Finals have been officially over for a week now, so I'm a little past-due for the ritual retrospective musings that I usually post to wrap up each semester. This was definitely the most intense semester I've had yet. I discovered my limits, that's for sure. I was taking 18 hours, working 5 nights a week, doing research and acting as
SCB president and education coordinator for
AWIS...in a nutshell, I had a lot on my plate. I can't complain, though, because I wouldn't be involved in all those things if I didn't really care about them. Even though my schedule felt hellacious sometimes, it was full of things I am passionate about, and that is the key difference that keeps things bearable.
This semester was also a good example of why undergrads have to take so many required courses that aren't necessarily in their specific area of interest. I had to take several a couple of classes that I probably wouldn't have registered for voluntarily, but I tried to go in with a good attitude and actually ended up enjoying them. It's interesting, because one class that I was really looking forward to turned out to be slightly nightmarish, and the one that I was dreading actually became something to look forward to. I don't name names on this blog, so I won't go into anymore detail than that, but suffice it to say that very often a professor makes or breaks a class. I hope to be a professor myself someday, so I try to pay attention to different teaching styles, what works vs what doesn't, and I definitely learned many "do's and don'ts" this spring. I managed to get A's in everything, although I have never felt like I had to work so hard for an A in a biology class as I did this spring, more due to overall load than actual difficulty of the material.
I've already discussed the new summer job, and I'll have details up about my fieldwork in Belize very soon. I have a lot of things to get done, but the slower pace is definitely a nice change. I've read five books and watched three movies since finals ended, that is more movies than I had watched in the entire year before this past week!
I'm also moving towards more serious searches for grad programs and advisers. I am going to the
mammal meeting in South Dakota this summer to present my
shrew research, hopefully it will be a good networking opportunity. I have had such great mentors here at Auburn, and I'm a little nervous about stepping out and trying to find another school with the same support network. I had a nightmarish REU experience last summer (I won't discuss details publicly, but it was definitely a bombed summer and I was very disappointed), and that really opened my eyes to the value of having good mentors. It was a painfully stark contrast to my experiences with advisers and professors here at my own university, and it opened my eyes to the unfortunate existence of the "other" side of academia.
So anyway, busy busy, but overall the spring was definitely satisfying. I am
really looking forward to the fall semester, I have an all-star roster of classes lined up: Mammalogy, Herpetology, Entomology, Plant-Animal Interactions, and an independent directed readings project in Anthropology. It's 18 hours again, with even more hours in the lab than I had this past semester, but most of that "lab" time will be in the field. I have already had all but one of the professors in previous classes, and the group includes many favorites. I'm also going to be a co-instructor for our new freshman
Conservation Biology Learning Community course, I'm extremely excited about that, although a little nervous....I hope the students like me, and I really want to help get them interested in the material as well...hopefully it will turn out well.
This post is now approaching novel-length, so I should wrap it up. I'll end with a freebie Charlie picture from earlier in the spring. The poor guy prefers a much earlier bedtime than I do, but he hates going into any room alone. So when I'm up late, he will slowly inch from wherever I am towards the bedroom, one little bit at a time, but always making sure he can keep an eye on me...as we see here, where his schnozz is the only thing left in the room. Is there anything sweeter than tired puppy dog eyes?