Woah Shit

Today we went into Woods Hole to get off campus, wander around and laugh at the tourist. We were lucky enough to stumble upon an open boat opportunity at the docks. The Ocean Exploration semester is headed to St. Croix and Grenada on Friday so the Cramer came into the docks on Monday. The Cramer is pretty similar to the Seamans (my ship) so we thought that it would be a good thing to see what we were getting into to. Let’s just say it is a lot smaller than I expected. The cabin is cramped with doors that can latch shut, submarine style. There are beds in every corner inch of the wall. Each bed is about 5’9” with a small cubby for my stuff. The beds are wedged into the walls wherever there is available space. Seeing this ship made me hopeful that my ship would be nicer… which it only sort of will. The labs are bigger, there aren’t beds in the main dining area, and that is about it. However, the one thing that is different is that our cruise track is supposed to be nice. Sweet, no seasickness. Nope. Not the case at all. I was informed that it is quite common for all 27 students to be leaning over the railing at once. The trick is to get a good spot so that you aren’t vomiting into the wind because space is limited. I have been kind of freaking out about this whole seasickness thing to the point where it is kind of entertaining for my class mates. I have decided to dawn all the seasickness patches and armbands. Yeah, I will buy into the placebo. On top of that, I have decided to swing in a hammock for about an hour a day to get used to the rocking motion and doing balance exercises in the mornings. I bet that I will still get seasick. I will take suggestions. 

SEA Semester

I am in Woods Hole for the next 6 weeks learning the ropes of the sea both literally and figuratively. So far it has been three days and the only complain I have is the rain we have been getting. I imbibed my first legal beer on Tuesday, but have yet to have the chance to purchase one. I think the opportunity might come this weekend.

The learning curve has been steep but amazing. I have never been so interested in a subject (Probably because this is my first earth science class coupled with hands on experience... my type of learning). I am taking three classes on campus right now: nautical science, Oceanography, and Public Policy. Nautical Science and Oceanography are filled with those aha! Moments. Things are explained scientifically that I have always wondered about. I kind of feel like I am in the book “A Short history of Nearly Everything.” Professors and one by my captain teach two of my classes. I quickly learned after being a good sleuth, that the last ship my captain sailed was the SSV Concordia. This boat also carried students, but had the unfortunate experience of sinking off the coast of Brazil last year. I am surprisingly OK with this. First of all, it was not his fault that the last ship sank. Secondly, everyone was safe, and he did a great job of making sure of that.

Public policy class is funny because it is a social science class for science majors. On top of that, it is a public policy class. The professor made us stand up and say what we thought about public policy and the role of the government in science. Nearly 100% of us said we didn’t like public policy and that there was no role of the government in the scientific field. This reflected the head of SEA statement during orientation that “we were selected to be the future of conservation. However scientist historically can not bridge the gap between the lab and politics.” Anyway, that is why they are making us take this public policy class. It sort of makes me feel important.

Woods Hole is a really cute place. Everything is either old bricks or wind washed shingles. There are boats everywhere, and I have access to some of the best oceanographic research in the world. In fact, the best part about this program is that every Friday a new guest lecturer comes in from around the country. This program means business.

Hello There New England... and other ramblings.

I am in New England once again after a three year hiatus and all the memories are flooding back. I remembered what was in the food court at South Station because of all the times that I was stuck there trying to get to some random place (anywhere but Concord!). I ordered a coffee and was only slightly jarred when the cashier asked me if I wanted sugar or splendar. I am loving the New England crisp fall ad beautiful leaves and was overjoyed to see old brick houses, and stone walls (or as I tried to explain them, fences made from stone piles… I am obviously not from New England).

 I can’t believe that I am saying this, cannot wait to finally be able to fully unpack. I realized on the bus that I have not been in one place for more than 5 consecutive days since early May. This summer I spent three days in an apartment and then four days in the backcountry—constantly unpacking, repacking and digging through a crammed bag for a pair of pants, toothbrush, hand sanitizer and whatnot. Additionally, a lot of the weekends in Oregon were spent traveling. From Oregon I went to Grinnell for 5 days and from there I went home for about five days. Then off to Poughkeepsie for two days and from there to South Hadley, MA for two days and now finally I have made my long journey involving a couple planes, a train and come automobiles (but no boat yet!). Six weeks in one place will be a great rest from this constant movement.

            At the moment I am staked out at South Station waiting for my bus to take me to my final destination. I am looking at all the students walking by wondering if one of them is my fellow classmate but to no avail. I have a feeling everyone is there already and I will be the last to arrive. We are supposed to be there by 2:00 and I think I will get by 1:55. I hope SEA semester is ready for the Frances attitude towards life: Don’t worry about it and it will eventually go away. Already I am true t form. I haven’t turned in most of my required forms, haven’t purchased my tickets from Tahiti to the US, or even know what classes I am taking tomorrow and which are reserved for the sea component.  I am actually starting to wonder how I got into the program. My friend Kate looked it up and said you had to be really smart to get in. Now I know that I am smart, but I don’t think that my grades are an accurate portrayal of this. Honestly, I have no idea. I haven’t really checked my grades since first semester first year, except for Organic because I wanted to make sure I didn’t fail the class. We shall see how I measure up to the rest of the class.

            I am honestly worried that I have found those 10 or so people that can deal with my overly relaxed attitude towards life, which is exceptionally rare in the field of science. Here are some examples:

~I paid my speeding ticket 6 months late because I wanted to see if the government would forget

~I flipped a coin to decide which boarding school to go to

~I applied early decision to Grinnell because I just wanted to get the college process over with and my advisor told me that I would like it. Luckily she was right.

~I got on a random bus when I was trying to get from LGA to Penn station because I figured all buses would eventually end up in Manhattan. I now know that this isn’t true, but I was lucky enough to get on a bust that ended up 2 blocks away from Penn station. I was also lucky enough to randomly get off at that stop. I was also lucky enough to walk two blocks in the right direction when I was looking for a subway station. So basically I was lucky enough to stumble upon Penn Station.

~ I am sure we could ask Jon Davis for more of these fun stories because the amount of times he yelled (politely) at me for my overly relaxed attitude is uncountable by now.