EUROPE!!!

So I am officially down to 1 day!!! I finalized my packing last night, so I am officially all packed, suitcase AND carry-on. Which is a good thing since I gotta go to school today and leave early tomorrow morning. Even though my flight isn't until 1, it's almost a 2 hour drive to the airport and you gotta be there a couple hours before the flight. Hopefully I can get some decent sleep tonight so jet lag doesn't get me too bad when I land. I am sooo excited though!! When I first booked the trip, I never really thought I would be able to afford it with school. But it is finally here!! And guess what, I got enough money to pay for it AND have some left over for spending money! I guess those 40-hour weeks of work over the summer pulled off haha Like I said before, almost all the hotels have an internet station, so I am hoping to keep everyone updated while I'm over there. But no promises, since I don't know for sure. You might just have to wait until after Easter when I get home and can post all the exciting news and some pictures to go with it. Time to head to class now. I can't believe I leave tomorrow!! :D

Springbrook Nature Center

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been awhile. I have been packing since Friday for my trip. I am so excited!! And I am all packed cept for one shirt :P Anyways, I took a break from packing Sunday night to go out to dinner to celebrate my and my sister's birthdays. We went to a big buffet with food from just about everywhere. It was sooo yummy! I had about 5 diff kinds of chicken, coconut shrimp, and some of the best crab rangoons ever. I also tried my first oyster and mussel, which surprisingly weren't half bad. They needed a little sauce though. It was a yummy dinner.

Today was spent at the Springbrook Nature Center for my ecology class. At first, I was thinking "woo hoo, another nature center." But it was actually pretty nice. There were cages of turtles, snakes, frogs, and fish, as well as a bird watching area. I was able to see black-capped chickadees, cardinals, woodpeckers, and squirrels. At home, I only see cardinals right now due to all the snow and cold temps. Towards the end of the class, we were able to hold some of the creatures. I went after a boa, weighing around 25 pounds. He was so smooth and slow-moving.

Grey squirrel

Western hog-nose snake

Leopard frog

Time to go work on some homework now. I gotta make up for missing a week of school since my school is retarded and doesn't have spring break next week when it should. Down to 4 days!!!

OK Corral

We started our horse unit today for Large Animal lab and went to OK Corral. Supposedly it was only supposed to be a little over a half hour, but it took almost an hour to get there from school. Once we got there, only 2 horses were in the stalls for our class of 12. First, we groomed the horses. I was on brush duty, and holy crap! There was hair and debris flying everywhere. And the horse was groomed last week. It must be getting warmer if the horses are already shedding their winter coat. Once they were groomed nice and pretty, we cleaned their hooves which were filled with poop. It was kinda gross, but they looked a lot better after it was over. The last thing we did with the horses was aging by looking at their teeth. The first horse we guessed about 13 years, and turns out he was only 8. He must be a grinder cuz his teeth looked worn down a lot for an 8-year old. The second horse we guessed around 5, and DING DING DING. He was 5-years old. At least we got the age right for one of them haha And *gasp* we actually got out of class on time!! This never happens, usually because the speaker doesn't watch the clock and thinks none of us have a life outside of school. Because the teachers were the ones in charge today, we actually got out on time. So I have a little bit of time to relax before class. :)

btw...to keep the countdown going...8 days!!

Carpenter Nature Center

Woo hoo for another field trip! It wasn't too exciting today, but there was actually hands-on with some reptiles. It's the first place we have been able to hold some of the wild creatures. When we first got there, the building looked somewhat lame. There was a painter turtle and a green frog, so not very exciting. Turns out, we were in the wrong building. The next building over was the one we were supposed to be in, aka the building with all the exciting stuff. We gathered our chairs in an arc while the naturalist talked for a little bit about phenology. For my ecology class, we are supposed to be doing phenological calenders for February and March. After hearing the naturalist talk about different phenological events, the project made a lot more sense. Then the hands-on experience came into play.

We started with the amphibians: salamandars, frogs and toads. The tiger salamandar was the first one. He was so cute! But he was pretty shy. He just stood in the middle of the group not really knowing what to do. Granted, when he was only as big as our hand, it made sense for him to be scared. Next was the grey tree frog. They are so sticky! It would be so much fun if we were sticky too. No more being stuck in traffic, because we could start climbing buildings. Imagine all the gas we would save!

The reptiles were next in line: turtles and snakes. The painter turtle was the first for the reptile group. They are pretty common in the area, and are very easy to pick out with the bright orange stripes. Next was the wood turlte, which isn't so common. It's a land turtle with a shell that has rings similar to a freshly cut tree. And of course the shell is brown. He was really heavy too. The last one was the leopard tortoise, which has a really pretty green shell. The snakes came out next, which most people wanted nothing to do with. I was the first person to hold each snake after the teacher. The bullsnake was first. He was pretty calm, but sudden movements made him very uneasy. The other snake to come out was the corn snake. It was very fast-moving. It ended up tangling itself between my arm and another student's arm. I guess it didn't know which arm was it's favorite to entwine haha

Oh, btw...I'm down to 11 days :)