A Pirate's Life?...Well, not so much yet, anyway...

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