Monday, September 17, 2007

seasons!

We have seasons here! The leaves in the canyon have started changing color and it has been getting a little cooler in the mornings and evenings.

We have started getting into somewhat of a schedule and settling into school life. For the most part, I like it - I really like my fluvial geomorphology class where we go out every week to different rivers. We have to go into them and since I don't have waders, I wore the wetsuit that I bought at a thrift shop in San Diego today. I looked a little odd, walking to class in a wetsuit, as if I was going to school in California instead of the mountain west. But it kept me warm. :)

Other times, when I spend hours just reading, I start wondering why I am still in school, but I can't really complain.

Last week, Adrian and I volunteered with the Water Quality program, teaching 4th graders about macroinvertebrates in the Logan River at a campground in the canyon. While there, we noticed how the leaves have already started changing! We hope the colors will still be around when Adrian's parents visit us in the first week of October.

We also went to a USU soccer game on Sunday. It was pretty fun. It made me a little homesick for Aggieland with the rowdy, huge crowd, but the game at Utah State had a different kind of charm. Soccer games are free for everyone, and you can bring in coolers with food and drinks. We also saw several dogs there, and little kids would spend the time rolling down the hill, where people could sit in lawn chairs and blankets rather than the bleachers.

This weekend is actually homecoming week at Utah State, but I will have to miss the festivities since I have a weekend field trip with my geomorphology class...and I am not sure how to end my post, so it will just be an abrupt ending.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

school has begun!

We are just about to finish week 2, and I feel like I have really started hitting the ground running. Overall, I am enjoying school (though I have a lot of reading to do), and I like working with my advisor. This will sound silly, but I feel more idealistic here (hopefully, this is not a temporary thing...) - I've been more exposed to stories of change and community-wide activism. There's a lot about A&M that I miss, but I'm glad that I chose to go elsewhere for my attempt at more schooling. Experiencing a different landscape, a different kind of people, and a different way of doing things has widened my perspective.

Lucy and Chico have been doing well. We discovered that there is more than just the beautiful Logan Canyon to hike in, but canyons all over the area that are a 15 minute drive away. We took the two dogs for a short hike in one of them the other day, and they had a good time. also, we found this little trail that runs parallel to the irrigation canal (which I am slowly learning more about) that is just a short walk from our house. It's a nice jogging trail, because it's away from the cars (and it's fairly flat as well. Maybe someday, I will get in shape and not huff as I walk up the hill to go to campus...).

I will end with some pictures of the pups: