Last night around 11pm, I was sitting at the kitchen table with one of my finally-returned-housemates reading through stacks of papers with unbelievable energy and chatting when I realized: "I am totally high on happiness and adrenaline". I had just come back from a rugby practice which I will admit turned even my legs to jelly (the college team for whatever reason believes that I don't ever get sore... EVER!) but I was still going strong on a high from running around so much.
And most of you have heard the news - I passed all my comprehensive exams (qualifying exams for my PhD)! Yes, it is going to take some time to wipe this big grin off of my face. I realized that with the end of this semester I will have all my requirements complete: I finished my core classes and the comps and should know all about biological, chemical, physical and geological oceanography (or at least where to look for information in that area!), I've taken my required amount of extra classes, will be going out into the field (A LOT!) this semester which goes well beyond our field work requirement. And, which I am quite excited about, this semester I am doing my Teaching Practicum, which mean I will actually be giving two or three lectures in front of an undergrad class of over 100 students!
Which is what I dived into right after finishing up my oral exams and matter of fact I need to get back to...
Friday, September 3, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
the comps are coming...
Today I was on campus for a last Q&A's session before my comprehensive exams (for all who have asked: the written part is Thursday&Friday, my oral exam will be Wednesday). There was a crew of about 30 new grad students were there for their orientation, too.
Hard to believe that it really has been a year since I moved to Long Island to start my PhD! Time flies! Currently, time isn't going quite fast enough - I can't wait for my exams to be OVER.
My room is study zone central, it looks like a tornado struck, there are papers everywhere, stacks of books and binders, shoes, clothes...
Though I would like to mention that I do not have piles of dirty clothes all over the floor. When I have clothes on the floor, it's because while I still have it together enough to do my laundry, I don't get around to folding them... I'll bring them into my room, leave them on my bed to fold later, then later comes and goes and turns into bedtime, so I move all the clothes next to the bed, in order to fold them the next morning. And about a week later... well, I'm sure you get the picture.
So yes, all I have to do is survive til Tuesday next week (here's to hoping my allergies will die down!) and I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Hard to believe that it really has been a year since I moved to Long Island to start my PhD! Time flies! Currently, time isn't going quite fast enough - I can't wait for my exams to be OVER.
My room is study zone central, it looks like a tornado struck, there are papers everywhere, stacks of books and binders, shoes, clothes...
Though I would like to mention that I do not have piles of dirty clothes all over the floor. When I have clothes on the floor, it's because while I still have it together enough to do my laundry, I don't get around to folding them... I'll bring them into my room, leave them on my bed to fold later, then later comes and goes and turns into bedtime, so I move all the clothes next to the bed, in order to fold them the next morning. And about a week later... well, I'm sure you get the picture.
So yes, all I have to do is survive til Tuesday next week (here's to hoping my allergies will die down!) and I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
When two people meet ...
I recently discovered that modern technology has altered the mechanics of meeting people.
For example when you are trying to meet up with siomebody cell phones seem to have eliminated the need for precise times and places. You no longer say: I will meet you at 2:30 in front of the blue building next to the black door with the white stripes. You say (or more likely text) “2:30ish, near the blue building. Give me a call when you get there”. The first person to get there text the other: “I’m here now, give me a call when you get here”. And inevitably meeting and greeting goes something like this – one person calls the other, both are on the phone saying stuff like – uh, I’m right next to the greenish door – oh, I just parked I should be walking towards you – there’s a red motorcycle parked to my left – and finally one person says “oh, I see you – turn around” and the greeting style is one hand on the phone one had in the air waving.
Then there’s randomly meeting somebody on the street and saying hi. You catch their eye, nod both walk towards each other and reach with one hand to pull out one of their earbuds and you say: Hey how’s it going? Exchange one or two sentences of small talk, pop the ear bud back in and continue walking down the street.
For example when you are trying to meet up with siomebody cell phones seem to have eliminated the need for precise times and places. You no longer say: I will meet you at 2:30 in front of the blue building next to the black door with the white stripes. You say (or more likely text) “2:30ish, near the blue building. Give me a call when you get there”. The first person to get there text the other: “I’m here now, give me a call when you get here”. And inevitably meeting and greeting goes something like this – one person calls the other, both are on the phone saying stuff like – uh, I’m right next to the greenish door – oh, I just parked I should be walking towards you – there’s a red motorcycle parked to my left – and finally one person says “oh, I see you – turn around” and the greeting style is one hand on the phone one had in the air waving.
