucky, specifically of gesthemany - i was actually missing the session retreats... there were even horses! and as we drove away we could faintly see the giant cross against the mountain through the swirling snow and fog.

tonight we're going to go to a tango show and then hopefully go salsa dancing! the weekends here are always so full of exciting adventures! tomorrow is the real madrid futbol game! it's going to be really awesome, if it's not too cold!

te quiero y te extrano!

como locas por la vida

2009-01-26T03:24:00.000-08:00

this weekend was awesome!

friday for catherine's 21st birthday we went to the zoo! i loved seeing all the animals and letting the ecology geek inside of me come and and tell my friends all about the creatures we encountered. we saw a dolphin show, a sea lion show, and animals from all over the world (including flamingo, kangaroos, koalas, pandas, tapers, and anteaters)! after that we went to the shopping district (gran vía) and hung out at starbucks for a while before heading to el cine to see revolutionary road (very good but very intense and sad). we went home to rest and grab dinner before heading out to get catherine her first 21-year-old drink! we ended up at a mexican bar and she sipped a margarita while i guzzled down my virgin strawberry daiquiri.

saturday we woke up early to catch a train to segovia. it was so beautiful! we walked under the ancient aqueduct, wandered through the plaza mayor and all around the gothic cathedral, and went to the alcázar, the castle and defense fortress. before going inside we climbed down the cliff it rests on to get a view of the front of this ship-shaped building. it was beautiful! this is probably my favorite castle. it is the model disney used for sleeping beauty's castle, which is the castle in disneyland!

we then climbed back up the cliff to enter the castle filled with murals, tapestries, and knights in shining armor! it was classic. then we climbed to the top of the tower (between segovia and all of the metro stations i think i did more stairs this day than in my entire life combined...) and got a beautiful view of the city and the countryside. it was a great trip.

sunday i stayed in my house all day, not even bothering with hair or makeup. it was so nice. i slept in till almost 12, ate, did homework, skyped my family, took at nap, did homework, ate, and went to bed. i really needed that day of rest...

now i've got a busy 4 days of school and work before emily and mom get here!!! i'm so excited to see them - it's going to be another great weekend :)

pics of all of these various adventures are now of facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2170626&l=8505a&id=220245

pasos de gigantes

2009-01-21T01:50:00.000-08:00

things in madrid are going well. i've finally settled on my classes - after testing out everything, i ended up with exactly what i thought i'd take before leaving the states. my spanish class is lots of busywork, but i suppose it's important. my flamenco class is a lot of fun, but much harder than it looks. bioethics is actually really interesting despite my slight fear of philosophy - i think it's going to be good to think about these things. the women in art class is great. there are only 4 of us in it, and the topics are fascinating. so far we've compared Eve and Mary as opposite figures.

last weekend i went to the parque del retiro with alex and we had fun walking through the beautiful nature and then paddling on the lake. later jessica and i went to a movie, which was a fun experience despite not liking the film much. it was a spanish movie that was pretty depressing, but supposedly it's a work of art here. then we went out for churros con chocolate - one of my favorite treats here! it's the same churros you can find around the US, but without cinnamon or sugar. instead their just plain, but you dip them in hot chocolate, which here is much thicker and richer than in the US, almost like a syrup.

the next day we went to the rastro, this big outdoor market/fair that happens every sunday. there were a lot of handmade crafts there for pretty good prices: scarfs or earrings for 2-3 euros, clothes, handbags, and other little trinkets. there is no bargaining, except with the gypsies over the price of a pair of underwear...

this week i'm having fun with my classes and just hanging out with friends. i really am enjoying my classes here, even the homework despite the fact that none of them have to do with my major. it's a nice break i guess. after classes today, alex, catherine, amy, and i went to find la biblioteca nacional (the national library). after an adventure getting lost on the metro (thanks to alex's directions) we found our way to the big, beautiful building. we could get in to any of the collections, but there was a neat museum showing the evolution of writing (from cuneiform and hieroglyphics to modern latin and asian languages). there were also artifacts of our evolving technology - from papyrus and handmade paper to flop discs, cds, and flash drives.

later we grabbed some tortilla española (spanish omelette - eggs with potato) and headed back for obama's inauguration - definitely the highlight of my day! we made our way from the school to a nearby hotel were "democrats abroad" was holding their viewing. we found ourselves in a room surrounded by people speaking english and eating popcorn and cheetos :P silly americans. it was awesome though! we got to watch the 44th president of the united states, the first african american president, the first president i voted for, and the president who promises to bring much-needed change to our country, take office.

although he stumbled over his oath (i hear thanks to an incorrect dictation by the chief justice) he delivered an inspiring speech. it was well written (sharing some rhetorical devices with MLKjr's "i have a dream" speech - thanks ms. seitz for making me remember that...) and spoke to everyone in the world, not just in america. it was really neat to watch it with some many other americans in madrid, doing the same thing i am.

for now i'm going to get some sleep before my flamenco class at 9 mañana. new pics are up on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2169074&l=41a25&id=220245

hasta luego!

pipiripipipi

2009-01-12T09:35:00.000-08:00

the title is from a song santi, our director, taught us one of our long bus rides. apparently it's a spanish classic!

over the weekend we stayed at what just might be the nicest hotel in spain. we're in the city of nerja, right on the mediterranean sea. today we had a class on the history of spain in the morning, then in the afternoon we had free time. i explored the small city with some friends, wandering the narrow streets surrounded by tall, white buildings. we met on the beach for a delicious lunch of authentic paella (they even made me a vegetarian one!) but not before splashing around the in the blue-green water at our feet. we climbed rocks, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the first day with weather warm enough not to have to wear a hat and gloves outside.

after lunch a few of us walked around the city a little bit more and found a new lookout on the sea with a nice view of our hotel. we returned for our afternoon culture class, which was a trip up in the mountains to the town of frigiliana, a pueblo blanco. it had more narrow streets and beautiful buildings that are now painted white to keep cool in the summer, but were originally covered in cal (lime from limestone). we climbed up the steep streets until we were above the city, then kept climbing until we were in a small, short forest on top of the mountain. we had a beautiful view of the city with the sun setting over the mountains around in and the mediterranean peeking through on one side. on the other side of our mountain were the sierra madres real, the mountain range in southern spain. que bonitas!

the next day we went to granada to visit the alhambra - the citadel, palace, mosque, church on a hill in the mountains. it was so beautiful! (pics are on facebook or the link to the right.) it was a great building originally built by the Muslims that entered spain from africa, but was later remodeled by the Christians after the inquisition. the buildings are amazing themselves, and they are surrounded by beautiful gardens. i think they might have been a little bit more beautiful in the spring or summer, but what we did see was still pretty neat.

granada, and all of andalucía for that matter, was long controlled by the Muslims and thus has a great african flavor. after the alhambra and a visit to the catedral, we had a free night to find our own dinner and explore the freezing cold city. alex, jessica, catherine, amy, and i found a small restaurant where we had the traditional tortillas españolas (potato omelets). afterwards we searched and searched for the flamenco bars we had heard about, but eventually the cold won over and we decided to call it a night.

Now we're in Madrid, living with our host families and taking classes and the Instituto Internacional. The classes are great so far, but I'm still trying to decide which ones to take. I got a huge green skirt to wear for my flamenco class! My host mother is very nice and makes delicious vegetarian food - even better than the restaurants we've been eating at (ok, some of them weren't hard to beat). She has 3 children, one of whom is 18 and still lives at home with us. She's a senior in high school, preparing to take their equivalent of the SATs (go Emily!) We also have a perrito (little dog - don't forget to roll the "r") named Nena, who miraculously I am not allergic to!

for now, we've got a few more orientation events - exploring old madrid tonight, and a tour of the prado museum tomorrow. my friends and i are trying to figure out where we want to travel on the weekends. if you have any suggestions or know cheap places to stay let us know! hope all is well with all of you :)

as the plane was touching down

2009-01-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

it's so weird to be writing in english! i've been speaking spanish with only rare english interruptions for the last day and a half, and already i'm improving a lot. right now we're on the bus, it's dark and rainy, and everyone is sleepy. in fact my should is serving as a rather uncomfortable pillow for alex right now.

yesterday i arrived at the madrid barajas airport to find that the people i was supposed to meet with to share a cab were not there, so i took a cab by myself. this wasn't a big deal, except that it was all in spanish and i really wasn't prepared for that. but it went fine. after a quick trip to the internet cafe to let my family know i was alive, i crashed in my hotel room for a 2 hour nap. when i woke up i decided to go cell phone shopping. i went to 3 different stores asking for what i needed, with my shyness slowly eroding at each store. finally i found the card i needed for my phone, and the courage i needed to actually use my spanish! the plan i got is much cheaper for me to call internationally than locally, which is good because internet is not a reliable way to communicate, at least not yet. if any of you feel like chatting my let me know and i'll send you my number, or if it's cheaper i can give you a call. just keep in mind i'm 9 hours ahead of california...

at 6 we all met for an orientation meeting, followed by dinner. alex's plane was late, but she still made dinner. the program has actually been very accommodating of vegetarians - actually letting us tell the servers and then getting the food we need, which is more than i expected. however spaniards are still trying to comprehend this whole vegetarian thing. from what i've heard, they're getting better - right now it means the only thing we can eat is egg. so far i've had tortillas, which are basically omelets with either potatoes or nothing inside. today i also got mushrooms and tomatoes, so it was a relatively balanced meal. there's wine with every meal, which i have yet to try, but we're in andalucía now so i know the sangria's coming! ;)

today we woke up, ate a quick breakfast, and hopped on the bus. the landscape was very flat and dry, but we did see some of don quijote's windmills. we also had a lesson on pronunciation and vosotros, making are spanish true to spain. santi (santiago, the director) gave a humorous, yet long, lesson. we traveled about 5 hours south of madrid to the city of córdoba. it was the first capital of spain and at one time the largest city in europe with over 1 million people (it was large then anyway).

