the countdown

I'm grudginly counting down the weeks before I am no longer an undergraduate. Maybe they won't make me leave, but I have a feeling that in 11 weeks I'll be forced out of my haven for the past four years. Here's an illustrated summary of what I've been up to the last few months:

August: Meandering across the US of A with my best friend and roommate, Katie. Highlights include cracking our windshield within the first 20 miles, killing a bird on the highway, reservation dogs stealing my sneakers, moose, illegal campsites, and a large prarie dog.

The best campsite I have ever seen (Katie found it)

The upper peninsula of Michigan: unfortunately, I can't diss the state after spending a couple of days up here.

Bacterial mats at Yellowstone

September-November: My favorite quote (during a review of my thesis, regarding a really cool confocal micrograph that I took and wanted to include in my introduction):
Me (whining): But I really like the picture
My professor: Yeah, but I'm sure you really like a picture of your dog, too, yet I don't see that included in your thesis. (I almost included a picture of Shiloh on the last page of my final draft just to see what he would say).
Neruda's poetry, advanced analytical chemistry, thesis revisions, graduate school applications, and Pet Vet were all occasionally punctuated by escapes to the arboretum:

Spittle bugs in a conifer


The sun occasionally does shine in Michigan

The international students' visit to the arboretum

December: two great trips...a road trip to see my other best friend, Reid, followed by a short visit with my extended family and a second stay in Ecuador!

Reid and I decide to jump into a lake near her house on December 1st. We immediately regretted the decision.

My adopted family with our christmas carol rendition (my sister remembered me!)

For unforseen reasons, I ended up back in the jungle collecting turtle eggs

A great hemipteran

Some cool ants making a nest

You know your underwear smells bad when...

Larvae, anyone?

Driving (illegally) in the Amazon in a truck with a broken clutch and a leak in the fuel injection system is fun...until you drive through a military checkpoint.

The cutest kids I have ever met

January: I returned to Oregon just long enough to leave for Colorado and kick off the interview season. Three months later, they are finally over and, for the biggest news of all, I have been accepted to all three dual veterinary/PhD programs and am in the second stage of the Fulbright application process. I guess now I have to make a decision :(