Finances

Probably one of the best pieces of advice I can give to anybody considering going to graduate school would be to get out of debt first.  If you're going to be a graduate student, remember your life will revolve around your thesis or dissertation.  That doesn't leave much room for things like a job.  Sure you can have a job, and if you're lucky you'll get a teaching assistantship, but forget about taking extra hours.  If you do, your project will likely suffer for it.  Any time you take away from your project to make ends meet, just tacks on years at the end of your stay.

Luckily if you have student loans, you won't have to make payments on them while you're in school. That doesn't mean take out all the loans you can, but you might have to if you have regular payments that you need to keep up with.  If you have credit cards or a car payment, consider getting rid of them.  I wish I had.  The time we live in has such benefits as Uber, so you might not even need a car.  However, you most likely will if you live off campus, like me.  I have pets that I couldn't bring myself to rid of.  What that pretty much means is that what little income I have left goes to taking care of them.  This wasn't so bad when I made a decent living, but now that I'm a student again, they are definitely eating better than I am.

Have debt and don't want to live on campus?  Well, I hope you're not watching your sodium intake, because this is your future (ramen):

Not so new chapter...

When I originally created this blog a few years ago, I had no idea what amazing adventures that I would soon have.  As an undergraduate student, I was lucky enough to spend every summer in the Bahamas, collecting data for various research projects. I knew then that I belonged in the world of field biology.  What I didn't know was how long the road ahead really was.  After graduating, I applied to a few schools, with no doubt that I would soon get my letter of acceptance.  I had plenty of service hours, research experience, and a great GPA.  I soon found out that none of that matters if the labs you want to work in are full.  What they don't tell you as an undergraduate is that you can have the greatest project in the world in mind, but if you don't have funding then you're pretty much out of luck.  While I was waiting to hear back from schools, I got a decent job and starting living a "normal" life.  By normal I mean I could actually afford the basics like food, a place to live, and random bills.  The kind of life that is unheard of for most undergrads. After about a year, I was getting pretty comfortable with my new lifestyle.  However, I felt like there was something missing.  I wasn't doing what I had always dreamed of.  So, I got myself back into the world of research and started making plans for graduate school again.  Long story short, I am now finishing my first year of grad school.  Sounds like a happy ending, right?  Well, it will be someday.  The road is still long, but I couldn't be happier with the choice I made. I guess the purpose of this blog is to talk about areas of graduate school life that aren't usually discussed.  There are a lot things that I wish somebody had told me.   

A day with Indiana Jones

The other day was very exhausting but very cool at the same time.  Rob and I were invited to go bushwhacking with John Winter, an archaeologist who is responsible for finding most of the ruins on this islands.  Unlike most of the archaeologists that do work on this island, John has no problem fighting his way through the brush to the interior.  Much of the land at the center is untouched and has remained that way for hundreds of years.  The locals build their homes on the coast and the trails do not go very far inland.  I think Rob and I were both humbled while watching John at work.  I'm pretty sure that if that man even looked at a redwood, it would cut itself down. 

Our goal was to get to a pond that nobody has been to since maybe the 1700s.  Along the way we found an old rum jug from the early 1800s, and some carvings in the rocks that could possibly have been made by the lucayans who first inhabited this island.  We were very close to the pond, and I could actually see it after climbing to the top of a lignum vitae, but we had to turn around to get back in time for dinner.  Rob and I are going back to the trail in a couple days to finish clearing our way to the pond.  I am very excited to find out what sort of artifacts may still be in this area.

Today we set traps in Lighthouse Cave.  This cave has a conduit and the water level rises with the tide.  We went in at low tide and the water was at our shoulders.  Besides the small beam of light from our flashlights, we were in complete darkness.  We set traps in the closest thing to a conduit we could find, so tomorrow we will know if we found them or not.  Hopefully, something will be in them.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!  I hope you had a great day.  I love you and I miss you!  I have been trying to post something all day, but the internet has been out.  I can't wait to get home, so I don't have to blog anymore.  I love you guys!

Halfway Point

I'm excited to have working internet on my computer again.  A group of 40 from The University of Exeter came and they internet has been slow ever since. 

