turtles, sharks, and mountains, oh my!

Its been a week since I last wrote...wow i didnt think that it was that long. im sorry for my absence. in the past 6ish days, i have gone on a few adventures and done some pretty cool stuff outside of the gump station that im going to share with you!!

the good stuff basically started happening on saturday (5/22).  it was basically one of our first full off days the whole trip because my group had spent the whole previous day (literally from 7am to 10pm) bringing in and processing one of our experiments.  In the morning, I was just lazy and helped Tim's group sorting algae.  In the afternoon, it seemed as if everyone was off doing their project and the other two members of my group were off on adventures...i stayed behind to babysit our lab experiment and primarily to skype with my sister because i wanted to see her on the day of her prom! well after a 45sec skype sesh with syd, as she raced out the door, i felt the need to get out of gump so i grabbed my camera once again and put on my TOMS and decided to head to Maharepa (the biggest town here kinda). I power walked the whole way there, stopping to snap some artsy photos of the countryside, houses, and the crystal, sparkling water.  The photo above is a picture from the end of Cook's Bay (one of two bays...Gump station is located on the left side of this bay).  Once I got to Maharepa, I got homemade coconut ice cream and just sat and pondered my future really.  The previous night, Peggy and our TAs held a graduate school discussion...basically the process of how to apply, what they expect, what we should expect, etc.  I learned that graduate school for ecology/marine biology is not the path that I want to take.  So the whole time I was walking, I was thinking of my options.  My walk back was even more peaceful because it was the quiet time of day...late afternoon...everything closes for a couple hours then like in Spain when they go on siesta.  Today was also Boston Kate's last day in Moorea so a dock party was planned in her honor.  Around the time that everyone started to drink that delicious roombah, I decided that drinking and being loud and crazy was not in the cards for me that night.  I bounced around the station from being on my computer in the lab to watching a little bit of Lost World in the classroom with my tame peers to ending up lying on my back on the dock and looking up at the stars while talking to Nick about our futures. Neither of us were drinking, people all around were being obnoxious and silly, but it was comfortable and fun. After a little while I fell asleep and Nick woke me up to go to bed. We brushed our teeth and said good night just like siblings do.

The next day was another free day as we were waiting for our algae to grow, and I was desperate for an adventure. I was flipping through the guide books on the big book shelf and found this really cool hike. No one would commit until finally blessed Michelle agreed to it in 30 sec and we were out the door in 10min...Casey tagged along too.  The hike is called Three Coconuts Pass and the trailhead is somewhere in Opunohu (the next bay over).  We just started walking in that direction in hopes of hitchhiking...after about 40 min, we were half way to Opunohu...enter Romey. A big jeep like truck pulls up behind us and beckons us into the back and me into the front seat.  Romey is ajovial character...big girn on his face. Asks us where we are going and offers to drive us right to the trailhead.  I talk to him in broken French and he in broken English.  He has lived in Moorea all his life. A fisherman at heart. A man who loves life.  Thank goodness he drove us to the trailhead...he was zooming and it was a 20min drive! We hoped out and wished each other a "bonne journee" and headed for the trailhead.  The guidebook I had gave us incredibly detailed directions that really made no sense when reading it and not seeing the trail: "turn right at a big rock after the pig farm." We crossed a stream and were immediately immersed in the rain forest.  It was breathtaking...lush, green, moist, and the craziest trees growing every which way with roots that stuck out 2-3ft from the ground in sheets that wined into the ground.  Along the way, Casey, Michelle, and I played 20 questions (the one where you are given the initials of a person), talked of dreams, goals, funny stories, put each classmate into a Hogwarts house, and recapped childhood memories.  The path had been freshly marked with red spray-paint dots that could be found on trees, rocks, plants.  If it werent for these markers, we surely would have gotten lost.  After about an hour of furious hiking, we crossed paths with a Frenchman who told us it was 40 min to the top! We trekked on...we reached a point where we could see both bays! It was incredible (picture above). Felt like we were literally on top of the world.  We hiked a little further up the trail and reached a point where we could see the other side of the island (Haapiti Beach...picture with me in it). I have never felt so much jot and awe from a strenuous, sweaty hike.  We checked our watch and realized we needed to boogie to get back to the station by 1pm (Michelle had to start her project then). We literally started running down this mountain. Casey and I literally smacked our heads into branches multiple times. I slipped in mud several times...vans just dont have great traction. At one point, we were sprinting down this steep hill that was at least 200m...i thought for sure one of would eat it. But we all remained on our feet plus a few scream/squeals from me and Michelle laughing behind.  Once we exited the trail, we decided we would check to see if the agriculture school was open...they apparently make bomb homemade ice cream...it was about 1.5miles up the road. It was closed so we turned around and headed home. We walked on the main road for about an hour and a half before someone picked us up. We made it back to Gump at 12:58pm :) Such a tiring day, so I basically slept until dinner and then we ran statistics on our project that night...our data is siginificant! yay!

