I Went To Canada Today!

First of all, if you're reading this, you should probably be thankful for Emily Renee Short. She has urged me to be a more vigilant blogger. So this is my attempt to do so.

My post is all out of order. I meant for the first thing you see to be my apartment, but it got all mixed up. I'm sorry! I'll know how to do it next time. Please have patience with my weird order!

Here's the other place that I work: our research boat, the Lavinia, and the lovely St. Lawrence River. And by the way, I went to Canada today! Actually, I went to Canada several times! The border extends right through the river, and we crossed over several times. I hope to actually spend some time on the ground there at some point, but for now, it's pretty neat that I truly was in Canada today!

On the way home from our camping at Oswegatchie, we stopped at Good Ole Wishy's ice cream shop, home of wishylicious ice cream. Basically, this means that they put 4 times as much ice cream in your cone as you expect, and it also it means that they are famous for their chocolate, peanut butter, and oreo ice cream (the actual wishylicious flavor). It was delicious--and the program treated us all! They're making me feel like a princess.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had at Oswegatchie: we're looking good in our harnesses for the high ropes course. The first picture is Bianca, me, Samantha (who is a Clarkson student year round!), and Yamirez. The second picture is: me, one of my roomies, Bianca, Jamie, Rachel, and Yamirez.

And here's a picture of where I work: at least for the lab part. It is, um, basically a concrete monstrosity, as Roger from London would say. And speaking of London, it looks just as ridiculous as the National Theatre, don't you think? My lab has no windows, but I have my own desk. So that's exciting!

It looks similar, doesn't it? I think so!

This is where I live. Townhouse apartment #2--it's roomy and lovely!

That's all for now, but I'll try to post more soon. Have a lovely evening!

The First Few Days..

Well hi there!

I've officially been in Potsdam, New York for almost three full days. So much has happened! First of all, I'd like to clear up something: you really don't pronounce this location as "potsdem" all blurred together. You actually say "pots dam." I'm shocked, really. It's quite funny. As a matter of fact, apparently many of my pronunciations are wrong! There's a "Madrid" a little drive away, but you don't pronounce it like the city in Spain. Oh no. It's MADrid. Just like that. No joke. And that's only a few of the errors I've had! Though I will say that most people here tell me that my southern accent is not very prominent, which I consider a triumph.

I have already had the chance to canoe on the Raquette River in town; Clarkson actually has a huge boathouse with 16-20 canoes open for use. How cool is that? This is my sort of university. The river was very shallow and quite brown, but the views were quite lovely. I also got to go to the "beach" today: a sandy shore of the Raquette river. We grilled some hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers, played volleyball, swam, and took over the swings of the playground for a bit. Veggie burgers are the norm here--quite a few of the students in our group are vegetarian. They're trying to convince me to drop my meat eating habits, but it'll take more than the occasional comment to get me to bite into a green burger voluntarily.

Today I got my Clarkson student ID and met my mentor/ professor for the summer. He gave me a full tour of the lab (including a description of every instrument I might use--it was an extensive list, and it was rather intimidating! Though it does mean that I'm going to learn just as much and more than I hoped this summer!). I also got to hear more about my research, and I'll be taking my first trip on the Lavinia, our trusty research boat, onto the St. Lawrence River on Thursday. Look for a colorful post that day; it should be an adventure!

My roommates, Bianca and Teresa, are great girls to live with. They actually let me have one room to myself, so that has turned out to be quite nice. The townhouse apartment that we're in is HUGE! I would be beside myself if I had more than one suitcase full of stuff to fill it with. It's quite ironic, really!

I would love to post more, but tomorrow we are headed to the Oswegatchie river retreat for a bonding/ camping experience of wonder. We're headed out at 8 AM, so I should catch some shuteye. But not to worry--I'll catch up one of these days! Stay tuned! I hope you all are staying cool and enjoying your time in your various corners of the world.

The weather's been nice lately, don't you think?

I just looked up the weather averages in the past for June and July in Potsdam. The high is almost always 75, and the low is around 55. I don't think that I truly believe this. It seems rather unreal to one who has perspired through 20 scorching Alabama summers. Bring it on! I though this deserved its own post. :)

Hello, my friends!
You may know that I am not in Kensington anymore. The attempt to blog during said period of time, well, FAILED. However, I am going to Potsdam, New York this summer to conduct research on the St. Lawrence River through Clarkson University. And I would love for you hear about my adventures, so tune in, relax, eat some popcorn, and enjoy.
-Katie (not in kensington)