Finally Finished Finals!

So it has been an exciting two months of my life. For the the most part bugs and graduate school has consumed my time. I am glutton for punishment. After working so hard on my undergraduate, I have decided it would be fun to major in Entomology and make insects my life for the next two years. We will just say, I NEVER thought this is where I would end up. You just get a net, kill jar, and an assignment worth 40% of your grade...you cannot help but falling in love with those six legged creatures. At first, they were a bit creepy but they have slowly grown on me. And now that I have completed my bug collection, I just HAVE to show everyone. I will say I am quite proud of myself :) LOOK AT IT!!!



21 Orders, 102 Families, 435 Specimens

Additionally I took the GRE and Biology PRAXIS test. I will say that GRE was not quite my cup of tea. Since grad school was a last minute decision, I didn't really have time or desire to put of lot of effort into studying for the test. When I got in there, the math portion wasn't too bad though I definitely guessed on a number of questions. The verbal portion was something else. I was convinced after the first few questions that there had been some horrible mistake and I was being given a test in Sporishenese (a combination of Spanish, Norwegian, Finish, and Chinese). Eventually I started to recognize a word or two but it was not pretty. Lest you know think I completely failed the test, I actually did fairly well...extremely well considering the amount of study I put into it. Let's just say I am glad to have that over with.

And as if the GRE wasn't enough, Dr. Whiting also wanted me to apply for this prestigious fellowship from the National Science Foundation. I pounded out my proposal in about two weeks and will hear back in April what they think of it. It was so satisfying to put that together and be a little ambitious in trying to do something new.

Now, I am home, the semester is over and I am just enjoying the Holidays. Just to prove my festiveness, this is what I have been up to over the breaks.

Beautiful Vegetable Trays for Thanksgiving--They couldn't have picked a better job for me.

A Single Strand of Christmas Lights--First time in years they have been up...I am quite proud of them!


...OH!!! I almost forgot the most exciting news of all. I fly out to DC in two weeks for student teaching. It won't be stressful as far as academics (due it's pass/fail nature) but I am sure it will be plenty challenging and grand!!