Then there’s randomly meeting somebody on the street and saying hi. You catch their eye, nod both walk towards each other and reach with one hand to pull out one of their earbuds and you say: Hey how’s it going? Exchange one or two sentences of small talk, pop the ear bud back in and continue walking down the street.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
here's a good one
This Sunday the pastor was preaching on the "ought". As in what our lives "ought" to be, how God has so much more in store for us than we "ever asked or imagined". And how it is our job as well to make the most of opportunities we have now to be prepared for later.
He described it as think of two women chatting. One says: "I really need to start going to the gym. I met this really cute guy at the water cooler today". And the pastor said, this is why you need to focus on the ought and work on it now. It's too late - she's already met the guy.
Yes. He said it during the Sunday morning service.
Suddenly, I no longer feel bad about some of the jokes I've cracked during a service or analogies I've come up with... like the infamous rugby-sermon.
Though I still maintain, that had Paul known about rugby he would have definitely used it instead of "the body"...
But that's another story.
He described it as think of two women chatting. One says: "I really need to start going to the gym. I met this really cute guy at the water cooler today". And the pastor said, this is why you need to focus on the ought and work on it now. It's too late - she's already met the guy.
Yes. He said it during the Sunday morning service.
Suddenly, I no longer feel bad about some of the jokes I've cracked during a service or analogies I've come up with... like the infamous rugby-sermon.
Though I still maintain, that had Paul known about rugby he would have definitely used it instead of "the body"...
But that's another story.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
5 Minutes of Peace
When I was a kid we had this book called "Five Minutes of Peace". It's the story of a mother elephant with lots of kids and all she wants is five minutes of peace and quiet. Except everytime she sits down one of her kids comes because of something. Basically, as I understand this it's every Mom's story. In the end, she locks herself into the bathroom wearing a bathing cap, and her cup of tea.
Even though I'm not a Mom, I get it. Sometimes you just need a bit of quiet. Of course, growing up in a family in which everyone plays at least two instruments and we only ever practiced when other people were practicing gives you a different concept of "peace and quiet". I once slept through an entire afternoon in my bunk with my head against a metal wall that was being rust banged (which is exactly what it sounds like, pardon the pun).
But now I'm trying to study for my comprehensive exams (big deal. If I fail I won't exactly be kicked out of the program... yet, but probably strongly encouraged to re-think this phD-thingie). I need a good place to study, a little bit of peace and quiet and a chance to focus.
Not that easy when the temperatures are in the triple digits (that's the only good thing about Fahrenheit, you can express HOW INCREDIBLY HOT it is by saying "the temperatures were in the triple digits) and it's so humid it feels like you're in a sauna at all times. Reading my notes gets difficult when there's sweat dripping off my nose and messing them up.
I found a good spot in my room. This is also when I discovered that none of my neighbors do their own garden work. They all hire people to come. People who professionally mow lawns have BIG LOUD machines. I didn't realize how many neighbors I have until there was a constant lawn mowing, bush cutting, leave blowing and other annoying sound stuff going on.
I'm trying to remember why everyone in this area was so worried about the house being rented out to students. Oh that's right - because we're so LOUD and constantly PARTY and NEVER study.
I guess if you don't mow your own lawn you don't understand you really don't have to do it every other day. I'm still wondering how the guy across the street who had somebody put a fence in managed to schedule it for the one day nobody was mowing their lawn. And why he didn't understand that people understand his instructions if he left his front door step.
The one day it rained I thought I'd be safe. But no - somebody decided to mow their OWN lawn. Now I know why people here don't do their own garden stuff. You can't mow a wet lawn. And you should realize this after an hour or two. There's no reason to continue ALL AFTERNOON.
Yeah, I tried moving to study in my office - but then they decided it would be a good day to finish construction on the roof. I tried going to the library. But they decided it was necessary to tear up the road.
So I did the natural thing one does when one wants 5 minutes of peace. I went fishing. One of my class mates is trying to catch white perch in order to tag them and.... yeah, I'll spare you the details, the important part was that we were going to spend the ENTIRE day on a REMOTE river in a WILDLIFE SANCTUARY on a BOAT. FISHING.