interruption: it's snowing!

anyway, the province we're in is andalucía, the southern most province of spain. it was originally developed by the moors who invaded from africa (which is only about a 10 minute boat ride from gibralter) they settled córdoba and built a beautiful mezquita (mosque). as the city grew, each new caliphate>>>??? had to add his own addition to the mosque. it grew to be the second largest in the world, second only to the one in damascus, which was the motherland so they couldn't really outdo that one. the moors conquered the entire iberian peninsula in ridiculously short amount of time. then the catholics took hundreds of years to undo it, eventually making their way to cordoba and converting the mosque in a cathedral. but rather than undo all of the beautiful architecture, they just built their cathedral right in the center of the main hall of the mosque. as we toured through this incredible building we got to see both the Islamic and Christian influences right next to each other. it is still a functioning cathedral, with the beautiful fountains used for washing one's feet before s/he entered the mosque.

later we walked through the streets of córdoba to the sinogoga (synagog). in stark contrast to the mosque, it was a tiny box with two small apses that the Christians had added when they took over. the cobblestone streets of córdoba were very narrow with tall white buildings adorned with tiny balconies dripping with vines. it was adorable. there were also many dove fluttering around. renata, our general organizer, told me a neat story about them. she said there was a ruler in the city who insisted that all of the buildings be white. the white is to stay cool from the hot summer sun, but during this ruler's time there was a lot of disease in the city and he believed the white buildings would keep things more clean and pure, so he insisted they be repainted every year. as a result of the white habitat, many animals evolved to be lighter - including the pigeons, and thus all the doves.

now we're on our way to nerja, to spend a couple nights on the beach. i think it's a little cold to test out the mediterranian waters, but it's still going to be a neat place to stay. (in case you happen to be looking at a map, nerja is near málaga.) after that we go to granada, the place i have been looking forward to the most due to its magnificent alhambra - the citadel/palace/mosque/cathedral/fortress/gardins on a hill. i've done numerous spanish projects on the maravilla (wonder) and i can't wait to actually see it!

i haven't found out much about my host family yet, except that i have quite a long commute to the institute for school everyday. oh well, if the family is good it will be worth it. i also found out that our bing trip will be to extremadura, the south eastern province of spain, right next to portugal. but for now i'm just going to enjoy this educational vacation in andalucía!

hasta luego!

that soul vacation

2008-12-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

well, i'm off for my third adventure this year! monterey was wonderful, and colorado was a great experience. now it's time to go abroad: SPAIN! i'm so excited and so nervous at the same time! i haven't been sleeping well lately, too much on my mind. but now it's getting closer and my suitcases are slowly getting fuller...

after a busy fall quarter on campus, i'm reawakening this blog to share my stories from españa. i'm not sure how reliable my internet access will be, but i'll try to post fairly frequently.

i'll be taking four classes there: spanish, bioethics across cultures, women in art, and flamenco dance - all without any english! i guess i'll be way better at spanish when i return... but before all of this madness, i will be whisked away to southern spain for our orientation as soon as i arrive - just 10 more days! it's going to be a great adventure!

ain't no mountain high enough

2008-08-26T17:35:00.001-07:00

last week was so much fun! jason and aryanna, ward's grad student and his girlfriend, came to visit. wednesday ward was supposed to take us out to catch some butterflies and see some cool sites, but he wasn't feeling well, so the three of us went for a hike instead. we walked the 45 minutes to the trailhead of bellview mountain (the twin peaks you see in the background of many of my photos) and proceeded to climb the 3.5 hour up hike. (it only took us a couple of hours to come down.) it was really neat! i have been wanting to climb a peak all summer, but haven't had anyone to hike with. i really enjoyed their company - it was just so neat to have some people to spend time with. the next day ary cooked us a delicious breakfast of cheese, egg, and tomato on bread, accompanied by a peach - yum! i haven't had a breakfast that fancy all summer! then we met up with ward, who was feeling better, and went on our site seeing adventure! we drove 2.5 hours on 4-wheel drive dirt paths till we finally got to treeline. it was gorgeous! we climbed up from there, catching butterflies as we went. i caught a couple of colias so we could show jason and ary what we work on. jason works on their biochemistry, but he had never seen a whole one :)

this week has been fun too. lauren is working on her electrophoresis stuff, so she and carol have been keeping me company in the lab. they have to work in ward's lab because he has all of the necessary equipment - i learned that his lab is the most expensive one here! working here is just so much more fun with other people around, even though i'm doing the exact same thing i have been all summer. our caterpillars are getting bigger and soon they will hopefully pupate!

heather is leaving on thursday, then lauren on saturday. then it will be my turn! just 9 more days till i go home - i can't wait! i already have so many exciting plans: celebrating kat's birthday, going to monterey with mom, helping em with bio, going to the city with a couple of friends, seeing a concert with jen, then starting school - with dad in my last class on the first day!

i was talking with carol and ward today about my honors thesis. i'm beginning to brainstorm - there's no rush, but i would like to start writing up my proposal so that i can submit it before i go to spain in january. i don't want to have to worry about it there. i told them both, and they were fine with this, that i want to either work on campus or at hopkins next summer so i can be closer to home. it's great here, but it's just too far away from the people i love :)

ward suggested a couple of projects i could work on in his lab - i could even get started this fall! that would be great because it would put a lot less pressure on me next summer, and it would probably make senior year a lot easier. the one i'm most interested has to do with a heterozygote advantage in the enzymes that produce the sugars that go into the male's spermatophores. the better the package, the more eggs their mates will lay. this has been tested but not that thoroughly, and has never been published, so it would be a cool project with a lot of potential.

i was kind of hoping to do something that related more to people, but when i mentioned that carol said i should have been a humbio major. i also would really like to spend some more time at hopkins, and the summer is really the only chance i would have to do that. but i'm not sure of a project or a professor i would want to work with there, so we'll see. if anyone has any suggestions let me know...

for now i'm just hanging out with the few staff members and ras that are still here. we had a potluck last night, but i skipped it for a quiet night with the house to myself. my roommates are nice, as are the boys across the way. it's fun that i'm starting to get to know some people, but i still can't wait to get back to school and see all my friends there! just a few more days...

i think i'm going to boston

2008-08-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

since my last post i have mostly been pet sitting and gardening - that is feeding butterflies and preparing their habitats, letting them lay eggs and keeping track of the offspring as they hatch into caterpillars, and growing their host plat: hairy vetch. it's been pretty much an hour and a half of work with the rest of the day to sleep, read, and eat. i have been getting a lot of reading done though, so that's good. too bad i don't have harry potter with me because i always said i would read it when i had time, and now i finally have the time. i read a book by elizabeth gilbert (author of eat, pray, love - which is like my favorite book ever) and it was ok. it wasn't amazing, but it held my attention well enough. definitely not a page turner though. now i'm onto a mystery called simple genius by david baldacci. it's something i picked up in the airport because i was desperate for something to read while i waited for my delayed plane yesterday. it's turned out to be pretty good so far - very dan brown (davinci code) -esqu. i like it; in fact i'm almost halfway through already. it's a pretty quick read, which will soon present me with the problem of needing a new book. i have one that i'm trying to read in spanish, but that's much slower. their is also a copy of margaret atwood's the handmade's tale in our cabin, so maybe i will give that a try.

ward is back in palo alto right now taking care of his 94 year old mother who was not doing well, then had a stroke. the latest update is that she's under palliative care until she dies, which will probably be pretty soon. because she is so old and has been living with ward and carol for a few years, they are pretty prepared for this and have already said their goodbyes. it's still hard though. ward plans to be back thursday regardless of what happens. she wants her ashes interred in arlington with her husband, so that is something he can take care of after this summer. maybe the research assistants (lauren, heather, and i) can cook dinner for them one night this weekend.

in more exciting news, i had a great weekend! i got to go to boston to my aunt's wedding that included a family reunion for the entirety of my mom's family. it was great. the wedding was adorable and the reception was a ton of fun! it was really fancy with delicious food. and i got to trade in my hiking boots for a dress and some makeup, which was really fun for a change. i even got a manicure with my sisters! the next day we wandered the freedom trail of boston, brushing up on our us history with kat as our tour guide. we also had qdoba for lunch. i think that was the highlight of everyone's trip! it was so nice for me to just get to hang out with my family for a couple of days. i also got to get back to the real world for a second. i even got to watch the olympics. being in the city was fun, but it also reminded me why i like the mountains so much, so that was nice too.

if you ever get the stark contrast of isolated mountains one day and a big city the next, pay particular attention to the smells. i went from sniffing wildflowers and fresh air (albeit with a much lower partial pressure of oxygen) to smoke, smog, and fast food. good thing i got to come back!

i guess that's all i have for now. just 3.5 more weeks till i get to go home. i can't wait! but i will enjoy the rest of my time in the mountains too. pics from the wedding are on facebook at http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140615&l=67070&id=220245

driving in on this highway... all the little ants are marching, red and black antenna waving

2008-07-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

i know it's been a while since i've written, but i've been busy - ward is finally here and the research has begun! my butterflies are so cool. they have orange wings with green undersides and pink linings. they also have green fur! i'll try to get a picture of one of the soon. speaking of which i have a few more pictures on facebook. not many, but still... a couple are the painting i made for carol's door, the rest are from my field site or the drive to it. same link on the right -->

i would also like to direct you to a couple of other websites if you're interested. the first is a ny times article about the lab here. it's kind of neat because the three projects it talks about: butterflies, sparrows, and marmots are exactly what my roommates and i work on. there are lots of other projects going on here too, of course. that article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/22lab.html

the second website is an article by olivia judson, the author of my textbook on sexual selection (the class i wrote the bee paper for if any of you remember that...) she's doing a series of articles for the ny times on evolution in celebration of 2009 being the 150th anniversary of the publishing of the origin of species and the 200th anniversary of darwin's birth! it's a big year for us evolutionary biologists :) judson's articles begin at: http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/darwinmania/
(thanks to bill bowman for sending me this!)

