Back in the States, Part III

Here I am, sitting at Best Coffee Shop Ever (hence forth referred to as BCSE), where I should be working on lots of things.... graduate school shit, Environmental Chemistry homework... but instead I'm blogging. Just for you!

Before I finish my blogger trilogy of Panama, I'm going to discuss the awesomeness that occurred last night. As CL already documented, there was some drunkenness going on. The night started with me, CL, Charles Shaw, and Brokeback Mountain. CL and I decided to have our own personal tribute to the dearly departed Heath Ledger this weekend. We rented our high school favorite, 10 Things I Hate About You, (watched on Thursday!) and our new favorite, Brokeback Mountain. I hadn't seen it until last night, but wow. That was a beautiful movie. I think we're going to watch it again today. CL only stuck around for the first half of it anyway, then she and MW went over to Local Pub to watch and band and engage in various shenanigans... leaving me alone with a 1/2 bottle of 2-buck Chuck and Heath Ledger. Ooh la la.

After finishing the bottle, I went over to Local Pub to meet up with the crew. Fortunately, the band playing was really popular, meaning a big crowd at the pub and lots of friends and fun. Incriminating pictures posted on facebook: check!

But back to what you came for: more pictures of Panama!

So, here we go. We arrived at Bocas del Toro, and immediately fell in love with it. It's fucking beautiful!!! We stayed on Isla Colon, in the province (or state? I'm not really sure) of Bocas del Toro, which is on the Caribbean side of Panama. We stayed at the Smithsonian field station there, and they took good care of us. It's on the inland side of the island, so the water was clear and calm and all of the shorelines are covered in mangrove trees. You can kind of see that in this picture, it's taken of the dock at the Smithsonian station:


While at Bocas, we went batting with a professor from Florida. We went to La Gruta, a bat cave and also a grotto to Mary (interesting combination, I know). The story goes that a woman was washing her clothes in the stream that comes out of the cave and saw an image of Mary. I say that it is pretty nasty to be washing clothes in a stream full of bat shit, but whatever. Anyway, the area there is absolutely beautiful, too.


And while we were there we saw some really awesome bugs! Stink bugs? Maybe? If anyone knows, speak up!


On the grounds of the station there's this little pond. In the pond lives a few caymans. Here's one of them! They're so cute. Aww.


Back to Gamboa... here's a shot of the rain forest from the back of our truck. Riding in the trucks through the rain forest felt a little bit too much like Jurassic Park... but it was really cool.


Then we went over to Barro Colorado Island. It's a whole island owned by the Smithsonian and used for research. So... it's pretty cool. We went on a hike through the rain forest there, and it was amazing. Even the ferry ride over was cool. We had to get there at some ungodly hour of the morning, but (bonus!) we got to see the sunrise over the Panama Canal. And that, my friends, is fucking awesome.


I had about a million and a half pictures of things I saw on the hike through Barro Colorado. Here's my favorite. That's a big spider!


So, that's all the awesome biology-licious photos I'm going to post. Then we saw the locks at the Panama Canal. Sure, it was cool, but whatever. Not as cool as huge-ass spiders and monkeys. Seriously. But here she is, in all her glory:


And that wraps up my Panama story. If you want anymore info, go on and e-mail me. Bottom line: it was amazing. Yes, you should go. No, you should not wait. Go on, get up and go! Before even more of the rain forest is cut down (cattle-ranching bastards).

love, allie

Back in the States, Part II; or, Holy Hell! What Easy Classes I Have!

Dear Blog Reader,

Here comes part 2 of my Panama experience. This edition comes after meeting with the Panama Boys at Local Pub for some drinks and burgers. Yum. Now allie is a bit tipsy. Please forgive her.

So, if I hadn't mentioned it enough in previous entries... Panama was fucking awesome. And Grace is right. I wouldn't be able to explain the full awesomeness of it unless you gave me approximately three hours and bought me a pitcher of Spotted Cow at Local Pub. Until then, thou shalt never know.

But for all you busy-bodies... here's the super condensed, Cliff-Notes version:

We spent most of our time in Gamboa, a small town in the canal zone. From there, we were able to travel into the rain forest quite easily. That's where we saw the howler monkey I showed a picture of in my previous post. Also, we went up into the canopy crane in the Parque Natural Metropolitano. Here's a super-cool picture!!


So, you get in a little basket. This basket is hoisted up the crane, then out to the tippy-tippy end. Then you see awesome stuff! Like this sloth!


That was probably the best thing about Gamboa. Spider sampling was pretty sweet, too. Pictures coming with Part III. After spending about a week, we headed off to Bocas del Toro....


Yeah! That's our plane!

Ok, I'm going to stop tipsy-blogging.

Do not fret. I will have plenty of time to blog these next couple months. I have no homework. Ever. What?

love, allie

PS - I hate Miley Cyrus! Sorry CL, M and Grace!

