Day 26: 'Dang You Nematodes!'

Today was one of the those general feel good days. I can't really put my finger on one particular reason (there were many little things) but it was just good. I'll start by saying that today was Dr. M's last day and for that I am quite sad. She was honestly one of the best profs I've ever had and I'm not sure if these last two weeks will be the same without her. But hey, onwards and upwards is the old saying right? It's still going to be a blast!


I slept in an extra twenty minutes today and you'd be surprised at how good that little extra sleep can feel. I still managed to make it to breakfast on time AND have time to study a bit before lecture. We had  lecture this morning then lab. Today's topic was Phylum Nemata (formally Phylum Nematoda, I think nematoda sounds a lot better personally)! In other words, my favorite worm group! Nematodes are thought to be the most abundant animal on the Earth but since they're so small and they're transparent (for the most part), they're incredibly hard to find. They say there may be more species of nematode than there are insects (which would be an incredibly large number {upwards of one million species})! Anyways the whole learning about nematodes thing put me in a good mood as well as hunting for nematodes in lab today. I did not actually find one but many of my classmates did. It doesn't hurt that Phylum Nemata (nematodes) make me think of the SpongeBob episode where his house gets eaten by nematodes and that random guy goes, "Dang you nematodes"! Sibling, you know what I'm talking about!


In the afternoon we had our group presentations for those projects that we had to redo (due to the whole class failing). I think the presentation went awesome! Everyone seemed to be following along and there were many questions asked at the end showing people's interest in our project. The quiz was after the presentations and I was feeling a little bit anxious since I hadn't had much time to study. But luckily today was one of those 'I know every answer' quizzes because I looked at it and literally grinned with joy. I finished up the quiz and the weekend began! In honor of Dr. M's last day, we all went out to Pachena Beach for a camp fire, some drinks and just general chill time. It was such a blast! We would've stayed longer but we've all got projects to work on tomorrow (remember it's crunch time)! I will definitely miss Dr. M!


See what I mean Reader? It's been a pretty good day! Not to mention the fact that my Norsk citizenship finally went through today! Yes it's official! I am now a dual-citizen and I'm so happy about it (jeg er så glad)! It's always nice when things work out and today was just one of those days! I think this weekend will turn out good as well! Tomorrow will be spent preparing for 'crunch time' (this coming week) and Sunday we're going whale watching! I'm very excited for that! Have a great and safe weekend Reader! I'll be thinking about you guys! I love and miss you all! 

Day 25: Crazy Eyes Returns

Good evening Reader! I know I'm posting this entry a bit later than I normally would but we just finished working on our group project which we are presenting tomorrow. Not to mention there's a quiz tomorrow but that's besides the point. You see this group project was actually due on Tuesday and that's when we originally handed it in. But supposedly this assignment was SO hard that the entire class failed so the profs are letting us re-write it and are letting us present tomorrow instead of yesterday. Anyways it was actually kind of nice to re-write the project since we got to spend half an hour with Dr. M talking about ways to improve our write up. She admitted that when the entire class fails, something definitely went wrong. 


So about today! Well let's put it this way, there are no more class field trips (as I mentioned yesterday) so that means lecture, lab and more lab. Today we had two hours of lecture and roughly 6 hours of lab time. Bare in mind half an hour of that lab time was spent talking with Dr. M about our group projects that we have to re-write and half an hour talking with Dr. T about our end of term projects (which, again, I will explain in a later post). I managed to get a lot done in lab today which surprised me since we were there for six hours! Usually I would get bored and not accomplish anything but today I was on the ball! 


There's not much else to say about lecture/lab so I'll just dive right into my little tid bit of a story for the day. If you guys will think back to a couple entries ago (I believe it was 'Curse You Gag Reflex'), I spoke of a hermit crab whom I named 'Crazy Eyes'. Well Crazy Eyes and I had a reunion today when I decided to do some more experiments with him. I swear this crab remembers me (which I'm told is impossible). He isn't scared of me one bit but when I hand him over to another person he goes right into his shell! What a guy! I think he and I have become friends. I fed him a snail today but he shoved it away, geez (what a buzz kill)! I think he might be watching his weight but still it's rude to turn away food! Oh well! Anyways I've made it my mission to make sure Crazy Eyes makes it until the end of the course because he is my new favorite! Enjoy the picture of him that I'll be uploading at the end of this entry (look close and you can see his 'crazy' eyes)!