so on thursday i went to my first field site! at 11,000 ft, dustin park is our lowest elevation site. it's a beautiful steppe terrain surrounded by forest. the butterflies only fly in the open fields so i don't even have to worry about allergies among the trees! the biting flies are still bad though... we saw a bunch of male butterflies, but only 1 or 2 females, so we'll have to go back at the beginning of next week to collect the females for our project. i'm so lucky i get to work on butterflies. they are only out during the day (about 9-5 at most) so i get to sleep in and be done in time for dinner. they can also only fly when the sun is out and they can warm up, so as soon as a cloud goes in front of the sun they're gone! the fact that butterflies only come out when the sun is shining probably contributes to the fact that we associate butterflies with happy, sunny days. they really are pretty cool.

i guess that's it for now. i have a some work to do in the lab today - i need to practice using the spectroreflectometer to measure the reflectance of the wings on the males we caught the other day. yesterday i learned how to feed butterflies. it's neat - you fill a centrifuge tube (with a yellow cardboard border to look like a flower) with honey-water, then set the bug on it. you use a pin or needle to unroll the critter's proboscis and stick it in the "nectar" to get it drinking. how cute!

at the end of another good day

2008-07-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

ward is supposed to get here tomorrow and i can't wait! the other day carol sat down with me and explained exactly what i'm going to be doing, so now i'm really excited to get started on my project. i'm collecting newly emerged (and mated) females and measuring the reflectance of their wings. from that i can tell how much melanin they have. they have to be a certain temperature to fly (near our body temp) and so they bask laterally - by folding their wings and aiming the flat side to the sun - to heat up their bodies. since the amount of melanin correlates to how much heat they can absorb, we're looking at trends in melanin amounts. one of ward's grad students figured out that the amount of melanin has been decreasing over the last 40 years (by looking at museum specimens) and so we're wondering if that's correlated to warmer ambient temperatures due to global warming. after we measure the butterflies, we'll let them lay eggs on some plants i've been growing (hairy vetch) and we'll raise the offspring to adults, measure their reflectance, and mate them. then we'll do the same with the third generation. that part will be back at stanford because it can't all happen in one summer. once i have the reflectance of the three generations i can compare them (using the fancy stats i learned last quarter - oh boy!) to see if melanin amounts are heritable. if so it would show that global warming is affecting evolution even in this isolated population. if not, the less amounts of melanin are probably due to phenotypic plasticity, which can be attributed to the warmer larval temperatures, allowing us to still tie it back to global warming. hopefully then we can use butterflies as an indicator species and an example of the wide-spread effects of climate change in broader ecological contexts. it's a big project, but it's pretty cool.

i'm a little nervous about ward getting here though, because when he does i'm going to learn to drive his car (a stick) and while the practice i did with dad went well, i'm still not sure i'm ready. we're going to practice before i have to do any real driving though. he and carol both agree that i'll be fine, and he's taught lots of people to drive sticks before, so i'm sure it'll be fine,

this weekend was fun. friday we went into the field and found our first emerged speyeria! whenever it finally rains (hopefully today!) they'll come out in full force and lauren and heather will be really busy.

saturday we took the bus into cb and saw a movie! it was fun because i haven't been to the movies in a while. we saw wall e, which was cute but not just amazing as i was hoping. it had a good message that we are destroying the earth and should take care of it, but there wasn't a lot of hope about fixing it. it was still cute though - a future where robots are in control. before the movie, heather and i ran to this little everything store and i got some paints! i didn't bring mine because i didn't have room and i figured i'd probably be pretty busy, but it's so beautiful here that i am just too inspired not to paint. i already finished one painting that will probably become the sign for carol's lab. it's a scene of the mountains with a butterfly. the butterfly was supposed to be speyeria marmonia, but it ended up looking more like euphydrias gillettii - which is fine because carol's lab is working on both this year. i'll try to put a picture of it online soon.

yesterday i went to church - it was a neat service. very nature oriented. we even sang a hymn with butterflies in it! it is such a cute little church. i also didn't have to leave early this time because carol, heather, and lauren were coming into town to do laundry and go shopping, so they gave me a ride back. i got clean laundry and a shower (for the first time in 3 days) so it was a good day! we also went to the farmers market, which wasn't quite in full bloom, but i still got some good squash, peas, and cilantro. we also went grocery shopping, and i made a delicious dinner! i cooked the squash, then added it to a mixture of rice, beans, cilantro, and garlic-cilantro salsa. i topped it off with cheese and sour cream - YUMMY! it was so good. i'm much more creative in my cooking this quarter than the last. maybe i have more free time? it will probably taper off as i get busy with the research, but at least i've figured out some good recipes now. i can't wait till jen gets back from italy and cooks us some of the concoctions she's been dreaming up.

now i'd better get back to my bugs. hope all is well with all of you guys! :)

with the rain in your pockets you can change the weather

2008-07-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

yesterday was so much fun! i started out by going to church at a tiny ucc church in crested butte. it was very nice - reminded me of brp. all sorts of age range. there were 14 kids at the children's sermon. there was a guest flutist who played beautifully, but for quite a while and since my ride left at 10, i missed out on everything after the sermon including communion. i wish i could have stayed longer, but it was more than i expected to get out here! ward should get here this friday, then i might have a car to take so i could come back whenever i want. i could also take heather with me.

after church heather, lauren, and i went for a hike. it was more like a long walk than a hike, but we saw some amazing scenes. there were fields full of purple flowers, incredible mountains all around, and we even found a waterfall! we were walking by this little pond when suddenly it started hailing on us! the weather here is really unpredictable, but it's fun. it reminds me of summers in kentucky.

later i went to a swing dancing class! it was just 6 people in the dining hall that wanted to learn social dancing. it was beginner level, so i didn't really doing anything new, but it was still really fun. my partner was very shy and wouldn't look at me, but he was an ok dancer. the teacher wasn't the best, so i sort of had to show him some of the moves, but it was still really fun. it was also a nice way to meet some new friends!

last night i went to heather and lauren's cabin to watch the rest of the bollywood movie we had started the night before. it was called salaam-e-ishq, and i think it's my new favorite movie. it was basically the bollywood version of love actually, so it had all the different sides of love, but with fun songs and dances. it was really good.

yesterday i also had great chats with a couple of my roommates. i talked with eleanora about living abroad and going back home. she's worried about how different it will be to live with her family after living on her own in this country for so long. we also talked a little about italian culture, and i compared her stories to the ones i'm hearing from jen. i also had a nice talk with tina about life after undergrad, and for her after grad school. how it is to move around and make and lose friends. there is so much scary stuff in the future, but there is also a lot to look forward to. i'm really glad i'm getting along so well with my roommates.

today i'm going to start preping some plants for my butterflies when they get here. i'm not exactly sure what i'll be doing, but it's nice to finally be getting started on my project! i'll keep you posted on how it goes. until then, be sure to check out the pictures from our hike yesterday. they're on the same facebook album as the other colorado pics (see below)

for purple mountains majesty

2008-07-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

yesterday i went with lauren and heather into the mountains again, this time to collect caterpillars. we collected over 30 in an hour and a half. they were ephydrus gillettii (or something like that). i'm working on colias meadii, which live at a higher altitude in the alpine meadows above our camp. when ward gets here next friday we'll hopefully be going up to check them out. i don't think it's really a problem that he's not here yet because the butterflies are still in the larva/pupa stages.

today for the 4th of July we went into town (crested butte). there was a 1/3 marathon from gothic to cb, as they call it here. i volunteered to cut fruit for the runners when they finished. after the race there was a parade. it was so cute! the whole town came together for this. the fire department had a pancake breakfast and gave kids rides in the bucket on top of their ladder. rmbl, the lab, marched in the parade. we made our costumes entirely out of veratrium leaves (skunk weed). then we went down the street banging pots and pans and cheering about how we love to do science. it was so dorky but really fun - and somewhat stanford band-esque in that some people were wearing nothing but leaves... i just made a hat.

probably the highlight of the trip was finding a little health food co-op! it had all my delicious organic vegetarian food that i love :) i totally turned into my mom with my excitement at the health food. anyone who's been to whole foods with me has witnessed this, but it was even more exciting because it was so unexpected in the middle of the mountains!

the other highlight was having cell phone service! i got to talk to everyone in the family but jen (calling italy is a little more challenging than calling california), and i also got to talk to alex! totally made my day :) special note for kat: i got a compliment on my frog pooh and thought of you!

in the afternoon we came back and napped before the gib barbeque. it was delicious - they had veggie burgers and grilled corn. i sat down at the table with heather and before we knew it this man came at sat next to us. he was kind of in a flurry but seemed nice. when he got up to get a fork, lauren glared at me and asked if i knew who he was. i had no clue. turns out that was paul ehrlich, only like the most famous butterfly researcher ever. he's at stanford but i've never met him. i said something about how i thought i'd probably read about half of his papers for my project, and lauren shushed me. she's going to work for him next year as a ta, so i guess she really wanted to make a good impression. he came back and told us all sorts of stories of bears breaking into cabins and climbing roofs and getting drunk with birds in austrailia. he was a very entertaining character and brilliant man. i guess i will be talking to him more this summer...

after dinner we were talking about plans for the weekend, and i asked carol of by chance there are any churches nearby. turns out there is at least one other scientist here who likes to go to church! so i'm getting a ride with her into town sunday morning. if the service at the ucc church is the same time as her mass i'll get to go to that, otherwise i may see what's it's like to go to mass in the mountains. we'll see. it will be nice to have something familiar to do.

i guess that's all the updates for now. heather and lauren's caterpillar project is going well. the bugs were eating today, which is a major improvement from yesterday. i'm still reading about butterflies and plants, and i think on monday i will do some gardening to get ready for our critters when they emerge. i will also probably be driving a stick in a couple of weeks... ward and i will go to pick up the third car from gunnison - scary! thanks to cara, dad, and gt and michelle for helping me learn how to use those. we'll see how this goes. if it goes well enough i may also end up doing the church carpool runs so the lady who drives the two of us can sleep in on sunday mornings (she offered me her car, but said she'd prefer if i had a little more practice)

till next time, te quiero y te extraño!

pics are up!

