First of all, let me say moving to another country is a LOT of work. Getting everything together for my visa took over a month (and a lot of money), moving, getting rid of half my wardrobe, selling my car, trying to consolidate everything I’ll need into four suitcases, and tying up a million loose ends. It’s been a bit too crazy to try to keep up with this blog, but hopefully now that I’m here I can do better.
Warning: since it’s been so long I’ve got a lot to write about, so this is probably going to be one of my longest blogs. Get psyched.
So I had 10 days between my last day at work and my trip to Seattle. I had to do everything mentioned above (as well as say goodbye to all my awesome friends/family). I also had the fortune of tripping on my flip-flop going up the escalator at the Clarendon metro and cutting my toe open. After I lost enough blood the metro manager called an ambulance and I got to go to the hospital again. Yay! Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just an idiot.
After I packed my life into four suitcases and said my goodbyes, I went to visit my Dad in Seattle. I finally got to relax, went hiking at Snoqualmie, saw a few movies (21 Jump Street is definitely worth watching), and we took a short trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Super cute town, and the food was AMAZING! I probably gained 10 lbs on that trip. But that’s ok, I learned today that I’ll be doing a lot of walking in New Zealand.
I left on Sunday and travelled for about 24 hours total. Turns out New Zealand is really far away. I got in at 9 am, checked in, and went to go meet my advisor. It was a gorgeous day, 70 and sunny. He showed me around campus -- really pretty, but you can see all the earthquake damage. A bunch of the buildings have been condemned so they have small temporary buildings set up. I saw the fish lab where they have lots of cute fish swimming around just waiting for me to alter their environments and quantitate the impacts. You can tell how excited they are.
Hopefully I’ll find a place to live in the next few days.
So glad you made it there safe and sound. What kind of fish are these? Are you going to do research on them in the natural environment too?
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! They're a couple different species, but I'll definitey be working with local Galaxiid species. And I'm not sure yet...still working on the project plan. But I'll keep you posted!
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