First Week..

Although this week was off to a significantly rocky start, my internship has finally began to pick up momentum. Due to the fact that my advisor had been out of town for the week preceding the start of my internship, he had to make up a lot of work...meaning he had to find a ridiculous amount of odds and ends chores for me to do around the visitor's center. Needless to say, I spent my first day down in the basement blasting The Cure and Depeche Mode, cleaning approximately 500 slides for the Park's slide show............ intriguing!
Yesterday, though, I got to do several school pre-visits with my advisor; pretty much, we toured around to several local elementary schools that are planning to visit SNP throughout the next couple of weeks, giving them basic overviews of the plants/animals and natives of the Sonoran Desert. To be entirely honest..the most fascinating and disturbing aspect of yesterday was that there is this distinct scent associated with elementary schools. The second I entered Walter-Douglas, I was consumed by this awful blast-from-the-past scent that lingered in every room: a disgusting collection of baby powder, cafeteria food, rubber erasers and moth balls.
Today was even more fun. A group of about 50 4th graders from Brika Elementary came out for a special 4-station program that we offer, which touches on different aspects of native life in the Sonoran Desert: food, shelter, storage, and communication. It was actually a load of fun, and the kids were great! By the end of the afternoon, I felt purty snazzy in my fancy-shmancy ranger uniform, with kids hanging off of all sides of me. How altruistic. I forgot how hopeful and energetic little kids can be.
Any free time I've had, I've spent doing a lot of independent research in the library in the basement. I've actually become quite interested in the culture of the park and the lives of the desert's natives.

Today I Observed Open Heart Surgery...Then Ate a Turkey Sandwich

Hey everyone, I finally got this silly blog thing figured out. Just wanted to update you all on what I have been doing for the past couple of days. I was supposed to start my internship on monday, but when I got to UMC at 8 am for my first observation, the RNs had a flip out and threw me out of the OR for not being 18. Lol, so yeah the first couple of days were super boring. I am excited to say though that today I did observe my first open heart surgery! It was really neat, and very very interesting. I was surprised to find that the heart itself is actually yellow. In any case, the experience was great and I didn't have a problem with anything; no passing out, no throwing up, no nothing. As the title of my blog says, after the experience I had lunch with Dr. Bose and some others from Tucson Heart Hospital. It was great. I will see you all soon I hope.

:) Molly

Forget about today until tomorrow

Due to the weather and various personal reasons, I will not be able to visit Mt. Lemmon until possibly Friday. In the meantime, I have been reading and taking notes on my sources. Also, ironically, I have been battling a nasty cold (again!) since Sunday. Thus I have gotten little work done, much to my chagrin. I will update again once I have visited Mt. Lemmon.

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying some free time.

Katharine

Hot for Honduras

Hey guys! Excuse my outrageous sense of humor but anyways, I will be leaving for Boston and Honduras on march 22nd, a little later then the other seniors, saving the best for last of course.
So far, everything has beeen going great, my responsibiloties as an intern for the company Travel Muse are a little more demanding then I thought but also more fun then I expected. I will be calling England later today about dinner reservations for some tourists later on this month.
You may have seen me around school, as I am at school right now on the computer blogging right now, and thats because im attending the 11th grade spanish class to help make my spanish skills a little more comprehensive by the time I touch down in San Pedro Sula.

Wish me luck!
Adios

One Week

As my departure approaches (17th) I am going though the exciting motions of dotting crossing the t's and dotting the i's for my trip to Argentina. Despite the lure of buying power adapters for foreign countries have begun filming for my documentary. To date I have one interview with my grandfather and some exciting b-roll footage. I hope to get a second interview by the time I leave. I can't wait to begin immersing myself in the culture of Buenos Aries. I hope to be doing a lot of photography and will be posting some of the better shots.


Gavin

Hi, everybody.
I will be working on a comic based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland. Maybe I'll post some of my work (or links to it) to get some feedback on it... or not.
Wish me luck,
Siobhan

Keep on keepin' on

I will be researching competition between squirrel species on Mt. Lemmon for the wildlife biology department at the UofA. I met with my advisors today and got my equipment, so I am all set to go. I will be working outside, which will be good for me I think. Very peaceful.

P.S. I think all of my post titles will be Bob Dylan lyrics.

P.P.S. Not really.