2008-07-02T22:42:00.001-07:00

these are from my first two days here!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132143&l=d2ac8&id=220245

enjoy!

i want to know if you can see the stars

2008-07-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

well, it's pretty amazing here. getting here was rough though. basically i missed my plane because united is very unorganized. but i don't want to relive that, so on to happier things.

my plane landed monday around 7pm. carol, heather, and lauren all came to welcome me at the airport! we went grocery shopping then out to dinner at this delicious mexican restaurant in crested butte. i had a really good tofu. then we drove to RMBL (rocky mountain biological laboratory) and dropped me at my cabin. there i met two of my roommates, tina and lizzie. they were both really sweet. our fourth roommate, eleanora, was out watching a movie. she and i are sharing the loft. she's really sweet too. and she's from italy, so every time i hear her talk i think of jen :) they're funny. they also remind me of my time at stanford with alex because they like to talk about boy drama :P

but of course, they're also serious scientists. lizzie is my age, a junior at michigan. she's doing something with birds. tina and eleanora are masters students at ucla studying marmots.

speaking of marmots, i saw some awesome wildlife yesterday! i saw 6 marmot babies hiding under my lab. i also saw a mother marmot and at least one of her pups by the river. when i woke up i stepped outside to see 3 fox pups playing between my cabin and the next. they are very playful and don't seem to mind the people walking around them and taking pictures. everyone here is so respectful and awed by the wildlife - it's refreshing.

last night i was really homesick. it's frustrating that my internet hasn't been working well and i have no cell phone. i think i'm going to use the lab phone to call home today because i really want to talk to my family. my roommates are nice, but they've all been here together for a while now so i just don't know them as well as they know each other. i'm getting closer to heather and lauren, carol's RAs, which is neat. plus heather and i can share memories from hopkins and that is comforting since it's familiar. and i thought my kitchen there was small and the bathroom was dirty! i guess i didn't realize how nice it was to have clean dishes and an indoor toilet. and i'm in one of the nicer cabins here :P this is camping though, and it's worth it for the wilderness. i don't have my camera cord right now, but as soon as i get it i will post pictures online, internet willing.

i wrote the above yesterday in anticipation of being able to post when the internet came back. here's what i did today:

since ward won't be here till next thursday, i tagged along with carol's group. we started out with a hike into their butterfly sites. we crossed a river to get to a beautiful meadow with a beaver-damed lake. we took pictures of our lovely crew with our huge butterfly nets. the view of our little town here was amazing. we kept going up till we saw the plants we were looking for. at each plant we stopped to count the number of larva we could find munching the leaves. we found 66 caterpillars, and one pupa (cocoon). it was so beautiful up there! my critters live at an even higher altitude, so i'm sure it will look somewhat different. i can't wait to explore it!

i'll try to post often but the internet here is pretty limited. basically it only works for me when no one else is using it (dinnertime).

i can still remember how that music used to make me smile...

2008-06-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

best study break ever! i have to share a site julie pointed me to - here are some of my favorites:

and all the roads we have to walk are winding

2008-06-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

waking up is the hardest part

my breath fogged up the glass, so i drew a new face and laughed

those three songs we're just played in a row on the radio. can anybody name them? i think probably everyone knows the one in the title, and my sisters should know the other two... nobody's playing my "name-the-tune-in-the-title" game :( that's cool. in case you were wondering they are: oasis, john mayer, and jason mraz. a bunch o' good songs.

so i'm stalling from finishing my lab report, can you tell? i'm also distracted from a little bit of drama. i probably shouldn't write about it on here, but neither of the people it involves actually read this, so i think it's ok. basically i'm caught in the middle and afraid of losing a great friendship i've made this year. the best part of monterey has been escaping the drama from main campus, but i'm afraid i've been living in ignorant bliss too long.

life is still great here though. this morning i went out on the aquarium's boat with chris - she works on it as a naturalist. we talked about plankton, algae, bat stars, and conservation. we also saw two moon jellies near the surface! the coolest part was the actual sailing though. i got to help hoist the sail, then i rode on the bow as the boat leapt and dipped with the waves. it was really fun! very windy and i ended up getting very splashed... but it was totally worth it.

this past week was awesome! (except for my being sick) for our lab on wednesday, we went snorkeling right off hopkins! we suited up in thick wetsuits from head to toe (see pics on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2126144&l=924d0&id=220245). we swam/floated for almost two hours and i managed not to get cold! we saw moon jellies - my favorite - they're so elegant and graceful! mom says they look like lampshades, which they do. i believe they're her favorites too :) we also saw lots of snails - crawling all over the rocks and the kelp - very cool. yes, i'm actually growing kind of fond of snails... who would have thought? there were tons of sea stars - we even saw quite a few sunflower stars (the ones that can have up to 22 arms!) finally, we were surround by seals swimming beneath us and lying on the rocks. they especially liked playing with our flippers - so cool!

last weekend was wonderful for me too. first kylee, beckii, sharon, and thom came to visit! we went the aquarium, hopkins, and a delicious lunch on the pier. it was really fun to see them and show them a piece of my world down here! then mom and emily came. we went to the chart house to celebrate em's 16th birthday... 7 months late. it was neat though - they personalized our menus and gave her a free slice of chocolate mud pie! the food was delicious. then we had fun hanging out in the hotel room just the three of us. the next day, dad, jen, and kat got here! all six of us piled onto one of those family bikes - it was a bit of a disaster (especially while emily was driving!) but it was also quite fun. after a delicious sushi dinner we all went to ghirardelli where they make emily's peanut-free special in the back! that was great. and it was delicious! dad and i split a hot fudge sunday with bananas. the food was so good that weekend. we ended up eating ghirardelli twice and first awakenings - the scrumptious brunch restaurant - three times! in three days! it was a bit ridiculous, but fun. the waitress had dad's order memorized by the end of the weekend :P

so my life continues to be awesome! i can't believe it's already june and i am going home in less than a week! i can't wait to see all my friends before they (and i) leave for the summer. i'm afraid it's going to be lonely in colorado for 10 weeks by myself, but then we'll all be together again in the fall. and i have a single so i get a nice big room all to myself! i'm living in serra, which is extra cool because my name is sarah :)

the "new" maroon 5 song is on the radio and it confuses me. it's the first one from their cd that came out last summer, but they do it with rhianna, and she sings like half of the song, but in perfect tone (or pitch or something, i really should brush up on my musical terms) with them. she even wavers her voice like they do - it sounds so similar, except she's a girl. hence it's confusing. but i really like the song, just like i did a year ago... it was one of the theme songs of my summer, and perhaps it will be again this year. although i think this year it may be more david bisbal - psyching me up for spain!

now they're playing def leppard - pour some sugar on me. that would be the theme song from rome, aka summer 2003. they must know it's summertime. i do like this radio station though. sorry for the long music rant, but you know me :)

when the tide is up and the waves are crashing in on me

2008-05-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

that title lyric is very fitting for my morning. my alarm didn't go off at 6:15 like it was supposed to (or maybe it did and i missed it somehow?) chris woke me up at 6:30 and i rushed to get out the door in 20 minutes. we made it to class just before 7. normally class isn't till 10, but low tide was at 7 so we had to be there. we did transects of the intertidal zone this morning. we counted all of the creatures and plants in 1/4 square meter boxes from the edge of the water all the way up the shore. we started at the bottom and the tide chased us in, but we finished (long before it could wash us out) at 8:30. still earlier than i normally would have woken up.

no complaints though - it was fun to be out there. quite cold, but fortunately i didn't get splashed. half of the time i was reading the level a safe distance away from the waves. i saw one awesome wave creep in from the side and soak everyone... i looked around to see their shocked faces and landed on kevin, who was still dripping. good thing he was in his head-to-toe yellow rain suit.

we counted different algae varieties, muscles, limpets, chitin, sea anemones, and bunches of things i can't even recognize. even just watching the waves crash on the rocks was neat. now i've got four hours to kill before we go back for class at 1. after lecture and some playing around with the data, i'm going home! i get my braces off tomorrow! so exciting. then friday i'll be on campus for some meetings then to celebrate alex's birthday - yay! i also have like 5 other birthdays wishes to deliver while i'm there - why were all of my friends born in april/may? it should be a fun weekend. i'm going home saturday night so i can be with mom on sunday for mother's day - i'm really looking forward to that too.

i love it here, but i get excited when i get to go home and see people. yesterday chris and i were talking and we realized there's only one month left in this quarter! i can't believe how quickly it's gone by! my vacation is over half over, and i still feel like i'm just getting started! the beach and the wildlife are great, but i think the best part about being here is just not being busy all the time. ya, there's work to do for classes and plenty to do for fun on the weekends, but there isn't the imminent rush and stress of living on campus. i walk home from school in the evenings and am done. i've still got homework, but i can curl up in my apartment and not be surrounded by school. i miss the activities i participate in at school, especially the kids i tutor. but other than that, it's really nice to have a break from it all. going back to visit friends that barely have time to see me - although they do a great job of making the effort :) - makes me wish i could bring them here so they could just relax for a little while. this is what i needed. i accomplished my biggest goal in coming here - getting some rest. not just physically sleeping more, which i am definitely doing, but also mental and psychological rest:

from the drama of balancing friends and a social life
from thinking about boys all the time (it is fun alex, but i needed to clear my head)
from trying to please everyone else
from the pressure of the other 299 kids in the bio core who all seem more intense (and often smarter) than i am
from everyone seeming to know where they're going - i like not having a plan; where ever i go... i'm already there

that last bit is kind of buddhist. speaking of which, stuart invited me to go with the soco folks to tassajara again this year! that would be so incredible - i love it there!