We tuckered out, threw in the anchor (this was my boating job that day, I'm really good at chucking anchors), baited our rods, tossed them out and settled in.
Then they decided to cut down trees with a chain saw.
Even though I'm not a Mom, I get it. Sometimes you just need a bit of quiet. Of course, growing up in a family in which everyone plays at least two instruments and we only ever practiced when other people were practicing gives you a different concept of "peace and quiet". I once slept through an entire afternoon in my bunk with my head against a metal wall that was being rust banged (which is exactly what it sounds like, pardon the pun).
But now I'm trying to study for my comprehensive exams (big deal. If I fail I won't exactly be kicked out of the program... yet, but probably strongly encouraged to re-think this phD-thingie). I need a good place to study, a little bit of peace and quiet and a chance to focus.
Not that easy when the temperatures are in the triple digits (that's the only good thing about Fahrenheit, you can express HOW INCREDIBLY HOT it is by saying "the temperatures were in the triple digits) and it's so humid it feels like you're in a sauna at all times. Reading my notes gets difficult when there's sweat dripping off my nose and messing them up.
I found a good spot in my room. This is also when I discovered that none of my neighbors do their own garden work. They all hire people to come. People who professionally mow lawns have BIG LOUD machines. I didn't realize how many neighbors I have until there was a constant lawn mowing, bush cutting, leave blowing and other annoying sound stuff going on.
I'm trying to remember why everyone in this area was so worried about the house being rented out to students. Oh that's right - because we're so LOUD and constantly PARTY and NEVER study.
I guess if you don't mow your own lawn you don't understand you really don't have to do it every other day. I'm still wondering how the guy across the street who had somebody put a fence in managed to schedule it for the one day nobody was mowing their lawn. And why he didn't understand that people understand his instructions if he left his front door step.
The one day it rained I thought I'd be safe. But no - somebody decided to mow their OWN lawn. Now I know why people here don't do their own garden stuff. You can't mow a wet lawn. And you should realize this after an hour or two. There's no reason to continue ALL AFTERNOON.
Yeah, I tried moving to study in my office - but then they decided it would be a good day to finish construction on the roof. I tried going to the library. But they decided it was necessary to tear up the road.
So I did the natural thing one does when one wants 5 minutes of peace. I went fishing. One of my class mates is trying to catch white perch in order to tag them and.... yeah, I'll spare you the details, the important part was that we were going to spend the ENTIRE day on a REMOTE river in a WILDLIFE SANCTUARY on a BOAT. FISHING.
We tuckered out, threw in the anchor (this was my boating job that day, I'm really good at chucking anchors), baited our rods, tossed them out and settled in.
Then they decided to cut down trees with a chain saw.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Finally, after all these years...
When I was in my pre-teens, we used to drive to Poland once a year with a bunch of other families. It was a long drive and sometimes and even longer wait at the border.
In order to pass the time, one of the older girls used to hand out one or two sheets of paper for a road-trip scavenger hunt. There were a few items on the list that showed up every year and frankly, were near-impossible to find.
Over time (again, LOTS of time) we did find most of them: A car with more than three colors, a truck with an elephant on the side of it,... we even found the pyramids (those are surprisingly easy to find if you don't fall asleep during a certain part of the ride). But there was one item in paticular that we never did see.
Yesterday I was on my way to a rugby tournament (yes, were else do I go these days) in Pennsylvania. We took the route that takes us through two tunnels and right through the middle of "The City". As we were coming through the tunnel, I remarked: Hey, that truck lots funny, it looks like it's reversing through the tunnel.
Then I stopped. And looked. And blinked and looked again.
here it was, after all those years of waiting:
A tow truck being towed by a tow truck!
In order to pass the time, one of the older girls used to hand out one or two sheets of paper for a road-trip scavenger hunt. There were a few items on the list that showed up every year and frankly, were near-impossible to find.
Over time (again, LOTS of time) we did find most of them: A car with more than three colors, a truck with an elephant on the side of it,... we even found the pyramids (those are surprisingly easy to find if you don't fall asleep during a certain part of the ride). But there was one item in paticular that we never did see.
Yesterday I was on my way to a rugby tournament (yes, were else do I go these days) in Pennsylvania. We took the route that takes us through two tunnels and right through the middle of "The City". As we were coming through the tunnel, I remarked: Hey, that truck lots funny, it looks like it's reversing through the tunnel.
