I decided that in the interest of not loosing all my muscle density, I need to start working out while I am here. One of my frustrations that I never really feel either in Ripon or in Racine is the issue of being able to get around on a budget. The streets here on the east coast, especially in Woods Hole, are not very pedestrian friendly, I don't really know where anything is yet, and there really aren't any gyms in the area...so that reduces me to whatever push-ups and sit-ups I can do at the house and either running or walking in the area, (they have bikes available, which I will try eventually, but again, the streets are narrow).
So this morning I got up at 6:00 to go for a walk. It was a nice walk, I have to say. Another older student from my house and I went down to the beach to watch the sunrise (unfortunately, the sunrise was happening on the opposite side of the beach (but it was pretty anyway). I like that I am able to maintain an early schedule here: my roommate (who is awesome) also goes to bed early, and I am free to get up whenever I want...and whenever I have enough motivation.
I forgot to mention the other day that I accidentally met the president of SEA, because I was exploring the ground floor and walked past his office. He asked me if I needed help finding anything and we started talking about life. He is a really cool guy who has done a LOT in his life, but is extraordinarily humble about it. He was mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts for a while, he worked under the Clinton administration as an Environmental Advisor, and yet he still has the time to take out of his day to ask lost-looking students what they are considering doing with their lives. I thought it was pretty cool.
Today was much more of a school day. It was the first full day of classes and quite a full day in itself. I still can't seem to grasp the idea that I am here and that this is happening. How did I get into this? I still am not quite sure. I'm sure it has some meaning for me, one way or anther, that I will find, but as of yet, I get the recurring sensation of, "Oh my, what did I get myself into?"
Classes are very long, and I'm still attempting to get a grasop on the workload. The good news is that most of these things, while I have heard of the theory (many things have to do with chemistry or physics or biology), I have never learned ANY of it before...so it is all very new and interesting. For example, today we learned about why the winds move as they do on the earth.
Because of the rotation of the earth around its axis, the clouds appear to curve, but they are actually just moving in straight lines that appear to curve because we have a moving vantage point. (there is a lot to this explanation that I am leaving out) As hot, moist air rises from the equator, it creates a low pressure zone. It sinks into both 30 degree latitudes, creating high pressure zones that rush to fill the low pressure zone at the equator. Other east-west cloud currents are created because of angular velocity, and the fact that things at the equator are moving faster than things at a higher latitude, and much faster than things at the poles.
I had an interesting thought about this, which I have posed to several of my physics friends:
If, at the equator the rotation of the earth is 1600 mph, and theoretically you could be spinning at 0 mph at the north pole by turning in the opposite direction of the earth, will time and gravity (or at least the G-force you experience from the planet) affect you differently? The answer is YES! I asked my oceanography professor about it today, and she borrowed me a book that has a chapter on it. I know I'm a relativity freak, but I'll let you all know what I find out.
In the meantime, I should really get to some more homework. All the best-
Meagan
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I'll have the scenic route, please...
So the east coast...
Hello again! I am now writing from a computer situated in the basement of the Woods Hole campus. This is actually the first opportunity I have actually gotten to sit down at a computer and put fingers to keyboard and thoughts to...screen...since I left several mornings ago. How did this all start? Let me tell you...
I told myself that I would pack a week before I left so as to have everything ready and not have to worry about it. Well, as fate (or I) would have it, a week turned to several days, several days turned to the night before, and I was up packing until eleven the night before my six am flight the next day. I have to say, in spite of that, I had WAY too much energy to be tired the next day...which turned out to be very beneficial.
You see, (and I didn't realize this or really even think about it until the day before) I ended up having to take a flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta, and then catch a flight from Atlanta to Boston. Seriously. This sounded simple enough to me at first. I had a forty minute layover, so it would be close, but I thought I could make it. As it turned out, my first flight was late leaving because of frost on the flaps (and we don't want that). I got into Atlanta at what I thought was an hour and several minutes before my next flight, and I asked an airport representative if the terminal had changed. She informed me that it hadn't, but that I had only three minutes to get there. Confused, I headed over, to find that there was no one there yet, the door was shut, and the screen still showed "Flight to Boston-9:50," so I hunkered down and waited. About forty-five minutes later, the flight information had changed to "Orlando-10:40"...and then I got the inkling that I might have crossed a time zone.
It turns out, I had; and I had missed my flight. Luckily, I had the excuse of my other flight coming in late and was able to get another ticket for 12:45; though I was so nervous that I don't think the first flight attendant I asked had any clue what I was talking about. Part of me wanted to let all of it get to me, but I realized that I had to do this, to get on another flight and get there, no matter what. So I called the SEA people and told them not to expect me until later that day. I then got some lunch at Popeye's and dug into "Twilight."
It was actually rather fortuitous that I ended up on the next flight because I ended up sitting next to a couple who were just ending a vacation in Atlanta and were heading home to Boston. I ended up striking a conversation with them about my semester and what I was going to be doing and (I was lucky, I had a window seat:) they were able to point out some landmarks from the air along the way. They wished me luck when we got to the airport, and I was overall very glad to have met them and had a bit of cheer in my day. Once there, I had to locate my duffel, which had gotten to Boston several hours before me, and was luckily at customer service. I was so happy to see my bag that I think I surprised the people at the service desk. They then helped direct me to the Bus line pickup area, and I was able to catch the 4:30 to Woods Hole. Finally, upon arriving in Woods Hole, I caught a cab to the SEA campus (we got lost because apparently there are several in the area) but it was ok because I ended up having a really interesting conversation with the cabbie, who was originally from the area and a real fan of the East. He was even amicable enough to reset the dial when we ended up in the wrong place the first time, and I only had to pay the second fare.
