Summerfest!

Wow! 2 posts in 2 days is an accomplishment for me!

Last night Melinda, Bonnie and I went to Summerfest for the first time. Summerfest is Milwaukee's HUGE music festival! It lasts for 11 days, has 11 stages and features just over 800 bands by the time it is finished!!! Last night we went to see Gavin DeGraw; I hadn't heard much of his new stuff before but it was catchy and HE IS AN ENTERTAINER! (He played the old stuff too which everybody knew and sang along to "I'm in Love with a Girl" "Chariot" and "I don't wanna be"!!!)

Working 9 to 10!

I'm finding that I don't really have time to "post" during the week due to long work hours, but I'll try to keep you updated the best I can. Here is a little summary of this past week:

Sunday started off with breakfast at Cafe Hollander, a local outdoor cafe that one of the local guys in our program recommended to us. It was yummy and it is now going to be tradition to go every Sunday (as long as it's not raining).

Other than that it was just another week in the lab!

Note the stylish lab coats and safety goggles :)

This is what happens when you go on a walk with biologists...

Other events this week included the kick-off of Summerfest (Milwaukee's HUGE music festival) and another research cruise on the R.V. Neeskay!

Until next time...

Week 2

I've haven't posted in a week because it has been a super busy week! Last weekend I flew back to Des Moines/Winterset, IA because my friends Michelle and Travis were getting married! I was so honored to be a bridesmaid and stand up there with Michelle on her big day and so lucky to be able to make it back for all of the festivities! A special thanks to Jaime fore driving EVERYWHERE all weekend!

This past week at the WATER institute consisted of long, but fun days (we're talking 10-12 hour days). I have learned so much already! Russell Cuhel and Carmen Aguilar are my mentors and they are amazing; they are so knowledgeable about so much! Also, my proposal for my project was due this week so it mainly consisted of working and sleeping but all in all it was another good week here in Milwaukee!

Finally this weekend we had beautiful weather which means we made it to the beach!!!! Yay for tans, sand volleyball and the best custard in Milwaukee!

I'm on a BOAT!

Actually, it was a research vessel on Lake Michigan! Our second day consisted of a rough day on the lake. Not rough in the sense that I got sick, but rough in the sense that the lake was experiencing "rare" Easterly winds and it was stormy. But we got our vessel safety training and then headed out on the R.V. Neeskay (it means clear waters in a Native American language).

Basically, IT WAS AWESOME! I felt like a scientist (and not a student), even though I am a student and still have a lot to learn! It took about 1.5 hours to get to our first stop where we spent 2 hours collecting samples and data. After that, the lake got really rough so we just took surface measurements at our stops on the way in. Dr. Cuhel (pronounced Dr. Cool)...we call him Russell though, because "we will learn not to respect him just for his title, but for what he knows." He and Carmen are SO knowledgeable. Between yesterday on the vessel and today in the lab, I have learned such a large quantity of information I hope that I can remember it all!

Some of the stuff I have done so far:

• Used a Secchi disk




• Taken water samples from as far down as the bottom of Lake Michigan




• Taken PONAR Samples




• Taken and analyzed CTD measurements




• Measured CO2 content in the water using an electrochemical method




• Measured and categorized Quagga Mussels (benthic bivalves)




• Got my first lab notebooks!




• Trained/Authorized to work with Radioactive Materials!

Instant Macaroni Instant Friends

It's funny how when you move somewhere brand new, with a brand new group of people, everybody bonds...immediately...no questions asked. Well, actually, a lot of questions asked. Where are you from? How did you get here? Do you know "so and so" from there? Tell me about yourself, etc. But regardless of all the questions and how different someone may be from you, you become instant friends. And for me, in Milwaukee, that happened over gyros and instant macaroni.

I am living with four girls in an apartment with a shared kitchen. We all come from different places, all have different styles, all have different interests, all have different life stories...yet we are here for the same REU program, thus, we are instant friends. The guys live in the apartment next to us and, over the past two dinners (gyros and macaroni), we have all gotten to know each other. Here's a brief list so you'll know who I'm talking about later on:

Lisa-St. Olaf College-Biology
Melinda-University of Minnesota Twin Cities-Environmental Science
Bonnie-Western Washington University-Environmental Toxicology
Molly (Me)- Northwest Missouri State University-Environmental Geology
Nash-University of Vermont-Environmental Science/Environmental Policy
Bailey-SUNY Binghamton-Mechanical Engineering
Bill-Messiah College-Biology
Daniel-University of Wisconsin Milwaukee-Biology/Mathematics

So there you go! More to come...