First Day

Greetings all! And so soon you say? Well lets just say that a whole lot has happened today already. I won't give you a play by play, well maybe I will. We had a meeting with our professor today. He has been working at the University of California Santa Cruz for awhile and does research on acoustic communication of pinnipeds (seals). He took this class the first year it was ever offered back in 1972 or something. Crazy. Tomorrow is the first day of class where we will find out more about our schedule and stuff but so far this is what it looks like.

From 9:30-12 we will have 2 lectures with a lot of them being guest lectures come in and talk about their research on mammals. Then after lunch from 1-4 we will have presentations, discussions and more classroom time. We only have class from Monday to Friday, opposed to on Saturday too which is what I originally thought. Saturday and Sunday is when our trips will be and the days we will get to do our own independent research project. Sounds pretty stellar. We are only starting at 9:30 everyday in order to allow for time to read and prepare for that day's class. There is a final exam, 2 presentations on papers, a literature report and presentation and our huge research project.

This afternoon we learned how to drive the boats. If you think I am a bad driver, wait till you see me in a boat. It was brutal. The steering directions are backwards and will take some getting used to. Docking is hard and frustrating. I'm not all into machines and even my dad's power tools so it should be interesting. We usually go out in groups of 2 or more so someone will be able to drive it well.

I met a bunch of people already, which is I guess to be expected. There are only like 4 guys and the rest are girls out of 24 people in my class. My roommate Allison is from Calgary and is a Flames fan. LOL. A huge bonus! I have been hanging out with Caitlin a lot and we are boating buddies, so it's all good. We are gonna crack open the cards tonight too.

We have one more lecture thing tonight and then our first day is done. We have a library tour tomorrow in the evening too but tomorrow is the first day of class. We are all nerds up here and have been reading our textbooks already.

I'm saving the best news for last. The wildlife we have seen today is amazing. At breakfast a raccoon came up to the window and was begging for food. During our tour we saw a mink, a baby harbor seal, and you'll never guess . . . two humpback whales. All in the inlet!! It was so awesome. And we get to see whales all the time for our research so it's gonna be so cool.

Later days!