Wandering...and provisions

Wandering....wandering with no purpose, an excellent idea.  Never any disappointments or unreasonable expectations, only surprises and discoveries.  

Sunday wanderings...wandered to a park, wandered to a grocery store, wandered into town. 

Wandered and got provisions.  It's amazing how comforting a fully stocked refrigerator can be, not materialistically, but that it provides a sense of security, that no matter what happens in this strange, new place, you at the very least won't starve.

Oranges...and blue

The plates here have oranges on them.  All of the students at the university wear orange and blue.  You can buy ANYTHING you want in orange and blue.  Everything stays open late into the night, and on weekends.  People slump over in the casino 7 days a week, waiting to hit that jackpot, whiling away their lives.  People-students, faculty, staff-work all day in small rooms without seeing the sun, I need windows.  The buses run all the time, to everywhere, taking you wherever you want to go to get drunk and embarass yourself.  Friend is a very loose term here I think.  Groups walk into Starbucks at 7pm to get some caffeine before heading out into the night, prepared to stay up for hours.  Work ethic means something different.  There is no excitement, no passion, it has all been dulled by the routine labor of doing time and stacking up hours.

I love COA.

Flailing our arms in Belize!

...alternately titled, "Champs!"

I had the great pleasure to spend ten glorious days on the small island of South Water Caye in Belize for my tropical marine ecology class.  Looking back, and even while there, I know it was one of the greatest experiences I have had thus far in my life.  We spend every day snorkeling and, when weather permitted us, sunning.  We played volleyball on the beach in the white and coral speckled sand, watched the sunset, did yoga as the sun rose and had an all around great time.  The group I was with was equally amazing.  Rarely to I fit in and experience working with such a cohesive group.  Other than one person, I got along wonderfully with everyone.  I was so sad to leave, some of our group are seniors, they will graduate whilst I am abroad.  We will never be together, and especially not in this setting, again.  While we had a lot of fun, I also learned a few key things:
-When climbing on mangroves, always keep your feet on separate branches, they all look sturdy but sometime one will break.
-Don't wear a skirt in a water taxi.
-If there is any chance in the world you might need it, bring it! There's nothing worse than being stuck on a small island and realizing you did need that one thing you decided at the last minute to leave behind.
-Bring extra camera batteries, and take A LOT of pictures.

I have also come to the decision that I do, in fact, love field work.  It requires physical and mental strength, stamina, discipline and a willingness to get dirty... or in our case, very wet.  You also have to be prepared for the whole, "everything that can go wrong will go wrong," and be ready to start from scratch multiple times.  It can also be a bit scary, especially when working with others, but that makes it more fun I think. 
And from our project I learned that I really do love feeding ecology, our project was on butterflyfish feeding, I guess it doesn't matter if I'm working with sharks or the most wimpy fish in the sea, I really love food webs!


(Photo courtesy of a classmate!)

Pennsylvania plates and Pittsburgh paraphernalia

Strangely enough, one of the first things I notice when changing locations is not the differences in the natural scenery, the level of industrialization or even the character of the people in the area, but the license plates on the cars driving past me.  When I see cars, trucks and SUVs with Pennsylvania plates and Pittsburgh license plate frames, I know I'm home once again.  I don't know why this one simple detail has such an effect on me but it really is the change from seeing little pine cones and lobsters to those yellow, white and blue stripes that signal to me I'm back in PA. 

     After being gone for so long I've also forgotten how dominant Pittsburgh pride is around here.  Even an hour and a half from the city, every store in the shopping plaza and every vendor at the crafts show has at least one black and gold item for sale.  I never would have thought twice about it had I not been in so many other places lately where there was hardly a sign of any sports teams, let alone such a feeling of support and team spirit for the "home team."  So maybe it makes sense that people make fun of my black and gold gear in the middle of nowhere Maine, where the nearest sports team is three states away.  But Pittsburgh pride for some reason stretches even to the other end of the state, maybe further, so really, having grown up not more than half an hour from the city, where we still consider ourselves to be Pittsburghers, now that I'm back, it seems only natural to see black and gold everywhere I look.

Fishy Business

Neck-deep in finals, most of which pertain atleast partially to fish, I find it only fitting that I've stumbled upon this website which basically has everything that I want in my life at some point
...epic fish tanks

...a man that is willing to paint his face like this with me


and numerous other fishy links and videos. 
http://thinkorthwim.com/index.php?tag=fish

And this is perhaps just what I needed to refresh my mind and inspire me to go write more about fish toxins and memorize a few dozen more fish species names and IDs.

A Lovely Idea

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6DZEVGHkSvIIQEdMoLmSfzwuw-IBJ0rC2vNtYB0nYj-6SGBrKn1xwcxRwp76GFfnZSB3Mm7Nrm4EI0HIi8X6nrfDyQv0pb78k7pBkUA2qR0LDYHOTasldIzen7QtpQ2zZmMx5vGK_rZR_/s1600/lavender-fields-.jpg

On Tieing Up Loose Ends

As week 9 approaches I am forced to realize that in about 13 short days, after all of the papers have been written and projects have been turned in, I will leave this place that I call home for almost a solid year.  I have finally grown completely acustomed to this home, my disfunctional college family, my surroundings and my schedule, hectic as it may be.  I have so many plans ahead, confounding my mind and exciting my nerves at a time when I would rather be better able to focus on the present, all of the finals I have before me and the last minute things I need to get done.  But as the time approaches I can't help but get more and more excited, nervous, apprehensive and anxious.  I know good things will come out of these experiences and I only hope that life will cooperate over the next year as it has been prone to be a bit disagreeable as of late.  So, two weeks from now I will leave this vacationland, an ironic name for the place where I first embarked and continue on with my college career, and set off on my journeys.
Maine-Vacationland or what happens at a hippie school by the sea
to Pittsburgh-what happens when home merely becomes "home-base"
to Belize-to see what's really so appealing about the tropics
to Florida-when I have to work on a computer all day everyday
to Australia-need I say more
to New York-this has increasing appeal and potential