I was actually the only one to arrive a day early (but I suppose it is thankful I did; otherwise I would have been really late) and I spent my night alone in the creaky house...it really wasn't so bad. I ended up making some spaghetti, doing more reading, and tucking in early.
The next day was relatively slow. My roommate showed up with her dad and offered to take me with to check out the beach with them. I was more than happy to get out and interact with people that I was practically in my shoes by the time the question was out. The weather here is amazing, and -apparently- unseasonally warm. Most days it seems to be high thirties, low forties and there is relatively no snow, so it feels for the most part like fall in Wisconsin (which happens to be my favorite holiday, so I have absolutely no complaints). For some odd reason, I ended up getting a migraine near orientation time, so I ended up not socializing as much as I normally would, but I also found out that I think I am going to be at sea with some amazing people. They were all really friendly and understanding and asked my if I needed anything and how I was doing. I ended up climbing into my loft (which is great because I LOVE sleeping up high) to close my eyes and calm my stomach and fell asleep accidentally around 7...then woke up at 3am wide awake and ready to face the day...only to find out it was 3 am. I was able to close my eyes for a few more hours and then got up at 6 to shower and do the homework that I didn't do the night before (that's right...homework before classes even started...)
I'm actually running out of time now, because dinner is ready, but classes seem very interesting. I have a feeling that things are going to be VERY intense...we have homework in everything due tomorrow, along with designing a project, researching it, and then household nicities, like cooking and cleaning. It should be awesome. I promise to write more later, though I have no precise idea when that will be. Until then, fair winds!
-Meagan
Hello again! I am now writing from a computer situated in the basement of the Woods Hole campus. This is actually the first opportunity I have actually gotten to sit down at a computer and put fingers to keyboard and thoughts to...screen...since I left several mornings ago. How did this all start? Let me tell you...
I told myself that I would pack a week before I left so as to have everything ready and not have to worry about it. Well, as fate (or I) would have it, a week turned to several days, several days turned to the night before, and I was up packing until eleven the night before my six am flight the next day. I have to say, in spite of that, I had WAY too much energy to be tired the next day...which turned out to be very beneficial.
You see, (and I didn't realize this or really even think about it until the day before) I ended up having to take a flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta, and then catch a flight from Atlanta to Boston. Seriously. This sounded simple enough to me at first. I had a forty minute layover, so it would be close, but I thought I could make it. As it turned out, my first flight was late leaving because of frost on the flaps (and we don't want that). I got into Atlanta at what I thought was an hour and several minutes before my next flight, and I asked an airport representative if the terminal had changed. She informed me that it hadn't, but that I had only three minutes to get there. Confused, I headed over, to find that there was no one there yet, the door was shut, and the screen still showed "Flight to Boston-9:50," so I hunkered down and waited. About forty-five minutes later, the flight information had changed to "Orlando-10:40"...and then I got the inkling that I might have crossed a time zone.
It turns out, I had; and I had missed my flight. Luckily, I had the excuse of my other flight coming in late and was able to get another ticket for 12:45; though I was so nervous that I don't think the first flight attendant I asked had any clue what I was talking about. Part of me wanted to let all of it get to me, but I realized that I had to do this, to get on another flight and get there, no matter what. So I called the SEA people and told them not to expect me until later that day. I then got some lunch at Popeye's and dug into "Twilight."
It was actually rather fortuitous that I ended up on the next flight because I ended up sitting next to a couple who were just ending a vacation in Atlanta and were heading home to Boston. I ended up striking a conversation with them about my semester and what I was going to be doing and (I was lucky, I had a window seat:) they were able to point out some landmarks from the air along the way. They wished me luck when we got to the airport, and I was overall very glad to have met them and had a bit of cheer in my day. Once there, I had to locate my duffel, which had gotten to Boston several hours before me, and was luckily at customer service. I was so happy to see my bag that I think I surprised the people at the service desk. They then helped direct me to the Bus line pickup area, and I was able to catch the 4:30 to Woods Hole. Finally, upon arriving in Woods Hole, I caught a cab to the SEA campus (we got lost because apparently there are several in the area) but it was ok because I ended up having a really interesting conversation with the cabbie, who was originally from the area and a real fan of the East. He was even amicable enough to reset the dial when we ended up in the wrong place the first time, and I only had to pay the second fare.
I was actually the only one to arrive a day early (but I suppose it is thankful I did; otherwise I would have been really late) and I spent my night alone in the creaky house...it really wasn't so bad. I ended up making some spaghetti, doing more reading, and tucking in early.
The next day was relatively slow. My roommate showed up with her dad and offered to take me with to check out the beach with them. I was more than happy to get out and interact with people that I was practically in my shoes by the time the question was out. The weather here is amazing, and -apparently- unseasonally warm. Most days it seems to be high thirties, low forties and there is relatively no snow, so it feels for the most part like fall in Wisconsin (which happens to be my favorite holiday, so I have absolutely no complaints). For some odd reason, I ended up getting a migraine near orientation time, so I ended up not socializing as much as I normally would, but I also found out that I think I am going to be at sea with some amazing people. They were all really friendly and understanding and asked my if I needed anything and how I was doing. I ended up climbing into my loft (which is great because I LOVE sleeping up high) to close my eyes and calm my stomach and fell asleep accidentally around 7...then woke up at 3am wide awake and ready to face the day...only to find out it was 3 am. I was able to close my eyes for a few more hours and then got up at 6 to shower and do the homework that I didn't do the night before (that's right...homework before classes even started...)
I'm actually running out of time now, because dinner is ready, but classes seem very interesting. I have a feeling that things are going to be VERY intense...we have homework in everything due tomorrow, along with designing a project, researching it, and then household nicities, like cooking and cleaning. It should be awesome. I promise to write more later, though I have no precise idea when that will be. Until then, fair winds!
-Meagan
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