That's about it for today Reader! I have a sad feeling my blog is going to be a little boring for the next couple days until projects get underway. As a side note, Dr. M has her last day teaching us tomorrow and I'm quite sad. I've really enjoyed her teaching methods and not to mention her general attitude towards life! I think I've already mentioned this but she's exactly how I want to be when I 'grow up'. She's just an amazing woman who has accomplished so much! Well have a good night Reader! I'll be talking to you again tomorrow! Love and miss you all!

Day 24: 'Official' Initiation

Ah Reader! What a day that was! Our last field trip for the course (that won't be related to our end of term projects) was today and boy was it a good one! It's sad to say that we won't be having any more class trips but at the same time it's getting to be crunch time and we really need to power through the next week and a half if we want to finish everything on time. We've still got three phyla to cover before our end of term projects start (I'll be explaining the whole end of term project thing in a later entry)! It's time to get busy!

Anyways, we spent the entire morning (got there around 8:00am) and a little bit of the afternoon at 'The Great Tide Pool' which is basically a closed off little bay on an island. It was, for lack of a better word, great! We snorkelled the tide pool and saw some pretty incredible things! Several huge sea cucumbers, a white sponge I'd never seen before, bat stars, little fish and numerous types of crabs. The snorkel was great because the water was cold and clear (WAY better than the silty inlet that we snorkelled last time). By the time I got out of the water it was nearly lunch time. We all had our bagged lunches just sitting on the rocks and enjoying the sunshine (luckily it was one of the nicest days yet)! After eating lunch I went off exploring some of the rocky areas around the tide pool in the hopes of finding a sea lion but no luck on that front. 

We headed out from the tide pool around 2:00pm and got back to Bamfield at about 2:40pm after an awesome boat ride. You see The Great Tide Pool is on an island in the Broken Group which is quite far from Bamfield. We got to ride the big boat with Skipper John at the wheel! We went SO fast and the waves were pretty big today so it made the ride a lot more entertaining. Not to mention the fact that Skipper John quoted South Park which in itself made the trip (note that Skipper John is like 65 years old and yet he quoted South Park, incredible). It was an amazing trip back with the sunshine and the sea breeze! You know those moments that seem to require a soundtrack? That was one of them.

Alright well by now you guys know that the title of my entry is normally explained in the second last paragraph and that is indeed the case for this entry. Today I was finally initiated 'officially' as a true Bamfield gal! You see we have a certain fashion trend around here that we call 'Bamfield Chique' which is basically shorts with rubber boots. If you wear this fashion statement enough you get a rubber boots tan where your shins are white and the rest of your leg is tanned. Well Reader, today it happened! I have the rubber boots tan! It's pretty bad actually... I think it's worse than a farmer's tan (which I also kind of have). Either way, I'm a true member of the Bamfield community! Hooray for me!

That's about it for today Reader! I can't believe how long it's been since I've seen you guys but then again it'll be no time before I get to see you again! I hope you enjoy this picture of my 'Bamfield Chique' tan! I know that I do! I miss and love you all so much! Keep on reading and keep on thinking of me because you know I'll be thinking of you!    

Day 23: Curse You Gag Reflex!

Yo Reader how's it going today? I hope it's going well! Today was one of those typical Bamfield days. It flew by way too quickly but SO much was accomplished! I feel like it's a paradox living out here. The time flies but at the same time it goes by so slowly! It's hard to explain... I guess you have to experience Bamfield to understand. I got a little homesick today at lunch but I felt better just knowing that you guys are reading this blog and thinking of me. Thank you for that! :)


We went out to Grappler Inlet (the same place that we went nightlighting) this morning to see a mud flat at 7:00am (yes today was a sleep in day). It was SO muddy! My boots got stuck several times! There were lots of clams and worms but aside from that nothing too exciting. We didn't really stay very long because we're a bit behind in our lecture material so we headed out to be back for lunch. The rest of the day was spent in the typical lecture/lab format. But it's getting to be crunch time around here! Our lab books are due in about 8 days so we're all scrounging to finish our lab pages on time. Not to mention I have a presentation on Thursday! We also have our final term projects starting up next week so we've got that on the mind. I did get a lot accomplished in lab today though! I spent roughly an hour sitting and poking a hermit crab and watching what he did. It was actually pretty fun. I named him 'Crazy Eyes' because his eyes literally looked crazy. They were black with yellow spirals! Crazy!


