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 :)

Nachos grande y cinnamon twists!

Productive day today!

It was a good day:

• Went to all two classes I had
• Cat-nap in the afternoon
• Dishes - done!
• Garbage - taken out!
• Organic Chem. problems - started!

Having a day like this makes me feel not quite as guilty for being completely out of commission yesterday, although I still have a bit of catching up to do.

Bonus: CR is coming into town tonight! I heart you, CR! Also, CL and I have plans to go to B&N to start planning our trip to Europe this summer. We are going to Europe and we are going to have fun! As a graduation present my parents offered me either Lasik eye surgery or a trip to Europe. I choose Europe, my eyes can stay crappy for the time being. Once I have a fabulous job, I'll pay for my Lasik surgery myself.

-in other news-

I am completely in love with these jackets I saw on the I am Fashion blog the other day! They are the perfect blend of retro and modern. Also, they look a bit like the new Nine West coat I got while in Chicago a few weeks back. Yay for that!

Ok, that's all for now... more weekend updates later!

love, allie

PS - for something else to brighten your day, check out this! It's my favorite (and the extent of my Spanish vocabulary)!

Back home...

Well, I'm back from Chicago... I have to say I really had a good time with my mom. Here's a quick recap in pictures:

Friday:

After a very traffic-jammed drive to Chicago, my mom and I first hit up Pegasus restaurant. They say it's the best Greek restaurant in Chicago, and they are right.



After dinner and a little rest back at the hotel room, we down to Rush Street and caught a jazz show at the Backroom


I'm pretty sure that was the swankiest place I've ever been to. If you're in the area, check it out. They have shows every night... but it's a bit pricey.

Saturday:

The morning didn't really start for us until about 10am after being out late. But we went out to Michigan Avenue as soon as we got going. That place was crowded, as usual. But it's fun to be all touristy sometimes. Besides, I made some great purchases, such as...



...earmuffs from j.crew...


...perfume from Sephora...

...and a sweater from the Limited, a shirt from United Colors of Benetton, boots and a coat from Nine West, a clutch from j.crew. Yes, I did good.

Saturday night we were exhausted from shopping, so we had an amazing dinner at Smith and Wollensky steakhouse downtown. Unfortunately, we couldn't get dinner reservations until 8:45. Fortunately, we went over to Dominic's grocery before hand and got some cheese, bread, and a bottle of wine.


Finally we got to the restaurant. Their food was excellent. Mmmm... my dinner consisted of French onion soup, some zinfandel, a 10oz. filet mignon, some steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and coconut sorbet for dessert. Go there. It's great.


Sunday:

Again, didn't wake up until late morning. This time, we traveled out of the city to Woodfield Mall. We did just a bit more shopping, before it was time to head home.



So that was my trip.

Now I'm back at school.

The rest of my week:

Classes. Work.

Boo.

love, allie

Limbo

I feel like everyone is in a state of limbo right now. School is almost done, but no one knows where they'll be or what they'll do next year. I would say that is the number one most asked question of me right now: "So, what are you doing next year?" And I never have an answer. I try to laugh it off: "Haha, we'll see!" I wish I could answer them, I really do, but I guess I just have to wait for a while.

Last night I had car troubles... boo. That's not supposed to happen, that's why I have a new(ish) car! My battery died - turns out I had a light on in the back, which is weird, since I've never turned that light on myself. Must have been that stupid ghost, damn him. Luckily, the bf's (future) brother-in-law, BJ came over to jump it for me. It was all fixed in less than 5 minutes. I really wish I could have taken care of that myself, but cars are just something that I know absolutely nothing about.

In better news, I'm meeting my mom this weekend in Chicago for a fun shopping trip. It's going to be fun, I'm so excited. Let's just hope that my car works for my trip. I think it'll be ok.

That's all for now, boring post, I know.

love, allie