Back!

What an intense course Biol591. I have never worked so hard. It seems like a microscope should be attached to my face. Though it was a lot of hard work, the experience was definitely worth it and if anything the friendships that were created from it were great!

Kananaskis Field Course

I signed up for a summer course this year and thought that it would be cool to not be stuck in a class at the U of C campus. So I opted for a graduate class in the field regarding Entomology (The Study of insects). Though my major is not in this direction I still thought that it would be a great experience. The class started on the 6th of August out at the U of C Biogeoscience Station out by Barrier Lake (Formerly known as the Barrier Lake Field Station) and ends on the 15th.

Initially I really didn't think about the course load and just thought that it would be great experience having a class outside of Calgary that was hands-on learning and finished in 10 days, without a final test to boot! Well I was partially right in my expectations...except for the course load. Being outside is great, and having little day hikes to catch insects is cool too. But waking up at 7AM-> eating at 8AM->having a lecture at 9AM-> then going on a Day Hike until 3-4PM (for the past 2 days)-> having super at 5:30PM -> Another lecture at 7PM -> then from 8:30PM and onwards you are in the basement lab sorting/classifying/pinning insects for your collection (worth 45%) that you have caught (which is probably 12-1AM). On top of that you are either studying for a quiz or writing a paper (I have had a quiz and a paper due in the last 2 of 3 days). But in the end I suppose it is a cool experience, definitely not a "vacation" class though.

Today's hike was pretty cool though, we covered aquatic insects, so we went to a beaver damn, a creek, a lake and a few still ponds. My favourite catch today was a Dragonfly nymph (~1.5-2 inches) and a huge Dragonfly Adult. The only crap thing was being in the 29 degree weather, gross.

7 more days, 4 more days until my collection is due...ack!

P.S. The inset picture is that of a Dragonfly Nymph

I also thought this picture was kind of funny...for an Entomologist.

Crazy Summer!

Wow have I ever been busy this summer. I didn't take spring classes this year and just focused on work. For May, June and July I worked as the Junior Athletic Therapist for the Calgary Junior Maverick's Rugby Club. They are the elite developmental Rugby team here in Calgary and only 1 of 2 teams in Alberta (Edmonton has the other team). It was a great opportunity since I got to work along side the Senior therapist and learned a lot of things from her. I really enjoyed learning how to assess and treat soft tissue injuries (hamstrings, IT bands, etc.) and learning athletic taping was great (especially from someone that was so experienced at it).

At first I didn't think I would be busy with this at all, but in the end it ended up consuming about 3-4 nights a week and at least every other weekend. Add this to my schedule of covering other Rugby teams as a back up AT and covering the Junior Rugby teams as an on field medic and it proved to be quite a demanding schedule for these past few months. However the Jr. Maverick's ended up losing the Western Finals vs. the Vancouver Wave mid July and my schedule since then has really eased up. Now I am just prepping for a Biology Field Class that I signed up for the Summer Semester (I'll talk about it a bit in my next post).

An interesting opportunity has come up recently. The U16 Alberta Rugby team is heading out to Ottawa in the middle of August (right after I'm done my field class) and needs an AT. So I put in my application for that and am awaiting for the response. I have worked for them once (just last week) and it seemed like they liked me. And hey, a free trip out to our Nations Capital can't be that bad.