another fun thing that happened yesterday: i was having lunch with chris and dani at first awakenings when in walked 2 guys from the aquarium. one of them looked familiar and we made eye contact so i asked him, "are you gil?" (the brother some of our family friends from our church in louisville) he was! when i reminded him who i was he instantly pulled me out of my seat into a big hug! we talked about the aquarium and caught up a little bit and he offered me another free tour anytime. i love louisville people and the way we take care of each other :)

well i think i'm going to try to get some stats out of the way so i can not worry about that this weekend. i've still got plenty of time to kill. see you all soon!

mira que bonita que puede ser la vida ahorita

2008-05-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

today is derby day! i went to pelican tavern with a couple friends to watch the race. it was so exciting to see it this year since i missed it last year! watching the ladies in their sundresses and fancy hats, hearing talk of mint julips and which kroger made the roses... i miss kentucky.

in other news, i'm really excited because i found out yesterday that i got into the study abroad program in madrid! i have done so many projects on spanish culture - it's going to be amazing to actually be there! and alex got in too! so we will have great adventures learning spanish, exploring europe, and hunting for david bisbal :) my life is so ridiculous!

new pics are up!

2008-05-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

check out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2120393&l=07484&id=220245

or just click on the new link to the right --->

life's a lot to think about sometimes

2008-04-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

2 things i forgot to mention:

one: stephen came to visit me! we had so much fun. (stephen is my cousin who was home on a 10-day break from training for the marines - yikes!) it was so good to see him! i showed him around hopkins and was suddenly aware of how often i use the word "marine" at the marine lab. it's interesting how it has such a pleasant connotation here, but scares me when i think of it in his way...

we ate lunch at the restaurant at the aquarium. we had no idea how fancy it was! white table clothes and too many forks. i ordered the cheese ravioli appetizer thinking that would be safe. it was a fancy plate with lots of stripes of sauce and green garnishes... and three pieces of ravioli. fortunately we went to ghirardeli afterwards so i filled up there :) it was really fun just hanging out, but it was so weird to do so without the rest of our families. i don't think we've ever hung out without our families in the 20 years we've known each other. it was kind of a strange experience. i wish him well with the rest of his training and his service.

two: last night i learned to drive a stick! and by learned i mean attempted to somewhat understand what was going on while stalling the car at least 10 times. and when i could get into first, the car would lurch forward. fortunately cara was very patient with me. i'm working on it...

for the beauty of the earth

2008-04-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

wow. ok, so much has happened. we had lab reports and midterms these past couple weeks, so i have been really busy. then this past week was terribly stressful for other reasons that i won't taint this blog post with...

but now i am feeling much happier. and i have been keeping a list of things to tell you all about, so here i go!

a few weeks ago my roommate, cara, had to go back to campus one tuesday night to teach a class. i accompanied her on the drive and got to visit some friends while she was teaching. my friends are so awesome! even though they were all swamped with work, they took time out of their busy schedules to hang out with me on one crazy tuesday night. it made me feel so special :) if only i had had more than a couple hours to visit with them.

speaking of awesome friends, that weekend alex and anthony came to visit me! we toured around hopkins (i think they liked the lamps in the library the best... of all the things we have at the marine station?) but wading in the water with the seals was pretty fun too. we had dinner in a nice italian seafood restaurant with a lovely view. while i was washing my hands in the bathroom, there was a little girl waiting for her mom to finish changing her brother. she stood by the sinks, staring at me. i looked at her and she squeezed some soap into her hands then looked back at me. i said "rub them together" as i motioned with my hands. she followed then looked at the sink. i turned on the water for her as she tiptoed to reach the faucet. i grabbed her a paper towel and smiled at her as i left. she never said a word to me, but she totally made my day. last night i was really missing jessica, danny, and francisco (the kids i tutor). i love working with kids so much and i think missing out on that is the hardest part about this quarter. but hanging out with alex and anthony was so much fun! after dinner we went to ghirardelli and had delicious chocolately ice cream treats. yum!

sunday and monday mom and dad came to visit! we went to the carmel mission - it was fun to see the history. since it's an active parish they were having mass while we were then. instead of shutting it off to the public, they worshiped with the doors open so tourist could observe. it thought that was kind of strange. as we were wandering around the courtyard out side, dad ran into their "please be quite while we are worshiping" sign and knocked it over creating quite a clatter! haha, i love you dad :)

later i gave them a tour of hopkins. we were watching some seals and their pups on a beach when suddenly one rather large seal started squirming and out popped a seal pup! it was so cool! they same into the ocean to rinse off, then came back up on the beach to nurse. the wildlife here is so cool!

the next weekend i had an orthodontist appointment so i went back to the bay area. i stayed at school thursday night and went to the library to study with alice! just like old times :) we had fun catching up by passing notes the old fashioned way. friday i went to bio and sapolsky's class. both were good. it was kind of fun to be back in the huge bio lecture hall - especially since i didn't have to pay attention this time :) sapolsky's class was fantastic! even though we were sitting in the last row of kresge and he lectured for two hours straight, i was never bored! i can't wait to take it senior year. (it's on behavioral biology - only like my favorite subject)

friday afternoon i got to see sophia even though she was really swamped with millie. it was fun to just hang out. she said it was the first time she's been to manz all quarter - wow! she practically lived with us last quarter (which was really fun). i miss swimming. julie went to stanford's intramural swim meet - i can't wait to do that next year! then friday night was castaño's screw your roommate. it was really fun just hanging out with all of my friends from the dorm. my date and i were both terrible at minigolf, which made for a hilarious round of golf in the dark. i did get one hole-in-one! i think i ended up about 18 over par in the end, but that's because you couldn't get more than 5 on any hole...

on saturday i went to davis with my family to see jenny and go to picnic day! the past week i had been in monterey, jen in davis, em in hawaii, kat in dc, and mom and dad in utah. so it was really nice to have all 6 of us in the same place for a few hours! we were all pretty tired and the wind wrecked havoc on our allergies, so we sort of just chilled all day. we saw some cows and i hung out with my friends in the band for a little while. (they were there for the battle of the bands). then mom and i feel asleep on jen's bed as em, kat, and jen's friends played rock band. the tv is above the bed, so we must have been really tired...

sunday morning i went to church with mom and dad. that was nice: not going to church by myself for once. plus they sang john rutter's for the beauty of the earth, a song our choir in louisville used to do :) it was so sweet. then i drove back to monterey and switched back into school mode. and yes, i am driving on the highway all the way from monterey to stanford and back by myself! i'm so proud! tomorrow night i will be driving to and from the cachagua store, so i'm glad my driving confidence is growing. the cachagua store is mike, our chef from soco's, store/bar/restaurant. we're going to monday night dinner for a soco reunion. although i think we are bringing equal amounts of non-soco friends from here, too. i can't wait!

last week of classes was exciting. we did another lab on snails (did i mention i really don't like them!) this time we picked the smaller snails off the rocks, measured and weighed them, painted them with nail polish, and threw them back into the water just below where we found them. we were simulating being knocked off the rock by a wave. two days later we went back to collect the ones we could find. we measured those again, then compared before and after to look at how natural selection acts on them. it was pretty cool. i just don't like snails. mine had the prettiest shells though - silver with green sparkles!

tuesday was earth day. in that spirit, dani, cara, and i decided to bike to the farmers market downtown. it was awesome! we tried their delicious food - i had a crepe for dinner - and bought some fresh produce for future dinners. we got artichokes, potatoes, broccoli, gratefruits, and oranges. it was all really yummy! we will definitely be returning their on future tuesdays.

this weekend rachel came to visit! we went to see 21. it was so much fun to see a movie just cuz i haven't done that in so long. plus 21 was really good! and it was fun to see with my stanford friends because we totally discussed the math problem over ice cream after the show. then we went home and i taught them how to play blackjack and count cards. i love being a dork! yesterday we took rachel downtown for brunch and shopping. after a really rough week, it was nice for me to take a break. i got this really cool jacket - handmade cotton from nepal. we also got some really neat earrings. i miss shopping. i also miss working --> having an income...

this summer will be fun though. i'm going to the rockies for 10 weeks to study butterflies. i get to be outside playing with nature, studying science, and getting paid. all i could want, right? i will miss working with kids, but i'm sure this will be a really good experience. i know i will be lonely since i won't have cell phone service or (much) internet access, but at least i'll get a chance to catch up on all the books i've wanted to read for years. this is the first summer i haven't had required summer reading since 5th grade!

i guess i should end my vacation weekend and switch back to school mode now. i have to try to figure out about 4 weeks of statistics... but i'm already excited about next weekend when alice comes to visit!

and i'm running out of days...