Back in the States, Part I

I'm back, y'all!

So, one week at home, two weeks in sunny Panama, one more week at home, and here I am; back from my long absence. Classes started up again on Monday (damn you small liberal arts colleges for not observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day)... I wasn't really ready for it, but that's ok.

Here's the beginning of my recap from my wonderful, wonderful holiday to Panama...

Back story: Lucky me! I was selected to take a travel course to Panama through the Biology/Environmental Science department of my school. It was slightly over two weeks, leaving just after Christmas and returning on Jan. 12th.

Going to Panama was probably the highlight of college for me. The trees, the ocean, the monkeys, the spiders... Panama Cerveza...

Ahhh, the good life.

We were there for a little over 2 weeks, mostly staying at Smithsonian field stations. We got to frolic in the rain forest, listen to howler monkeys, snorkel near coral reefs, catch spiders... You know, normal stuff.

I took a shit-load of pictures while there and my computer is being a little fussy about uploading them. I'll post some in my "Back in the States, Part II" post.

The best part of my trip, I think, was that we got to celebrate New Year's in Panama. We went over to this swanky resort nearby to our field station, drank Panama Cerveza, and danced to Van Halen's "Panama." Haha, a little overkill I guess, but at the time (and after a few cervezas) we thought it was awesome.

My favorite thing we saw in Panama: howler monkeys!


Ok, yes, that's a picture I took. My camera had one crappy zoom for being so new. Camera with a decent zoom = #1 need for next trip to Panama.

Now that I'm back in the States, back in Wisconsin (ugg), I'm having trouble re-adjusting to winter. Especially since the temperatures didn't get above zero for a few days there. Classes have started, too. Good thing most of my classes are easy this semester. It's my last semester as an undergrad; I don't think I could handle another hard one.

On tap for this semester:

• Oceanography - biggest. joke. ever. Today we learned that there are 1000 meters in a kilometer. 7th grade anyone?
• Art History - fun, awesome professor, and only 1 paper. Hooray!
• Environmental Chemistry - my last required class, taught by my advisor. Nice.

That's it! Hooray!

I'll update more about Panama soon, I promise.

love, allie

ps - I'm sorry for not updating for so long. Naughty girl. I missed you guys :)

I'm done!

Done with finals!

Done with this stressful semester!

Now I have time to really crack down on those grad school applications... and maybe do a bit of Christmas shopping. Also - get ready for my trip to Panama!

Spending New Year's Eve in Panama is going to be the highlight of my year. It sucks that I'll be out of town, sounds like there's going to be some good parties here, but still... It's New Year's, it's Panama, it doesn't get any better than that.

Everyone's going home for the break, it's a bit bittersweet. Some of my friends are graduating at semester, like Blondie who stayed here the past few days. It's sad because I know it'll never be the same for us. We used to live together, you know? And now it's coming to the end. Yes, this seems a bit like the beginning of the end. I'm scared to graduate, but excited at the same time. It kind of feels like I've finally gotten comfortable here and now it's time to move on again. But at the same time there's a lot of things I wish I'd done differently here, and I'm ready to start a new phase of my life. For instance, I wish I'd made more friends, I wish I'd been more outgoing, I wish I'd taken more pictures, I wish I'd kissed a few more boys (but I do love my bf), I wish I'd spent a little more time hanging out with the girls, I wish I'd gone to Europe, I actually do with I'd spent a little more time studying... the list goes on.

Rrr... no more sentimentality. Must go. Must pack. Must clean. Must go to a movie with CL (yay!).

I'm going home tomorrow, so blog posts will be less frequent. I've got shit to do, people!

love, allie

Weekend plans and a sigh of relief

CL and I are having a party this weekend. It's going to be great. Ugly Sweater Christmas Party... you get the picture. So far, we've got a good number of people coming - and apparently a box of Franzia! Life is good.

Today was a crazy day. But now my presentation is done and so is my lab practical, and my lab report is handed in. Still tired - I didn't get to sleep until 1am, then got up at 6:30 to keep working. The bf came over, though - he made it all more tolerable. We both had things to do and had to stay up late... so why not do it together? It feels nice to have all of those things off my shoulders and just done. DONE! Now all I have to worry about it finals and grad school applications. ...yeah. Here's the plan for now:

• Next week: FINALS
• Grad School apps - need to be mailed by Christmas
• Christmas shopping... yeah, probably should do that by Christmas, too
• PANAMA! ...but I need to get ready for it, buy stuff, pack stuff, etc.
• relax? at some point? maybe? nah.

I'm really ready for break. Ready to go home... weird.

love, allie

Boring Sunday

I hate working Sundays, but I always do. Working 7:30am-3:00pm wears me out so much, with the people and the coffee and the quiche (damn quiche). So it always turns out that once I get home I get really tired and lazy and end up spending the rest of the night watching TV and going on the internet.... BLAH.

