1st official Blog Post!

Hello everyone!

I am now in week 2 out of 11 for Spring Quarter 2013 of my 3rd year here at UCSC.

So far things are alright, though I have encountered some horrible electronic problems this week. Hopefully they will get sorted out... but that has been the big trouble of my life this week.

This quarter I'm taking Marine Botany (Marine Algae) with Lab and Physics with Lab. Both classes are pretty hard, but I am enjoying the Algae class so far. I love physiology and working with microscopes, so that's been fun. I really don't like physics so far, but its required and I'm getting through it.

Marine Botany: The study of Seaweed.

I also just recently graduated from the Seymour Marine Discovery Center's Docent training program. It was a really great experience and I got to meet and hear lectures from a lot of famous researchers. I now get to lead tours of the Long Marine Lab to visitors every Sunday afternoon. 

As far as the job went with the National Marine Fisheries Service, I don't think I'll be getting the job I described earlier with the Coho Salmon, but I should hopefully be able to work or intern with the research vessels during the summer. They should be putting up those job listings any day now, so I'll definitely keep everyone updated as I learn more about it. 

Also last quarter I did Cruzfit, which was a campus-wide effort to establish a consistent exercise routine. I was just hiking through the redwood forest on upper campus last quarter, but this quarter I'm trying to run 3 miles 4-5 times a week. It makes it easy, because my house is conveniently located on a 3 mile circle that includes some of the nicest beaches in Santa Cruz. So i get to run by the ocean on an almost daily basis now!

West Cliff, Santa Cruz, CA

Cruzfit! They have the softest shirts!

I haven't completely decided when I'll be back in Atascadero this quarter but this should be the general schedule of when I do get to come back: 

-Home to help Mom with Seven Sister's Quilt Show (April 27th) April 27th-28th

-Possible trip home: May 24th-27th (Memorial weekend)

-Home for Marc's graduation/end of the quarter/Live Oak June 11th- 18th?

-Definitely going to Kings River June 20th?-24th? 

-London/Netherlands with Dad/Jill/Marc/Madi/Laney July 21st - August 3rd

Alright so, Some cool stuff:

-Qualia: The concept of whether or not we see the same colors as other people. Vsauce, the guys who made that video, make a lot of really interesting science videos, so if you have an hour or 2, watch a few!

-So I recently found out that Jeff Corwin (from the Discovery Channel) got to climb all over the Seymour Center's Blue whale for his show. This is one of the things I describe on my tour and I get to walk past Ms. Blue everyday! Pretty cool that she gets her 15 minutes of fame! She's the largest skeleton on display in the world (87 foot long blue whale - technically tied for one in San Francisco that isn't on display). Pretty neat! 

-In one of my classes we had to analyze the BP Gulf Oil Spill, which was very horrible for a variety of reasons. But we got to see this cool animation that really explains the whole thing. Interesting to watch...

Much Love,

Emily