Final Week

There are only three more days of class/internship as of when I'm writing this blog.  I've found that I've enjoyed my biology class a lot more than I thought I would.  The professor's a really cool guy, and I'm getting to learn about all kinds of plants and animals around Alaska and how they function in the different seasons and weather up here.

As for my internship, I'm glad that will be done soon.  It was not so bad during the school year when I never needed to sit for more than two hours to work on a dictionary.  During the summer, I meant to be working as close to a full time job as possible.  However, with the class I'm taking, and the fact that sitting in front of my computer entering data for hours on end is misery, that goal was not reached.  It is difficult both to sit and to be accurate for so long.

Wednesday, they both end.  Thursday I'll get to enjoy some free time.  I was hoping to see a movie and explore the campus, but it might rain that day so I may only be able to do the former.  Friday I pack up, clean my room, and check out of my room.  I depart Fairbanks at 11:40 pm and arrive at Seattle at 4:00 am.  I hope to sleep on the flight, but we'll see how that goes.  I'd rather not sleep in the terminal, but I don't really enjoy the idea of sleeping on the plane.  I then have about 3 1/2 hours of layover so I'll probably try to wander across the whole airport and at some point grab some breakfast.  At 10:25 I'll be back in Boise.  I really look forward to getting done and making it to the 4th.

This last week has been a bit tough weather-wise.  From about Monday to Wednesday, it was very smoky.  The smoke greatly reduced visibility, and you could smell it even indoors.  After the smoke, it rained, which was nice because it cleared out the smoke.  The main problem was that I couldn't get out very much, and I was cooped up inside a lot.  I enjoy doing my constitutional outside when I can, and I didn't want to be outside for a while.

So, I'm (ideally) a little over halfway done with getting my degree here.  And in a week, I'll be returning to the lower 48 so I can see my family, friends, and cats!

Golf; Halfway

I should write up these blogs more, but I frequently feel very apathetic and forget to write these.


So, here is my June update:

On Monday, the 8th, some friends and I went to the Pioneer Park.  First we ate some Souvlaki:

It's a Greek food place.  Souvlaki lamb with onions and tomatoes in a pita wrap (not sure if the food named the restaurant, or the other way around).  There was some similar food, such as falafel, as well as Souvlaki tacos, which were the food I described above but in a taco.  For non-adventurous people, there were hot dogs.

The mini-golf course five of us (inclusive) played through.  It was rustic in every sense of the word, but still very fun.  Up until a bit before we started playing it was raining.  We were all really glad it stopped.

Windmill to shoot through towards the hole at the end.

I'm red here, you can see me on the purple carpet next to the planter.  I don't know if you guys can see it, but there was a bit of a lip to overcome that was tough.  Also, you see there is a bankshot in the corner.  I found those to be false friends and unhelpful.

My friends said there were no bonus points for making it in the bucket :(

Be sure your Tetanus shots are up to date prior to using this course.

You see the pan in the middle under the arch?  There were many holes that had mechanical obstacles, but none of them were working.  I wasn't complaining, but it would have been nice to have that added challenge to the holes.

You can see it at the farmost right; there is a hump in the carpet.  Perhaps due to moisture, or poor installation, the carpet was curling.  This added an unintended challenge to sinking the ball.

I did not make it through the straight shot on that pipe, but rather towards the right, about where you can see David is putting his green ball.

Putting.  We set little leaves or grass under balls when we needed to move other's balls so as to make a clear shot.

I made a hole-in-one on this one.  I was really happy to do so, because on the previous hole, I went way over par.  If you go up to the first picture, you see there is a hole in the middle with a loop de loop.  We had a mercy rule/ time saving rule that, on the fifth shot, if you didn't make it, you got a five.  My first two shots, I simply couldn't get enough power in my swing to make it through the loop.  On my third I did, but after that, I just couldn't sink it.  I think it was the only one I went over par.  Overall, I did end up under par, and in second place among my friends.  I really found the whole experience fun and was glad I got to hang out with my UCM friends again.

Dance here

Me on a wooden salmon.  Probably not life-sized.  

So, as of this weekend, I will be halfway through my Biology class, five eighths of the way through my summer session, and twenty-three twenty-sixths of the way since I started in January.  I really long to be done,  This is the longest stretch I've ever been away from home.  July 4th can't come soon enough.

Also, listen to this:

Attalus- Oh, The Depths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV8TVbteUoU

I enjoy it.