Back to School

View from my camp chair
Eel my friend Craig caught
Finally got a good picture of a storm coming in
Our campsite

Well its that time of the year again that every kid dreads. Tomorrow the summer is officially over and everyone starts looking forward to Christmas. I know I'm not twelve any more but deep down I still have some of the same sad feelings about school starting that I did when I was a kid. These feelings, however, are mixed with feelings of excitment about starting a new program at a new school. I haven't been in the academic setting for a while now and I'm ready to jump back in. (I prefer to tell myself I've been on sabbatical) And the best part is that I'm actually interested in the subjects I will be studying. I think this fact alone will make this program much more enjoyable for me than my previous education. Because lets be honest, who enjoys studying Organic Chemistry or Genetics? Ya...exactly. But seriously, Im pretty stoked about starting classes tomorrow. I have some anxious feelings but who wouldn't. I just want to get back into student mode and meet some new people. I know you people probably dont care but you get to know my class schedule:

Advanced Statistical Methods
Environmental Impact Assessment
Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems

9 credits total this semester which is considered full time for graduate students. There will be a lot more work involved with these classes but I will be spending less time in the classroom than what I am used to. I will still be working as well. The 'busy' season is rapidly coming to an end which I am not too sad about. I was getting pretty burnt out going into the jungle every day for 8 hours.

The past few days I have had Billy Maddison stuck in my head. "Back to school, back to school. Hope I don't look like a fool...."

I was able to go camping last weekend with my friends and friends of friends. We went to a spot right on the beach which was awesome. We fished nearly the whole time and some guys fished the whole night. For all the hooks and bait we went through, we didnt catch that much but we still had a great time. I finally got a spear and was able to go spear fishing. But no fish. I guess I wasnt spear fishing but rather I was snorkeling with a spear in my hand. There were plenty of fish but they were all small. All the big fish worth catching were deeper and they were toying with me. They would come out from the coral and swim slowly almost inviting me to come down and pay them a visit. As soon as I would dive down, they would pretty much give me the finger and swim into a hole where I couldnt reach. But it was still a great time. I ended up only catching one small fish (no idea what kind). Craig, one of my new friends, caught an eel. That thing was one ugly fish. I dont know what they were planning on doing with it but they kept it. I wouldnt mind trying some eel meat. We had stingray meat and spam for breakfast and it was great so Im sure salt water eel with some canned meat would be just as good. All in all, it was a good way to say farewell to summer.

To everyone out there, young and old, that's starting a new semester good luck and LETS GET DEM A's!!!!!