Feb.brr.wary.

Sorry for the blog neglect!! What can I say I'm a busy girl.

Another school week is about to start, this semester is already going by way too fast! My classes are definitely keeping me busy-one in particular, vascular plant anatomy. Our first test is Wednesday and studying has made me realize how little I actually understand. I mean, everyone thinks they know what photosynthesis is...but few people really know how it works. Both (why there are two, I don't know) the professors have their PhDs from Stanford (no big deal) and they are geniuses and speak in foreign tongues (might as well be). If I had a dime for every time I heard "carboxylation" in lecture, I'd be rich. Anywhooo enough ranting.

This past weekend was laid back, just went to the university pub with friends from class on Friday, and to the legendary Marlin with some of the dorm friends on Saturday. It's been snowing the past few days and I really want to get out skiing/snowboarding again!!

Still no word from the DNR about internships, but there's still over a week left in February. I have decided to apply for summer internships up here though. Got an e-mail about some a couple days ago, there are a bunch of great positions in cities all around Alaska. It would be nice to spend the summer here I think, I've heard good things. Being away from home for 3 months longer would be difficult, but I think my mom would survive :) We'll see what happens.

OHHH I did something cool last week, almost forgot. On Tuesday night I went with my friends Cory, Thomas and Megan to the final leg of this dogsled race called the Yukon Quest. (http://www.yukonquest.com/) It's a 1000 mile race that goes all over Alaska and I think some of Canada too. We saw the first two teams cross the finish then left because it was at least -30 and we were freezing. The guy who won was the youngest person to ever win the race, I think he was 24, so it was cool to see that. It amazes me that the dogs can carry the sled/person/equipment that far. They aren't as big as I thought they would be either, they're pretty small and lean. The second dog team that we saw still wanted to keep racing!! They were all barking and jumping up and down, I couldn't believe it. I wish I had my camera on me at the time.

Well I should get studying...cheers.

Into the Great Wide Open

Alright...I'm finally doing some cool stuff around here!

So a lot of people up here actually do 'rough it.' A couple of guys I know just moved into a dry cabin...which is exactly what it sounds like-absolutely no running water. They buy big containers of water for daily h2o needs and have an OUTHOUSE a few yards behind the cabin. It's nuts. Oh yeah and these cabins are heated by wood-burning stoves, which they chop wood for on a regular basis. And I thought living in the dorm was bad...

Diego, Armando and Guy's cabin.

On Saturday night, Antonia and I stayed over at the cabin and we all had dinner together, drank and went out to this bar close by called Ivory Jack's. Sounds like a place you'd find in Iowa huh?? We also saw the NORTHERN LIGHTS which were out all weekend. It was soo cool to finally see them. You need to have a camera capable of a long exposure time (like 15 secs or so) so I wasn't able to get any pictures, but some of the other people did.

Aurora Borealis on a Saturday night (By Armando)

On Sunday morning, Antonia, Guy and I went skiing to this place called Ski Land, it was about a half hour drive away. We had a lot of fun, it wasn't too cold and the place was pretty empty since it was super bowl Sunday (the pack still sucks). We even saw a real live porcupine at the bottom of the hill, it was so funny he was just sitting in a tree eating pine needles, he didn't even care that we were like 10 feet away.

View from top of the hill...Makes Sundown look even worse haha.

Our new porcupine friend :)

So yeah had a really fun weekend here!! Consequently have a lot of homework and studying to catch up on...but having fun is what's most important right?

Beer showcase (?) Armando, Diego, Me and Antonia at Ivory Jack's.

Also, had a phone interview with the Iowa DNR on Saturday morning, I think it went pretty well and we're supposed to hear back from them by the end of the month. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Miss you very much Ames friends and Dubz friends and fam :)