I'm back and writing....

Well, I've neglected this blog, but I do want to use it as a way to keep people up to date...so that means that I should really be writing in it. I've just gotten back from a month of fieldwork in northeast BC. That invloved taking a zodiac down a really shallow river, chartering a helicopter into the rugged northern Rocky Mountains, landing helicopters in swamps up to my knees, staying in oil camps and driving really big powerful diesel trucks. Saw lots of wildlife, mostly bears and moose, but also wolves and even a wolverine. It was a really good time, and I hope that I get to do it again. Being in the last year of my masters is kinda scary, cause I have no idea what the real worlds going to be like. Before that, I was in Svalbard for three weeks, a delightful little town, though way too touristy, at 78 degrees latitude and 4 degrees longitude. Wildlife in Svalbard included a whole lot of reindeer, some dogs and whales (beluga, grey whale and even killer whales, though that was in BC on the way to Norway). 9 days were spent on a research vessel in the ocean, and I'll not be stepping onto a boat anytime soon without a whole lot of gravol. Then I spent another 3 weeks travelling around Norway and a bit of Sweden. It was way too short, and I would love to go back.

And now. Now I'm back to the 'real life' of a university student. I'd forgotten how much fun it was around the house. My roommates are awesome and we rant about pretty much everything (lets see, we've been in Fort Nelson, Terrace and the Queen Charlottes for the last couple of months...so we're not the most proper girls). Have shocked our new roomate a couple of times, but he seems to be handleing it well. Afterall, someone needs to stick up for the male gender.

Today I attended a second year mineralogy lab. While I'm sure that sounds exciting, I was there because I need to TA the class on thursday and since I took all that stuff 3 years ago...I've forgotten most of it. Can you tell the difference between albite and anorthite in hand sample? I sure can't and I'm not sure how I'm going to tell the kids to do it. Then I came home, made dinner and sat around the rest of the evening bullshitting with my roommates. Oh, and made gingerbread cookies...a whole army of little teddy bears. I'm becoming way too domestic though Elizabeth would be proud.

So that's my life in Victoria, at least for the one day that I've been home. I'll try to keep this updated fairly often.