Also, I'm sorry CR! I was supposed to call you when I got home from work but I was a bad girl and didn't. I still want to hear your story, though! Ah... keep me updated!

Bad news: just found out that I'll need to get 5 shots before going to Panama. Eww. Pfft, I ain't gonna get no typhoid fever, or yellow fever, or Hep. A, or tetanus, or the flu... I'm fine. I can fight it off... I think. Thoughts on exotic diseases? Like that maybe I should try to not contract them?

love, allie

yay!

i'm so excited for panama!

...that's all.

love, allie

it's grey in l.a. (or is it gray in l.a.?)

when it's grey in l.a. i sure like it that way
'cause there's way too much sunshine 'round here
i don't know about you,
i get so sick of blue skies wherever they always appear.

and i sure love the sound of the rain pouring down
on my carport roof made out of tin
if there's a flood then there's gonna be mudslides
we all have to pay for our sins

and i suppose that they'll close canyon roads
and the freeways will all start to clog
and the waters will rise and you won't be surprised
when your whole house smells like a wet dog

yay, i love loudon wainwright... almost as much as i love rufus wainwright. today made me think of that song because it actually was grey/ay here for about 5 minutes, and i was loving it... now it's all sunny and 80 degrees and crappy again. boo. seriously, it needs to be about 45but degrees and overcast. then i can wear my brand new vest from the gap that i got for my birthday. see - that's the one!

speaking of my birthday, i'm so f-ing old now. i can't believe i'm 22 already. i know, i know, later in life i'll realize how not old 22 is... but that time isn't now. pretty soon the bf will be 22 also, and then he'll be able to commiserate with me. until then, he just keeps calling me old. it's not helping.

in other news, good news - i'm going to panama! i got accepted, and i'll be there for two weeks between december and january. i'm still very sad that rob won't be going with me, but i don't know what i can do about it. he says i should just bring him back a monkey that can fetch him beer whenever he wants it. i guess that'll have to do. so far on my to-do list for panama:

• take lots of pictures
• find a beer-fetching monkey and get him back to the u.s. for the bf
  

will do!

i guess that's about it. i have to go do some serious laundry tonight. you know when you haven't done laundry in about a month and there's only the clothes you hate left in your closet and they don't even match each other. yeah, that's where we're at.

h'ok so... laundry.

love, allie

1, 2, 3, 4, tell me that you love me more

yay ipod commercials! haha, everytime the bf sees that one now he's like "hey, i have one of those." yes, my boyfriend is the most spoiled guy in the whole world because for our anniversary (3 years... scary) i bought him the new ipod nano. in black. the manly color (as he says). and yeah, it's pretty awesome, but i personally think that the song on the commercials is really the best part. it's my new favorite song... just like apple wants it to be. boo.


so the good news is that i finished my environmental science thesis project (finally) today. the bad news is that all the e.s. profs felt the need to completely grill me on everything i've learned in science these past few years... and i left without having a clue how i did. they made me leave before them, saying that they needed to discuss a few things. i hate it when people in authority feel that they need to "discuss things" - because it's never good things! oh well, hopefully i did alright and hopefully it doesn't affect whether or not i'll be able to go to panama... but we'll see. i just wish it was easier to tell with these kinds of things. stupid professors and their stupid "classify the largemouth bass" questions. wtf. seriously. wtf. whatever - what's done is done.

that's about all for now, the 'rents are coming up to visit tomorrow and the place is still kind of a mess. but maybe i should just go to bed and do it in the morning. we'll see.

the end.

love, allie

i love jim

so, this thursday. office party. my place. it's gonna fucking rock. but whatever, the office season premiere is on thursday, which is amazing. i'm way too in love with jim halpert for my (or my boyfriend's) own good. too bad i hope he gets with pam! awkward, but cool. it all works out in my head.

right now - should be studying. i got my paleo lab done, so that's a plus. what i really need to be working on, though is my application for the panama trip. see, the bio department is finally taking a field course in panama, but only 3 people get to go. who makes these rules? they are really mean. i need to write an essay saying why i should go instead of those other losers (like my boyfriend... oops). i feel like this is creating tension in the bio department right now among the seniors, though. i mean, of course we all want to go - it's panama (yeah, see that awesome pic... that's panama, and that's where i want to spend my january). but our direct competition isn't some nameless person - it's each other. so i can't help rob with his essay, he's my competition. but i don't want to be chosen over him. and i certainly don't want him to be chosen over me. in allie's perfect world, me and the bf and CW would be chosen and we would go have a wonderful time in panama. yay. let's shoot for that, ok? ok.


in other news... studying for the gre still sucks, i still don't know where i want to go to grad school (any suggestions?), and i still have too much homework but am motivated to do none of it. yay!

ok, must get back to work. i hate being back in school.

love, allie