Back to Academia

It has been awhile since I have updated cyberspace about this epic life I lead in the Shaky Isles. I will try to catch you up so we can all live life in the present...for tomorrow will take care of itself...this is something I have been relying on recently. You will understand in a few posts. :)
School started two weeks ago. It feels good to be back in academia, but it is an adjustment from my extremely long break. I have statistics 4 days a week at 10am. This is going to be a relatively easy class, I think. The lectures are incredibly boring though. There is also a tutorial (kinda like a lab) in a computer lab each Wednesday at noon.
On Tuesdays I have an 8am GEOL 263: Fossils, Strata and Hydrocarbon Basins (we just call it basins) lecture...then stats at 10....the another basins lecture at 12....then basins practical (aka lab) from 2 to whenever I get done. It’s a long day...with class then a break, class then a break etc... but I like getting one class all done for the week in one day. Basins is going to be challenging, but I am so excited to learn about the sedimentary basins in New Zealand! I am going to learn so much about NZ geology as well as foraminifera (microscopic fossils in rocks), strata, coal and other awesome subjects. My friend Drew is in this class and I know a bunch of people from the 252 field trip who are in this class. Two 3rd year kiwi girls I know (one is my nextdoor neighbor) are in 363...which meets at the same time, they just have slightly different requirements.
Geology 252 is the Field Studies in New Zealand Geology class that I had the awesome field trip with and the MASSIVE project. This tutorial is at 2pm on Thursdays/ Well, I FINISHED THE PROJECT THIS MORNING AND TURNED IT IN!!!!!!! It felt so good. We got back from that trip on Sunday evening and we had almost exactly a week to do everything. This was a <3,000 word report, geologic map, two cross-sections, stratigraphic column, measured section and we turned our field notebooks. By the way, I haven’t ever done any of these things before! Talk about new experiences while abroad, sheesh. I felt like we had inadequate time and the instructions we not specific enough. And as a result of that I feel like I could have done much better if the conditions allowed and I hadn’t procrastinated so much. Anyway, it’s done and turned in so it’s a non-issue now :) I will try to do better on the nest field trip/project we have in about a month. During the week we have a lab practical for this class. The first day it was a bit overwhelming. I haven’t had structural geology, which is a big part of what we have been working on lately. There is a lab book with appendices about most of the things I will need to know, so I will just have to teach it to myself before lab. This is going to continue to be my favorite class! I will learn so much. The two demonstrators/teachers for the 252 practical are SO funny and sarcastic and hilarious and slightly mean! I’m going to have a great time in this one! Geology, sarcasm and field work are three of my favorite things, so I will enjoy this paper (aka course).
I am only taking three classes so my semester will be relatively chill. The 252 class doesn’t have a final and it ends a few weeks early...so during the three week final exam period I will only have 2 exams! :) Not too shabby.
I love being in school and learning!

Also...I feel like I see people I know all the time, which is relatively odd seeing as I have only been in this country for just over a month ish, it's so fun! I guess with Butler (my study abroad program), geology and my flat I know a bunch of people. It's feeling more and more like "home"...well not like home but like MY school. I hope that makes sense. I love Miami University, but I think I'm falling for Otago Uni...Did I hear someone say grad school?