Then I stopped. And looked. And blinked and looked again.
here it was, after all those years of waiting:
A tow truck being towed by a tow truck!
Monday, July 5, 2010
I guess sometimes art does imitate life
Having previously established why we love the French, here's a funny story from our crazy road trip...
Since I was coming from Konstanz and my sister and mother were coming from the Heidelberg area, we decided it would be best if we met up where the train line intercepted their "car line". I got there a bit early, but soon enough the two of them pulled up in my parents' obnoxiously orange car. What we hadn't realized was that Offenburg's main train station is a really bad place to meet up. Yes, it is right off the Autobahn... but the signage is really bad and not at all conducive towards getting back ON the Autobahn and into France.
My mother no longer has any patience for crazy car drivers (maybe this is one of the many traits I've inherited from my mother?!), my sister is a good navigator but not a very insistent one - and I just wasn't going to get involved. I've learned when to keep my mouth shut.
Our first attempt, which involved following the signs took us right back to the train station. Our second attempt which involved following my mother's gut instinct (which usually is a good compass to follow) plus the signs spun us in another circle - and we suddenly dead ended at the beginning of a pedestrian zone. Yes, one might have thought that there would be sort of indication that the street ends suddenly with no opportunity to turn around or anything, but maybe we were just too close to France.
So there we sat. When suddenly...
You know how in slap-sticky comedy flicks things get really crazy and people are chasing each other and running away and missing each other and there's complete chaos there's always a marching band that will come out of nowhere and add exponentially to the confusion? And every time you watch a movie like that, you think, riiiiiiiiiiiiight, like that would really happen. Every time. Who comes up with this stuff? Isn't art supposed to imitate life?
Well, either art does imitate life or sometimes life just imitates art, but just as we came to a complete stop and frustration hit it's high point -
yes, the marching band began to play. I couldn't help myself and started laughing: "Really?! Really?! A marching band?!". Ok, it wasn't actually marching toward us aiming to engulf us and slam it's cymbals through the window and the trumpet player did not walk up onto the roof of our car or anything - they were sitting in the town square playing peacefully (albeit loudly) but still - a marching band?!
We did make it out on our third attempt and were merrily on our way... once we were rolling towards France we all started giggling, seriously? a marching band?!
Since I was coming from Konstanz and my sister and mother were coming from the Heidelberg area, we decided it would be best if we met up where the train line intercepted their "car line". I got there a bit early, but soon enough the two of them pulled up in my parents' obnoxiously orange car. What we hadn't realized was that Offenburg's main train station is a really bad place to meet up. Yes, it is right off the Autobahn... but the signage is really bad and not at all conducive towards getting back ON the Autobahn and into France.
My mother no longer has any patience for crazy car drivers (maybe this is one of the many traits I've inherited from my mother?!), my sister is a good navigator but not a very insistent one - and I just wasn't going to get involved. I've learned when to keep my mouth shut.
Our first attempt, which involved following the signs took us right back to the train station. Our second attempt which involved following my mother's gut instinct (which usually is a good compass to follow) plus the signs spun us in another circle - and we suddenly dead ended at the beginning of a pedestrian zone. Yes, one might have thought that there would be sort of indication that the street ends suddenly with no opportunity to turn around or anything, but maybe we were just too close to France.
So there we sat. When suddenly...
You know how in slap-sticky comedy flicks things get really crazy and people are chasing each other and running away and missing each other and there's complete chaos there's always a marching band that will come out of nowhere and add exponentially to the confusion? And every time you watch a movie like that, you think, riiiiiiiiiiiiight, like that would really happen. Every time. Who comes up with this stuff? Isn't art supposed to imitate life?
Well, either art does imitate life or sometimes life just imitates art, but just as we came to a complete stop and frustration hit it's high point -
yes, the marching band began to play. I couldn't help myself and started laughing: "Really?! Really?! A marching band?!". Ok, it wasn't actually marching toward us aiming to engulf us and slam it's cymbals through the window and the trumpet player did not walk up onto the roof of our car or anything - they were sitting in the town square playing peacefully (albeit loudly) but still - a marching band?!
We did make it out on our third attempt and were merrily on our way... once we were rolling towards France we all started giggling, seriously? a marching band?!
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