home to the snow

I've been home in Massachusetts for almost a week now! It's pretty funny writing this here in the states. This semester was pretty amazing. I loved living with 29 other students, 2 of the profs, 1 intern, 1 student affairs manager, 1 centre director & his wife, 1 cook, 1 maintenance guy, and the family of one prof (wife + 2 kids). We all did get to know each other very well. It was so nice not needing a cell phone or really a planner either, since we all did the same stuff. The last bit of program time was all DR (directed research) writeup, presentation, & posters. It turned out pretty well! It was pretty cool seeing what everyone else had spent so much time on. We had a great talent show/white elephant gift exchange (aka yankee swap) one of the last nights & a "magical mystery tour" the 2nd to last day (while the profs graded everything)-- random surprise trip to fun places run by the intern/student affairs manager. I got to do a gondola ride with some others from the town of Kuranda to the city of Cairns! pretty cool to be riding above the rainforest. After the program, I went off to Sydney for a few days with some people! It was great. A nice way to transition from SFS in the isolated rainforest w/30 students to home in a town in the snow. We stayed in a hostel, wandered around a lot, saw the beautiful opera house, etc. etc. This was a pretty amazing semester. The average day had a field lecture in a random new place, every day we walked by brush turkeys & bandicoots around the centre. We often saw pademelons & pythons, there were some vicious trees ("stinging trees" when you still feel the sting months later, "wait-a-whiles" w/ thorns galore, etc.), and most Aus people had such a relaxed attitude. I definitely love the "smoko" aka snacktime around 10am w/ delicious coffee, cakes, and sometimes even sandwiches. Also the terms "toilet" (there's no bath..) and "nibblies" (snacks) are pretty great. I did really like doing field research, too.. maybe that will go somewhere. It is pretty nice to be back in cold New England in the middle of an insane snowstorm right now. I love the cold snow. I do miss it a bit, though. It's going to be an interesting shift going from SFS in the rainforest to Trinity in Hartford getting very little sleep, getting in much better shape (crew), changing academics to microscopic bio & non-science classes, and not living with everyone. I am definitely excited to get back to Trin, but this semester was pretty unique and incredible.