Now Reader, I'm a seasoned dissectioner (that's definitely not a word). I have done too many dissections in my post secondary (and secondary) to even count. I can normally tolerate the smell of formaldehyde or rotting flesh but today we dissected a crab (that was freshly prepared for dissecting). It was the grossest smell I've ever encountered while dissecting! I took one smell and gagged instantly. I actually had to pull my t-shirt up over my face so I could breathe! I was a little embarassed though because no one seemed to mind the smell that much! I think my reputation as one of the best dissectionists (still not a word...) in the class has been tarnished! Oh well, I got it over with and put that crab away as soon as I could! Unfortunately the entire lab smelled like that for the whole afternoon.


Well that about wraps it up for me today! I'm sorry there isn't more to report! I feel like I haven't been sharing very much lately! It's not that I don't want to! I just can't for the life of me think of anything else to say! But tomorrow is our final snorkelling excursion of the term so hopefully there'll be more to share in tomorrow's entry! Thanks again for reading everyone! Have a great rest of your Tuesday! 

Day 22: 'Do You Speak Romanian?!'

Hey Reader! I wish I had more to tell you today but unfortunately not much went on. Today was one of those days where so much happened and yet nothing happened at the same time. The highlight of the day was that we got a 'catch up' period in lab. That was such a relief since even I was behind on my work (and when it comes to inverts, I am rarely behind). In a nutshell, today was spent in the lab and in lecture. We started Arthropods today (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, etc.) and thankfully since this is a marine invert course we will only be focussing on crustaceans! But besides that there is honestly not much to tell. I do however have one funny story which I will of course share with you!


So today right before our 2:00pm lecture my mom called me (because I haven't talked to her in a very long time and I missed her). I answered and we started speaking in Norwegian like we always do. The thing was that I was in the classroom at the time and my two profs were setting up the computer for lecture. I guess they overheard me speaking Norwegian as I made my way out and when I got back into class they were giving me the strangest look. Dr. T just looked at me and asked, "Wow Victorialune! Do you speak Romanian?!" It was probably the funniest thing I've ever heard because for those of you who know your languages, Norwegian and Romanian sound NOTHING alike! Not that I blame her for not knowing what Norwegian sounds like, there aren't many Norsk-speaking people Canada (especially not around here). I replied politely that no I was in fact speaking Norwegian and she was quite surprised. Either way it was pretty funny, her facial expression was priceless.


Well Reader, I apologize for the short entry tonight but there is really nothing else to say. We're off on a field trip tomorrow morning and we're snorkelling on Wednesday but aside from that it's lectures and labs and a presentation on Thursday! I miss you all and I hope you're all enjoying the last few days of summer! I sure am! :)

(By the way I'm posting a lab drawing I did today of a decorator crab. I'm pretty proud of it! This is definitely one of my best drawings! Yes I know, I'm becoming an arts student, quit giving me a hard time!)

Day 20 + 21: One Happy Camper!

Well Reader, I'm alive! I made it through the camping trip and as the title would suggest, I had an awesome time! I know what you guys are thinking right now, "What is wrong with you Victorialune?! You had FUN camping?!" Yes Reader, I thought the exact same thing today when we got back. I found myself looking back on the weekend and smiling. It was actually an incredible experience and I'm so glad I got to go! 


Saturday at 1:30pm we all clambered into cars and headed off to the trail that lead to Keeha Beach. The trail was about 4km away from Bamfield so it made sense to drive to the trail then walk from there. The trail that leads to Keeha is winding, muddy, littered with fallen trees and absolutely beautiful. There was a boggy lake about half way through with an old boardwalk and when you got to the end of the path there are hundreds of buoys hanging in the trees! The hike is (for the average hiker) a two hour hike. Well I managed to do it in one and a half hours so take that average hikers! When I got to the very end of the trail, I got my first view of Keeha and it was incredible! What a beautiful beach! I didn't realize North Pacific beaches could be so amazing! White sand, huge rolling waves, tall pine trees and warm sunlight! 