2008-04-23T00:31:00.000-07:00

so i really wanted to update my blog tonight, but it's already 12:30 and i really need to get some sleep. but don't worry - i am keeping a list of exciting things that have happened in the last few weeks. an update will come soon! (hopefully tomorrow)

and to aunt sharon (+thom, beckii, and kylee), gma and gpa, stephen, rachel, alice, and everyone else planning visits here soon - i'm so excited and i can't wait to see you!

and to alex, anthony, mom and dad - thanks so much for visiting! i had a really great time with you guys :)

a song for your heart, but when it is quiet i know what it means

2008-04-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

i woke up early today. no reason, although i did go to sleep at like 11 last night, so that probably helped. i laid in bed and listened to the guys above me playing guitar and singing. i couldn't quite make out what they were playing, but it was nice. then i enjoyed the view of the ocean as i walked down to the station with my homemade latte (thank you chris!) class was interesting - bio 43 is totally my area.

i think i had the best lunch break anyone could possibly request. i went to the library to do some reading and sat down in one of the big comfy chairs in front of the huge windows. before i could pull out my papers, the waves entranced me. i decided to write about it instead. now i'm not much of a journal keeper, but something inspired me. here is what i came up with:

As Pooh Bear would say, it's a rather blustery day. I'm sitting in the library staring out the huge window. The waves keep tumbling over the rocks. It should be loud and windy, but this room is silent. It's as if I'm staring at the most beautiful landscape painting I've ever seen, but it's in motion. The rocks hold their ground, unwavering. The deep blue water approaches but the brown sculptures stand strong. They seem to have stopped the waves in their tracks when suddenly white foam leaps up and encases the rock, only to roll off as if gliding down a frictionless surface.

And to think this happens every day and even at night when no one is here to see it. It's not a piece of art, hanging in a museum, with a steep admission price. It's Nature. It's God's art. Yet we are all sculpting it.

Out the next window is a fence. Beyond that fence is a street with cars whirring by. Then a row of colorful houses marks a new coastline. The meeting place of new forces. The wind doesn't sway them, and the water doesn't reach them. But people and their bikes and their dogs swim all around them and inside them.

...

I just stood up to try to capture a picture of the waves - of course they eluded me - and I found a family of three sea otters just offshore. I caught them in the telescope. A mom with her pup and the father! Usually the father doesn't stick around but the mother's nose was bright red, suggesting a very recent mating. They were so neat to watch, riding on the waves and tumbling over each other.

and that was my lunch break. after lunch we had lab. i spent the rest of the afternoon playing with snails. my favorite. (that's sarcasm - for those of you who don't know i have been afraid of snails pretty much since kindergarden. i know they are harmless, slow creatures, but they just kind of gross me out.) anyway, i had to pick them up, hold them, poke them, and examine them. we were doing an ecology lab on behavior, specifically predator-prey interactions. we took 4 species of snails (our group had Tegula brunnea - the little brown ones) and poked them with 4 different species of sea stars. some of the sea stars (the ones that often eat snails) made them jump around and scurry away. at least as fast as a snail can scurry. my hands were freezing after all of the snail and sea star handling in the cold water, but it was kind of cool. then i came home and cooked dinner for me and my roommates - grilled cheese and tomato soup! perfect for a chilly evening. now i've got to seriously get some work done because i'm going to campus tomorrow night! i can't wait to see all my friends there :)

oh, and as if enough isn't going my way, i'm really happy because i found a good radio station here. i discovered it when i walked into a shop on cannery row yesterday and they were playing matchbox twenty. so now i have good music to wake up to!

here i stand, 6 feet small

2008-04-06T17:32:00.004-07:00

i'm living on vacation! yesterday chris and i woke up early and walked down to the wharf. she worked as a naturalist on a boat this summer so we found her old friends and our way onto a free whale watching tour. on the top deck with the staff we had a nice view of the spouting whales. we saw some humpbacks swimming along, but no one was jumping for us. it's ok though. I SAW A WHALE! i've always wanted to do that. then we wandered around downtown, ate some good mandarin food, and made our way back to belden (our apartment). the afternoon was supposed to be for studying, but i somehow that didn't happen. we just relaxed instead.

we decided to order a pizza from gianni's, the place across the street. half an hour later we walked over to pick it up only to discover they didn't have our order! when we couldn't find the pizza we had ordered on the menu, chris decided to call the gianni's number that was still in her cellphone. she asked where they were located, then after a pause, "what city and state is that in?" turns out google gave us a gianni's in oceanside. the manager said it would probably be cold by the time we drove the 7 hours to pick it up, so we could let it go. we were so out of it, neither of us even noticed the area code was way off. good job team.

so my alarm clock automatically updates itself for daylight savings, but since daylight savings was recently changed to a few weeks ago, i have to change it myself. that doesn't stop it from changing when it thinks it's supposed to anyway. so it woke me up an hour early for church today, but i didn't realized this until i was at church, standing in an empty parking lot. i thought i was going crazy. but i went to el estero park (dennis the menace playground!) and took a walk along the water. i saw lots of geese - and their fuzzy little black goslings! it was some nice time to myself.

when i got back to my room my roommate, cara, was back and she brought her friend kate with her. we decided to show kate around cannery row. we went to the aquarium and practically convinced her to join us here. she's still thinking about it actually... the pinnacle of our adventures was the ghirardeli shop. we got the earthquake. it's 8 scoops of ice cream and 8 toppings smothered in whipped cream, cherries, and bananas. and i only split it with 4 other people. it was really fun. hard to taste the flavors because there were so many (each scoop was different) but it was still delicious! something everyone should try once in their lives.

so that has been my weekend. now i'm going to do some work - for real. but really, i'm totally on vacation. it's ridiculous!

like whales beneath me diving down

2008-04-02T12:48:00.005-07:00

i'm in monterey once again! it is amazing here. tuesday we had orientation at hopkins from breakfast on the point to a seafood (minestrone for me) soup dinner. and they had brie cheese, which just makes me happy. as we were eating breakfast, a couple of dolphins swam by. then during bio i was trying so hard to focus, but the seals playing on the rocks out my window were quite distracting.

i live in the beautiful blue victorian on belden, in the exact same apartment i was in for soco! i haven't gotten to spend much time there yet because we've been so busy, but it's still really nice. a little cramped - my room has bunk beds and only one desk - but i suppose i am spoiled from my room in castano. alex is living there by herself, hopefully enjoying the single. she may get a new roommate, but if not i'll have a bed to stay in when i come to visit!

tuesday we had fun meeting all of the professors and getting acquainted with the station. everyone is very friendly. they're all on a first name basis, and they really just want us to have a good time here. i was going to take like 13 units this quarter and enjoy my vacation-esque lifestyle, but i am currently signed up for 19 plus an extra class i plan to audit. i was talking to stuart about my classes yesterday and he asked what i was doing for fun, then suggested i come work in his lab just so i can have a hands on project. i'll be working with chris (one of my roommates) on monitoring the calcium influx of contraction on tuna heart muscles. it's really interesting because they are the gray area between hot and cold fish, so monitoring their circulation patterns may yield insights into how endotherms evolved. good thing i paid attention in bio 42...

wednesday was ridiculous. we had a few hours of lecture, then our bio lab went out during low tide to explore the intertidal zone. we saw so many creatures! see photo album (on the left)

i know it's kinda dorky to put my research photos on facebook, but it's the quickest way of documenting them for now, plus you all get to see them if you wish. it was a little cold and rainy, but the wind and waves were very calm so we could really get close to all of the animals. if anyone feels like a visit i can totally take you out during low tide.

today after class i went to the aquarium with dani, another of my roommates. it was amazing, as usual. i especially enjoyed the jellies. i'm hoping to get to visit them at least once a week. while i'm here i might as well! so much has happened and we've only been here a few days. it's nice to have the weekend finally here. tonight there is the weekly tg on the beach - short for tgif - it's a barbecue and social hour to celebrate the weekend. tomorrow chris and i are going down to the wharf to do some touring and go whale watching!

my life here is ridiculously amazing! the classes are fascinating, and the rest of the time i feel like i'm on vacation. my roommates are awesome. we hang out, we study, and we go to sleep fairly early - which is good because classes start really early here. we are also good cooks :)

so now that i have convinced you how amazing Monterey is, please come visit! i'll keep posting, but i would love to see you all in person!

p.s. brownie points if you can name the tune in the title!

by the riverside

2007-09-12T23:03:00.001-07:00

wow. it has been amazing! let me try to run through each day so i don't leave out anything big.

friday

our busiest day yet: we started at carmel middle school where they have an intense ecological program. they study local animals and habitats and do field work on their school grounds. they have a pond to take water samples from, an organic garden to learn about food and how it gets from dirt to their mouths, an outdoor kitchen complete with a solar heated pizza oven, a native bee garden, and a green house. it was a program unlike any i have seen. the teachers use enivornmental skills to reinforce what they teach in the classrooms, and the kids get comfortable with nature and learn to respect it and treat our resources well. it was really cool. as a side note, in their animal classroom were tons of stuffed animals, including a buck head on the wall. i did not freak out. for those of you that know me well, this is a big step. step 1.

next we went to the stanford new student welcome party for this area. it was fun to meet some new kids and give them my experienced (one year) advice. after that we went to some biological preserve where a guy talked to us about california grasses and different types of oak trees. it was interesting, but by that point we were beginning to get tired and ready to sit still.

after that we stopped by mike's store to grab some refreshments and wait till we could go to the next activity. then we went to heller's organic vineyard. we learned about the processes of making wine completely organicly. no pesticides + no fertilizer = pretty cool stuff. we went wine tasting and tried 5 differnt red wines. the first four were disgusting, and the fifth, a port, was worse. i guess i don't have to worry about becoming an alcoholic. randomly hidden in the thick mist of the barrel room was another buck head. i have no idea why. our tour guides just said nobody ever bothered to take it down. step 2.

we returned to mike's store for dinner and more alcohol. dinner was great and i had a nice conversation with grant, the local wanderer. he has had a very intersting life. he told me all sorts of stories about his travels. he was also full of deep advice. his favorite was a native american saying, "when you listen, you will learn. when you learn, you will know. when you know, you will walk many trails." very nice.

