After finally arriving at about 6pm on Tuesday, I met my roommate, Elizabeth, and we headed over to the communal kitchen where the program was providing pizza for us for dinner. There we met all the other summer program students. There are 2 grad students that live in the dorms and research at the lab. They will serve as lab TA's for us, as far as I can tell. There are a total of 8 REU students. On top of that there are 2 COSEE students (not sure exactly what that stands for but they are community college students that are essentially doing the same thing that REU's are doing). We all met each other and got to chat over pizza before the first formal day of the program started.
Yesterday was our first day. We started the morning off with some breakfast, provided by the program since we hadn't gone shopping yet. Next, we had a little meeting to introduce ourselves (again) and meet all the Shannon Point faculty and staff. Then we had a tour of the facility. The lab is HUGE! There seems to be a LOT of room to work and a huge variety of top of the line equipment. I saw the specific lab where I will spend my time and it seems nice.
After the tour, we had private meetings with our advisors. My advisor is Dr. Steve Sulkin and he is interested in life histories of larval species, specifically crabs. He explained my project to me (which sounds awesome) and gave me a few papers to read so I am up-to-date on current research.
Then, we all gathered together (and by all I mean all students, faculty, and staff - about 30 people) for lunch in the commons building. It was nice to mingle for a little bit and get to know other researchers interests and projects.
However, we were shortly pulled away from lunch to go grocery shopping, since we need to provide all our own food. Finally, after one last less than entertaining meeting, we were given the evening to ourselves. I was fully prepared to go to my room and read my papers, but one of the girls who lives in a near by town and has a car on campus asked me if I wanted to explore Anacortes with her. Of course I accepted!
We went into town, which is quite small, and looked at all the shops. There are a LOT of antique shops around here. We stopped for a couple things at the pharmacy before and were about to head back to campus when she decided that I needed to see a few of the views from around here. The short drive was SO worth it. She took me to the top of Mt. Erie to look out over all the islands in this area and then to Deception Pass, a short channel between the mainland and Whidbey Island. They were both some of the most majestic and magnificent views that I have ever seen! I was once again reminded of God's power and creativity in His creation. Here are some pictures of me in front of the views. A camera just can't seem to capture the true beauty.
View of Mt. Baker from the top of Mt. Erie
Islands
Deception Pass
Overall, I have had a busy, but exciting two days. I feel so blessed to have had the chance to even come here and for the blessing that God has given me when I got here - a Christian roommate, a friend who drove me all over creation just for fun, a great research project, friendly and kind people around me... the list goes on and on.
I'm ready to tackle the day!
P.S. Sorry this had been such a long post - so much has happened!
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