Since the one day off we had we have been doing pretty much the same thing every day.  We try to get into at least two "blue holes" in the morning and retrieve traps in the afternoon.  It might sound simple, but there have been many challenges along the way.

One especially aggravating  morning was when we decided to dive Mermaid Pond.  This included walking the half mile trail with two tanks, dive gear, and traps.  The trail was very overgrown from when we were here last year.  Most over what is overtaking the trail is either poisonous (poisonwood and manchineel) or full of spines (haulback)...  so that was fun.  When we were finally ready and in the water, we swam to the North conduit first.  The only problem was our lack of communication.  I thought Rob had found it before, and he thought I knew where it was.  So we wasted a little bit of time swimming back and forth on the northern side of the lake until I stopped over a spot where the bottom seemed to disappear.  I called for rob and we both descended to the bottom.  It was definitely it, but there was so much flocculent that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  Rob swam off to check to see if he could see the opening while I sat over my head in muck waiting for it to settle... it never did.  At one point I started thinking to myself that I might be sinking, but don't worry I wasn't.  That's just what the mind does when you're stuck at the bottom of a creepy lake not able to see anything.  After sitting there for about 10 minutes I ascended a bit to try and find Rob's bubbles, so that I could drop into the muck by him.  We surfaced after that and swam to the South conduit.  This one was very clear and easy to find.  However, I didn't get to dive it because somebody... dropped the keys into the lake.  So, I got to spend the rest of the dive scanning the bottom of the lake.  After 4 hours we packed up our stuff and rushed off to the next spot. 

I'm starting to notice a reoccurring theme on this trip: losing things.  The next day when we went to retrieve the traps, the Go Pro ended up at the bottom of the lake.  That was a little easier to find. 

On another note..  I have yet to find a pair of shoes that can survive this island.  The soles of my Keens are coming off.  They are almost to the point of being flip-flops.  Also, I'm down to one field shirt.  My others have fallen victim to the haulback and don't offer much protection anymore.  And it's only the halfway point.

While Rob was exploring a small lake by the side of the road on our lunch break, I decided to follow a mysterious trail across the street. It ended up being very short and it lead right to this beach.

This is one of the palms (Cocothrinax argentata) that we were sampling last year.  They are doing a genetic analysis of the palms found on this island. (not my project)

I have never seen white passion flowers, and I wish I could take a cutting of this.

This is Barbouria cubensis (what Rob is studying).  It was still alive and swimming around the edge of the petri dish.

 

We made a discovery!  Not a new species, but it will be the first time anybody has documented Parhippolyte sterreri (another cave shrimp) on this island.  It made Rob happy...

 

A much needed day off

Yesterday Rob and I took our first day off, which we needed more than we knew.  The Tropical Island Biology course is here now, so we spent the morning with them.  We went to Lindsay's Reef, which is an amazing white sandy beach with a patch reef 50ft from shore.  We finally got some snorkel time!  Rob speared a fish as we were making our way in, and as we were getting out we saw a pretty good sized black tip coming to the shore.  Of course the class rushed it to get pictures and it was scared off, but it was pretty cool to see it come in so close.

After that I spent the afternoon on the beach across from the GRC and helped the students with their assignments.  We also went with the class to the beach at sunset to collect jellyfish.  We found 3 sea wasps that will be sent to the Smithsonian as voucher specimens. 

As the bugs started coming out we started a bonfire, and we all spent the rest of the night talking to the other groups that had just arrived.  It was a good day, and it reminded me why I love this place so much. 

This is the view from the truck at Lindsay's Reef.  When you walk past the grass it's nothing but fine white sand.  Beautiful!

This is Bryan.  

Happy birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday!  I wish I could be there...  or wish you guys were all here.    I hope you are having a good day.  I miss you guys.  Love you Mom!

Not a good day

I have great news!!  I'm not allergic to hornets..  Found that out the hard way today.  We cleared a trail for hours today only to get into brush that was way too thick to cut through.  So we started ducking and pushing through, and with foggy sunglasses I didn't see the giant hornet's nest above my head.  They were not happy to see me..  and yes, I did scream like a little girl.  Tomorrow we will be taking our first day off.  I think we've earned it.