and of course, in the little southern shack that was the cachagua store/bar/restaurant there was a buck head on the wall, complete with a wreath around it's neck. again, i (barely) kept my cool and nobody noticed a thing. step 3. i'm quite proud of myself on this front, but i'm a little nervous because we will be returning to mike's store tomorrow night and the last night for the presentations of our research projects. i love mike - he's very cool, but his store makes me nervous.

today i was very out of my comfort zone. i was in new places doing new things that i wasn't entirely sure about. it was awkward and lonely, especially when everyone else was drunk. then grant came along though. he sang me spanish songs - one about granada - and played the castinets. i look forward to seeing him tomorrow.

saturday

today we went to big creek south of big sur. we stopped at this earthy mountain shop and cafe with an incredible view. we ate lunch by a bridge with an amazing scene of mountains and bay. and all of this was nothing compared to big creek. see the pics on facebook to get some idea of what i mean. it was so beautiful. it's berekely's biological preserve, so no one can access it without permission. other than the friendly director, mark, we were the only ones in the entire park. we set up camp and had a nice dinner of burritos around the campfire.

sunday

we hiked the interpretive loop trail. we went up over one of the ridges of the canyon, hiked around and came back down. our journey took us through lush underbrush, over crystal clear rivers, and on top of golden mountains. it was so beautiful! we ended our hike with a swim in one of the pools along the river. it was freezing! colder than lake tahoe. but still very fun. i didn't bring my swimsuit on the hike, so i was in my underwear. no worries though - the boys had decided to be macho and climb up the steep face of a mountain, then continue with joel on what stuart called "the march of death." we didn't see them again until after dinner, so it was just stuart, big joel, and the ladies in the swimming hole. ally went with the guys, but avoided the march of death and came back in time for dinner. mike let me help him cook - quite fun!

monday

i helped cook breakfast with christine. everyone loved my quesadillas. we drove to the top of a ridge on the canyon and hiked down to a pristine waterfall. it was so beautiful! we swam in the pool halfway down the falls. it was like a fairytale scene. freezing but amazing.

mike let me and chris make dinner since he had to do monday night dinner at the store. i made a delicious homemade pasta sauce with lots of fresh yellow and red tomatoes, purple basil, a bay leaf (which i took out before serving, jen), garlic, onion, and a pinch of something green that smelled like it belonged in pasta sauce. everyone loved it and gobbled it down before everyone was served. i also found a brick of medium tillamok cheese in the fridge and grated it for my pasta. i like mike's gourmet meals, but it was kind of nice to eat normal food for once. apparently everyone else agreed, and i realized what a thankless job cooking is. let me say right now: thank you to everyone who has ever cooked for me: mom, dad, jen, em, kat, grandma and grandpa, aunt sharon and uncle thom, katie, and just about everyone else i know. thank you.

tuesday

we did a solo hike. we hiked as a group over the ridge right by camp to the river on the other side. we sat by the river alone and pondered being in nature for a few hours. it was very nice. then we met up and soaked in a natural hot spring nearby. it smelled like sulphur, but it was still really neat. to think of all the cool things we can do in nature! i am very thankful.

wednesday (today, or possibly yesterday by the time i finish this post)

we packed up and drove out today. thanks to my insistance (and stuart's awesomeness) we stopped at mcway falls! i had never been before, so it was really awesome. we walked the flat, quarter-mile trail through mcway canyon out to mcway cove. there you could see mcway rocks, a set of rocks out in the bay, and mcway falls, the main attraction. according to kevin, it is argurably the most beautiful spot along the california coast. i have to agree. because we can't access the beach itself, it has remained as beautiful and natural as it always was. the water is green like the caribbean and the beach is sandy, not rocky. the waterfall flows to one side over the edge of the cliff that is laced with rich green plants. beyond it is a little rocky cover where waves crash through a hold in the rocks. it's so pretty! good job cristopher macway jr! i can't believe my blood is the same!

well that is all i can say of my adventures for now. i'm exhausted and very happy to be back in a bed with a pillow. it feels wonderful to be clean and have clean laundry. and i cannot believe i don't have poison oak. there was more in big creek than all i have seen in my life combined! the reserve is really neat because they don't do anything to it; they just let nature do it's own thing. what a nice thought.

waves crash down

2007-09-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

it's late so i don't have much time to write before my eyes close. today was another fun day. some pics are up on facebook - i'll put the rest on later.

we explored the aquarium front and back and learned a lot. they just got a great white shark in their outer bay exhibit. they will release it when it gets too big for captivity. right now it's just a baby - less than a year old and only about 4 feet long. we watched them feed the bat rays and turtles that had been removed to avoid shark issues. the turtles are vegetarians - they eat kale and bell peppers! we also saw how the tanks are constructed and lighted to create a sense of endless sea. kind of interesting. we also saw the filter system and the jelly hatchery. they raise all of their own jellies from fertilization to maturity.

after the tour we were given a few hours to just explore on our own. it was really nice - i don't think i've ever seen the entire aquarium at one time. there was a lot about sea otters - those seem to be the most popular to guests. i was even brave enough to touch some of the creatures in the touch pool. i spoke with our tour guide and he's going to set up a shadow day for me to see some of the research going on at the aquarium. hopefully that will all work out. it sounds great.

tonight we talked with a woman about the effects of social network on today's world. it was interesting, although the coversation did not take the direction i had hoped. we talked a lot about journalism and whether it is still useful now. we pretty much decided that we have all become our own journalists through the unlimited amounts of news and social networking website. it's amazing to see things changing so quickly. there is still a need for journalists, they just haven't figured out exactly how to work with today's new technologies.

after dinner and that discussion we walked down to hopkins and hung out on the beach. we had intended to go black light mini golfing, but the course was closed when we got there. (it said it was open till 10, but i guess then felt like turning in early.) the beach was still fun. i enjoyed scrambling over the rocks in the dark and listening to the waves crash. we could also see the outline of the aquarium. it was neat.

well i really need to get some sleep. tomorrow we are doing a bunch of random things including visiting the local new student welcome party and touring an organic winery. should be another interesting day! goonight :)

let's see how far we've come

2007-09-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

i am exhausted! most of this blog entry will probably be missspelled and out of order, but hopefully you can make some sense of it.

today was so much fun. we began with another breakfast from mike. he made me possibly the most delicious egg scramble i've ever had. he mixes strange things but they turn out great. it contained mushrooms, tomatoes, chard, whole garlic, and asiago cheese. yum! we then met with a biologist about turtle conservation. he told us all about his efforts to conserve a beach in costa rica that is the last leatherback turtle breeding ground in the pacific. it's rediculous the environmental impact humans are having on other species!

about 11:30 we set out for our hike. i have no clue why we decided to hike in the sun during the hottest part of the day, but with three coats of sunscreen i managed to come out only a little pink. we ate lunch across the road from our trailhead on a gorgeous cliff overlooking the bay. then we started our journy up the "elevator" trail. it's called that for a reason! the beginning wasn't bad with some creek hopping and breaks among the redwoods. before long we started climbing the golden grassy hills. fortunatly the piles of poison oak decided to stay back with the shade. the lizards kept us company though. we hiked up and up and up. every time we got to the top of a huge hill there was a bigger one waiting for us. it was very tiring, but in the end totally worth it. standing on top of that mountain we could see a long stretch of ocean to our left and the salinas valley to our right. after a nice long break for water and snacks we ran back down the mountain. i have never run down a mountain before, at least not one that big. it was really fun. jen's ankles would have been miserable, and even mine needed a break toward the end. i was able to keep up with stuart for a while though. and i was actually the first girl down :) it was a beautiful and fun run/fall.

after rest and a shower i rejoined the group for a delicious dinner from mike. he was light on the vegetarian food, but there was still plenty. he and kyle made a savory mushroom sauce with cream and white wine. we poured it over red rice and seeds. mike also made an interesting salad with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, croutons, and watermellon. it was a strange mix of flavors, but good (as always). of course we were all pretty starving. he started us off with my favorite - french bread and gooey brie. yum!

finally we curled up on the couches for a discussion with another stanford bio professor about conservation. he specializes in evolution and ecology - my thing! i brought up the question of why humans are so interested in environementalism. i'm trying to figure out a way it can become more mainstream, so i played devil's advocate and asked why it was so important. sometimes it seems like we are "fighting nature" and it would be more natural to just let things happen. my classmate had some interesting suggestions, but they still didn't resolve the issue of what is "natural". finally the professor suggested an answer that i loved - it actually is in our evolutionary interest. even if humans don't care about preserving nature for it's own sake or because it's beautiful, we still need to care for it. it still comes down to the idea that species do what they need to to survive. for example, if the oceans die, where will we get oxygen? we don't want to have to work or pay to produce it, so it is in our best interest to let it be produced naturally and therefore keep the oceans alive. that answer makes sense to me on even the most basic level. it's very self-centered, but nature often is.

after that i managed to stay up and chat for a little while, but now i can barely keep my eyes open. i hear the sea lions barking. how are they awake to bark at midnight and then again to wake me up at 7am? pictures from the hike are on facebook :) enjoy!

i've always liked steinbeck and those old men whistling

2007-09-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

wow. monterey is incredible! i mean the literal meaning of the word: unable to conceive or believe! i'm having so much fun! today was only our first day, but already it feels like so much has happened. this morning we met stuart, our professor; joel, our ethicist; and mike our chef. his food in amazing! stuart is very cool - he's laid back and interesting. while this class is called "natural history, marine biology, and research" the title is a "hoax" according to him. the research part and marine biology is really up to us, and the natural history is basically everything we observe around here. his goal for us is to try/learn something new. we have a research project due at the end of our two weeks, but it can be anything. anything we discover we can present in any way we want. he just wants to make sure we enjoy our time here and get something out of it. for their projects, one of our leaders told a story he'd written about his experiences here; the other did intrepretive yoga about the nature of monterey bay. this is so cool!

