The First Day of Class

I hate to say it, but it's harder writing a post when nothing's gone wrong. 

But really, today was lovely. I got up at 7:30, which gave me a good hour to get ready and eat breakfast. It's also nice living right next to class, I've never experienced this before but I'm loving having literally no commute. 

My first class was Nautical Science and it seems the most daunting, maybe just due to the fact that it's taught by our Captain and I don't want to look like a complete moron. I don't know...we got our first assignment and it's a doozy. We have to use our ship route to figure out a whole bunch of questions, it's going to be tough for sure. 

Next was Ocean Science in Public Policy and we basically talked about plastic pollution in the oceans. Our instructor, Erin also debunked a few myths for the class, which I already knew and was hoping they'd dispel. It was, by far, my favorite. I got so giddy knowing that in six short weeks I was going to be out on the open ocean performing research I had been talking about since 2009. But I also got sort of shocked because its just so different here. Things that I'm used to in Oregon just don't happen here, like watershed councils; some people didn't even know what those were! So weird to me...

Last was oceanography. I don't know how much I'll like this class as I've taken a bunch of oceanography classes before but it's never a bad thing to review. On the plus side our instructor is a hoot. He is absolutely ridiculous and the whole class loves him. He's definitely not afraid to share his opinion, especially when it comes to the gov'ment. 

After morning classes we have an hour and a half for lunch. It was so nice out today, not muggy like its been but pretty warm and a cool breeze every now and again. 

Once lunch was done we headed into Woods Hole, MA for a little field trip. 

These are just some pictures of the little park we were at. If you know Massachusetts at all then you might recognize Martha's Vineyard in the distance. 

Nothing too special, but the view is one of those, "you had to be there" sort of things. 

We then stopped at WHOI or the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute where this man showed us a behind the scenes look at a few impressive marine machines

. This picture shows the original Alvin sphere where four scientists would sit when conducting dives in the submersible. 

This is just another cool looking submersible, more sporty and can only go to about 1000 meters. 

And this, is the submersible Director James Cameron used to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench. This was most impressive to me, gotta give props to James Cameron for being so flipping cool. I love his movies and I love his work for the oceans as well. Much love Jimmy. 

Then it was off to Walmart for some much needed school supplies followed by some delicious stir-fry for dinner and now studying in the student lounge with some others. 

I am pooped though, and I'm kind of regretting not having more time off between work and this but oh well, I'll survive. It will just take some time to get into the swing of things. 

I wanted to also say thanks to everyone who's been reading this blog and keeping up to date on my adventures. It means a lot to me, so keep on reading! Sorry these end up being so gosh darn long too...I'll work on it. Oh! and thanks for the comments too!