Once everyone arrived we put all our food in the bear box (because we're in bear country, and yes I've seen a bear out here) and went to set up camp a little bit farther down the beach. In total we had 5 tents, two lean-tos (for the guys) and a fire area. Everyone was assigned a task and I was put on the water team. We were told to go to the 'stream', fill the water containers and put water purifying tablets in them. So me and a couple classmates went down to the 'stream'. Reader I kid you not when I say that this was no stream. It was more like a huge puddle. We filled up the containers and I almost gagged. There were bugs floating around in there as well as sand, some plants and a rock (not sure how it got in the container since it was bigger than the opening of the container). We put the purifying tablets in but it really didn't make much of a difference. The water still looked like pee. Needless to say I was thankful I brought two litres of good water from Bamfield. 


Aside from the pee water (which really was where I drew the line), everything was so fun! We had a big bonfire and cooked hotdogs and marshmallows and just hung out chatting and fooling around. The cool thing was that the profs and TA were chatting along with us and we got to see a different side of them. We all went down to the water before going to bed and just kind of stood there. It was actually one of the best parts of the trip, just watching the waves come and go. Since we had to wake up at 5:00am (again...) for the low tide, we all went to bed before 10:00pm. There were five people including myself in our tent and it was a tight fit. But laying on the sand was actually pretty comfortable! 


This morning was spent looking for inverts in the intertidal zone from about 5:00am til around 10:00am. We then headed back to camp so we could cook lunch. It involved some improv since all we really had were bagels. My lunch including a fire toasted bagel with cheese and humus. It was pretty good though! A guy in my class made a peanut butter, jam and marshmallow bagel. Yuck! But he said it was good! We had the rest of the day free to do what we wanted. Unfortunately we all have projects due Tuesday so we basically had to head back after lunch. Before we left we saw a grey whale and a sea lion in the bay. It was so cool to see them that close! The sea lion was just swimming around, having a good time and catching fish. The whale didn't stay for very long but it was still awesome to see! We got back to Bamfield around 3:00pm and now we're all showering and napping. I'll say that the shower felt awesome! I feel pretty proud of myself right now! Not only did I manage to camp, I actually enjoyed myself! Heck yes!


Alrighty Reader! Have an awesome rest of your Sunday (or start of your Monday for a certain girl on the other side of the world...)! Relax, take it easy and maybe chow down on a peanut butter, jam and marshmallow bagel! I love and miss you all! Until tomorrow! :)

Day 19: When Will the Lies End?! *Zim voice*

Hey Reader! Wow am I ever exhausted! I seem to be saying that a lot lately but really can you blame me?! I mean let's look at the big picture here. Long days (14 hours today), no sleep, hiking, shuffin' (which is more of a workout than it sounds), a tetanus shot, trying to be social and of course missing all of you, it adds up and what you get is physical exhaustion! This is definitely worth it though. Since today is the half way point I feel the need to say this; I am so glad I came out here and though I was skeptical at first I am definitely proud of myself for all that I've accomplished so far! Thanks for everyone's support thus far, it's so appreciated! 


As for today, nothing too exciting happened. We went back (at 5:00am) to check on our pimped out snails and to see where they had gone. We only found 101 out of 300 but according to Dr. M that's way better than normal. These snails were elusive! Even though they were brightly colored and bedazzled in some cases, we still couldn't find them! I give the snails props! They did not want to be found and two thirds of them got away! The results of the experiment were as predicted; the snails moved away from the zone with the most predators. Needless to say we were not shocked by these results!


We had two lectures and roughly 5 hours of lab today and I'm still a bit behind in my work! We are swamped with homework at the moment! Not only with individual work but we have a group project (for which our group will be giving a presentation) due on Tuesday. Did I mention we're going camping tomorrow until Sunday? Yeah, not much time before that project is due! (Time is limited when you live at Bamfield, at least that's what I've learned!) I'm really not looking forward to going out to camp where there are no bathrooms but I'm trying to stay positive. The funniest thing was said to me today and for those who know me quite well, I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear this. Dr. M (whom I GREATLY respect and love as a teacher) pulled me aside today and she told me this, "Victorialune, your continuing optimism is the highlight of my day! Hold on to it, you'll need it throughout your life!" It melted my heart but at the same time made me laugh internally. I'm not normally what you'd call an optimist. In fact some have even called me a pessimist. It must mean I'm really adjusting out here! Thanks Dr. M, that made my day for sure!