i don't know what i'm going to do yet, but i have some ideas. i'd really like to study some ecology, especially with the resources that are here. thursday we are getting a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium. there i will get to meet some neat aqaurists, and stuart said he could arrange for me to study with them if i want to. as part of this program we get free access to the aquarium any time we want! amazing!

tomorrow we will hike up the "elevator" a steep trail that trapses through every type of habitat from the coast up into the mountains. it should be fascinating and fun. i think that's kind of the theme for this seminar.

today after breakfast we toured the hopkins marine station. it has some beautiful views. i don't think i would get much studying done in the library overlooking the shore... then we ate lunch at our little cafe. it reminded me of lynn's paradise cafe in louisville. not quirky, but the food was similiar. next we had some free time to rest or explore. i wandered around cannary row. it was fun to look at the bay. while there i found a dip n dots shop! i didn't think they actually had stores, but there is one less than 10 minutes from my appartment!

my appartment is wonderful. it's a cute blue victorian house that has been renovated into four separate appartments. i lucked into the group of three and ended up with my own room! i love it! it's nice to have some privacy - even more than i got at home!

after the break we met with stuart to talk about our research projects, and he explained the details of doing anything we choose. mike fixed a delicious dinner. i got caught up talking to him about vegetarianism and food in general. it was a fun conversation, and i was glad to get on his good side (very important from what i have heard). earlier, during the break, i my roommates mentioned that we were going to here a guy talk about "play" so they were trying to figure out exactly what that was. it reminded me of a national geographic article bruce from the bee-sex seminar gave me when i was writing my pwr paper on comparing human and non-human animal behavior. it was fascinating. i tried to look up the article to show them, but i couldn't find a full version on line. i met our guest at dinner, only to discover that HE WROTE THAT ARTICLE! stanford is amazing. turns out he's a good friend of stuart's and he came to talk to us about the science of play. he gave a little talk after dinner and we discussed. it was fascinating. exactly the kind of thing i want to study. turned out to be a pretty amazing night.

after this incredible day, i must get some sleep to prepare for another one tomorrow. it feels like i have been here doing fun stuff and getting to know these people much more than a day. i'm glad i still have two and a half weeks of this to enjoy!

i'll be updated pictures pretty frequently on my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2087172&l=cf6c8&id=220245

and here i'm dancing on the ground

2006-10-07T11:41:00.001-07:00

i slept in till 11:00 today! and then i stayed in bed till 11:30. and that after a 2.5 hour nap yesterday. i guess i should start going to be before 1-2am. i thought getting up for school would be easier with classes starting 2 hours later, but it's really not that different. oh well.

last night was fun. i taught some friends from my dorm to play nertz. today i get to go into the real world (yay!) and go to target. then tonight is full moon on the quad - probably to most anticipated stanford tradition for freshman. hopefully it will be fun.

my classes are going well. i really enjoy computer science, even though it is challenging. the concepts aren't very difficult, but it is pretty tedious in that there are so many little steps and even one incorrect punctuation mark messes the whole thing up. still... it's fun. math is going very well. it's getting kind of confusing, but i understand it for the most part. i need to catch up on my reading, though. i also have 170 more ihum pages to read for monday, but hopefully i can get that done. i think my paper is coming along, at least it's a lot better than it was at first. yoga/pilates is good, too. taylor is in my class - go kentucky!

mom and jen are coming to visit in less than three weeks! i can't wait! it will be so much fun to show jenny how exciting and fun college is. it will be nice to see mom, too.

well, time to go eat lunch :)

quote:

just knowing that the world is round

p.s. thursday i went for an awesome bike ride all the way around campus drive. it was really pretty by lake lag and the hills with the dish. i got lost for a little while, and ended up at andronico's! i got a sandwich - yum! and crystal gysers!!!! i am saving one for jenny :)

i'm in over my head...

2006-09-23T22:31:00.002-07:00

stanford is awesome! i'm having so much fun! i miss my family, but i'm not homesick. i am excited that i will get to see grandma and grandpa tomorrow! grandma called - they're picking me up at 11:30 :)

ok, so i'm cold and tired and should go to bed, but i want to talk. i was very excited about my classes, i finally signed up! i thought computer science would be fun, but an upperclasswoman (a nice one who gave us a ride home from target) said i will die - it's so hard! i really hope i enjoy it enough to make the challenge worth it. we will see. she also said i have to take it for 5 units, only grad students can do three :*( i hope she's wrong, but she did take the class...

on a happier note: i had a lovely evening. it was weird, though. they guys were getting into high-school rumors/gossip. does he hate me? anyway, ignoring that part, walking around with jose was fun. just walking and talking (or mostly listening for me :)

quote:

i wanna wake up where you are

suddenly i see

2006-09-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

well, california is awesome! i love it here! i am so incredibly excited about stanford on tuesday, but i am enjoying this mini vacation, too. today we went to the beach and the redwoods. everything was so beautiful! then we had dinner with dad's old work friends and their kids - they were really fun. last night with the cousins was fun, too. tomorrow we will run around stanford, get a cell phone, set up banking, and eat dinner with katie. she seems to be doing okay. the other katie is having a blast, but she broke her finger. bummer.

well, that's all i have time for tonight. i'm exhaused even after a two hour nap today! buenas noches!

quote:

welcome to the hotel california...

laughter is my soul's release

2006-09-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

these are stressful times. only two days left! but i'm talking to katie and matthew now, and sarah and leann are coming tomorrow, so my friends will help me through this! and armando and mike and jose armando and lewis and just about everyone else are excited with me! i have been packing all day, but i seem to be making progress. i went for a swim this morning and it felt sooooooo good! i actually had to make myself get out of the pool to go shower.

so tomorrow is my last day. i will get my nails done, see sarah and leann, and hang out with my family. it should be a fun day! i'm just getting a little anxious now. it's so soon!

i think i might change my major, but maybe not. not that i've declared one yet - that doesn't happen for like 2 years. math and comp sci or bio and genetics? i shall see how classes go this year, then decide.

lewis pointed out that it's been 9 months since i got into stanford! wow - the time has passed very quickly. in that much time again i will be a sophomore! (hopefully :)

jennie guelda came by yesterday to bring me a present - 20 acrylic photo frames. how sweet. and anne campbell gave me $20! al clark sent me a "thinking of you" card. it's so nice to know my church family cares about me so much!

this will be a fun adventure!

quote:

quiero estar contigo

i've been hanginaround this town

2006-09-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

well...

last day of work today! it's gonna be a long, hard day; but at least it's somthing to do. not looking forward to the drive home tonight, but im sure it will be fine. i haven't found anything new about stanford lately. i really want to be there and start meeting people. i miss my friends. i had a nice chat with griffin the other day, though. it was fun - we talked about spanish projects and mr. haas' class. i'm really glad i have someone who knows me and my friends already. katie is lonely and homesick. i'm really worried about her. she says she can't eat. i don't want to call her because i want her to focus on making friends there, but i also want to help her and make sure she eats something. she talking to her parents, so i'm sure they are helping the best the can.

i have been making some progress with the html/web stuff, but i have been kind of busy lately, which seems weird, because i really haven't been doing much. still, it will be something to do this week.

hang w/mom
pack
paint
do web stuff/html
type session minutes
read

that reminds me - im reading the last book in the narnia series. it's different from the others, but i really like it :)

quote:

i've been bumin' around this old town for way too long

p.s. the concert rocked! the goo goo dolls were amazing! the counting crows were very good, but i didnt know that many of their songs. still, it was awesome!

and i don't wanna call you

2006-09-05T10:25:00.001-07:00

sometimes you just need a friend. i should call katie and see how her chem quiz went. i could call matthew and ask about fdos.

ten days and i will be on a plane to california! it still seems like forever. i'm mostly packed, but i do need to clean out my closet :) kat raided my room last night, but took less than i had hoped. that means i have more to get rid of myself. oh well, it will give me something to do. i should paint. i should read. i should go for a bike ride! maybe i will when we get back.

35 minutes and i will be on my way to the airport. we are going to houston. dad has business, and i need to get out of louisville! the farthest away i have been this summer is hubers. cedar ridge was awesome, tho; i wouldn't have traded it. i missed edgelake, tho. beckii said she will be in the area for halloween! i hope to see her then. it will be just after jenny and mom leave. i think jenny and i will have a great when she visits. she is getting more and more excited about college. she's started filling out applications; mom is good at staying on top of all that. poor daniel, molly had no idea what she was talking about. at least he's motivated to go to western because of michael, which molly avoided talking about all night. lol. why is it that all of a sudden i am realizing i have no straight guy friends? i mean i love my friends, but i need some variety. oh well, at least matthew is still matthew :)

quote of the day:
"life's a lot to think about sometimes, when you keep it all between the lines"

my little girl

2006-08-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

waiting for the mail

waiting to pick up kat from school

waiting till i can finish packing

waiting till i get to travel

waiting for the concert!

waiting to move!

waiting...

undertow

2006-08-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

kat had a fun b-day. and she did finally get her ears pierced. now i am at work again, with a 90 min break. not that i'm complaining, because i am getting paid, but i would rather do it all at once and get to go home sooner. kat's party is tonight.

i found out my pwr assignment: spring. i kind of wanted to get it over with, but i guess now i don't have to worry about it for a while, and by spring i will be more adjusted and ready to take on such a writing-intense class. i still haven't decided on my schedule for next year, but i am getting closer. i want to take math 51h, have to take ihum, and then it's either chem or spanish. spanish would be useful, because i haven't had it all summer, and i am living with people who do not speak english as their first language. but that's cool. chem would be fun also, and maybe less stressful because i already know a lot of it. then i want to take a seminar, but i don't think those are listed yet.

well, hasta luego

quote:

i wanna wake up where you are