Now Reader I'm sure you're wondering about the title of this entry as I have not mentioned it yet. I'm getting there! Every night at supper we have a different dessert and so far I haven't really been tempted to eat dessert. I'm not big into pie, cookies, tarts, pudding, that kind of stuff but Reader I ADORE cheesecake! I forgot to post this two nights ago but on Wednesday the menu said we were having cheesecake for dessert! I practically went ballistic! I was bouncing around and jumping with joy but was sorely disappointed to find out it was NOT cheesecake. To be honest I'm not sure what it was (some kind of gooey pudding that was supposed to taste like cheesecake?). But let me assure you that it was not cheesecake. In times like that the first thing I tend to do is quote the first thing that comes to mind. At that particular moment it was Invader Zim when he's being accused of being an alien on national TV and he looks at the camera and practically yells, "WHEN WILL THE LIES END?!" I felt the same way except I wasn't being accused of being an alien, I just wanted cheesecake. 


Alright well that about sums up today! I would just like to point out that I normally don't post on weekends but you can expect a Sunday entry about the camping trip. I have a feeling there will be much to say! As always thanks for reading and thinking of me! I miss and love you all! (An aside: If you guys have Karina on FaceBook and feel like reading about her year long adventure, feel free to check out her LiveJournal blog which is in her information on FB!)

Day 18: Where's Waldo?

I made it Reader! I made it through the day of hades! Yes that's right even after a 4:45am start time, a field trip, two lectures, two labs, a seminar and studying for the quiz tomorrow, I'm still alive and I'm posting this entry to prove it! (I'd also like to add that I'm tetanus free and it feels so nice, except for the painfully sore left arm I now have!) Today was one of those days where it seemed like nothing was real. Looking back on this morning, it doesn't seem possible that we fit so much into a single day. But then again we are running on Bamfield time and it is pretty magical out here. 


So this morning (yes at 4:45am) I woke up and hauled myself out of bed to make it to the docks. We headed out to Scott's Bay, with much dismay from the class, since it is a bit of a hike. Once we got there we were instructed to go out and collect 60 snails (black turban snails to be precise). We gathered our snails and we then had to spray paint 30 of them green and 30 of them red. We were doing a catch and transplant experiment where we mark snails, put them back in their habitats and watch where they go. Tomorrow morning (yes at 5:00am again) we'll be heading out to check where our snails have gone! It was fun painting the snails and don't worry Reader, the paint doesn't hurt the snails. We only painted their shells, they'll be fine. In fact my prof said that since these snails can live to be 25 years old, they've probably already been painted by other classes in the past. Who knew? Humans go to the hair salon to color their hair and snails go to Bamfield students to pimp their shells. Awesome.


We got back around 10:00am and it was time for lecture. Needless to say I fell asleep a couple times in class. I felt awful since I'm sure Dr. M saw me dozing off but I'm also pretty sure I wasn't the only one 'catching zs'. After an hour of lecture we headed down to the lab for what was definitely the best part of the day. Dr. M had received an email from a colleague of hers in the states. He asked her to keep an eye out for heart urchins (something we have in ridiculous abundance ever since the mud dredge, as mentioned in my entry on Day 15). You see these heart urchins carry a tiny bivalve symbiont (a little mini clam) and this colleague was interested in studying these little molluscs. We were given the challenge of finding as many of these minuscule clams as possible, there were even prizes up for grabs. The funniest part was that the clam's genus name is Waldo! Yes that's right we were literally told to go find 'Waldo'. With an hour until lunch, we all set out scouring our heart urchins under microscopes, looking for the clams, the image of Waldo in our heads (you know the creepy guy in glasses and the stripped shirt who always seems to be missing). I only found one Waldo but a classmate found 24! She won the prize for most Waldos found. I won the prize for least Waldos found after looking at the most heart urchins. The prize was a can of coke. Wow, could I have asked for a better prize?!


The rest of the afternoon was typical lecture/lab structure followed by a seminar on medicinal plants. Not my forte but interesting nontheless. All I can say is that it's time to get some sleep! Early (WAY TOO EARLY) morning again tomorrow and I'm starting to feel exhausted. Thanks for reading and keep thinking of me! You know I'll be thinking of you guys!