the other days are kind of blending in together so I will just hit the high points...I got to go dive at the forereef with two other people and Peggy because we were sick when the rest of the class went. I had to be ready to go by 8am..on the boat again = happy girl.  After five min of being in the water, I saw a turtle and got super megafauna happy and bolted towards it. My increased speed ahead of the group got me a scolding but I saw the turtle so it was otayy.  Another couple minutes go by and I see my first shark!! A black tip reef shark! I wasnt scared at all...rather intrigued an i wanted to see more!!! 45 sec later another one!!!!! Such a good dive!  

Im getting sleepy so I will continue tomorrow. Love you all!

the blue sky makes it all okay

I'm sorry for my long absence of blogs over the past several days...I literally came down with some sort of Tahitian flu and was bed ridden for two days...still experiencing the symptoms today :( but anyways, last time i wrote was about last friday. soo saturdayyyyyyyyyy was supposed to be a big day on many accounts.  My group was putting our lab experiment together and the staff at the Gump station challenged our A-team (I was included :) ) to a volleyball match and then they were giving us a traditional tahitian feast sans luau.  

the morning was spent collecting our algae that was dyed in the field (at the church), putting 4cm of homogenized (mixed) sediment into 60 containers, filling the containers of sediment with 500mL of enriched or ambient seawater, recording the dry weight of the algae and putting it in the appropriate container.  This took all morning and part of the early afternoon.  I had an hour before the fated volleyball match was supposed to begin.  Basically the A-team was selected based on if you played volleyball in high school. i played freshman year...but apparently that was more than 18 other of my peers lol. i went to shower and get prepped for the game but suddenly became stricken by aches and fatigue. needless to say, i slept through the volleyball game. when i woke up, i found my boys sitting on our bench at the waters edge on the beach, drinking hinano and talking. I joined but nausea and a blaring headache overcame me.  when i was about to retire to my bed, it was time for the ceremony for the feast and the explanation of the foods. i  stood there listening with a smile to the best of my ability until i thought i was gonna pass out so i sat down. bed was next. i would not leave my room for two days.

sunday and monday were spent pretty much the same...curled in a ball clutching my stomach with incremental dashes to the bathroom. i literally did not eat for like 48 hours except for like a couple pieces of french bread that i forced down. i got some reading of the firm done. but sleep was my main hobby.

yesterday i started feeling better in the morning and i was starving. so i overate at breakfast and was running to the bathroom again.  but i decided i still felt well enough to function and i desperately needed to leave the sweathouse that is my room.  so i went with my group and problem solved the final decisions of our last experiment all morning. in the afternoon, we set out to put 40 more dye bags in the field. i managed to get through this task unscathed. at around 4pm, I was notified that a group of 10 of us  were headed to the Hilton for dinner/happy hour to celebrate Michelle's 21st Birthday.  So I managed to finish my work plus my group mate's second task before she finished her first by 5pm...i sprinted out of the water, washed my gear off, put it away, and around the house to get ready in 10min.  I'm still wondering how I managed to work so quickly without falling over of exhaustion and nausea but i did! i got ready in time and we were off to the hilton. everyone was practically drunk already, trying to fulfill the much fabled 21 shots on your 21st birthday.  i was sober and in control haha.  the dog here, chicken dog, likes to follow people on excursions as some sort of protective instinct. one day on our way to the church, she actually jumped in the water after me/on me.  well she followed us all the way to the hilton (30min walk) and even came inside and sat by our table! it was kind of embarrasing but she wouldnt leave!!! anyways, at dinner i got a chicken ceasar salad...im not a huge ceasar fan but this glimpse of american food was amazing. and the chicken!!!!! yes im a vegetarian but when u havent seen protein or tofu in weeks, you gotta make sacrifices to stay healthy. the chicken was sooo good. i devoured it. ate all of it. way past my stomach capacity at this point but i knew i needed it. there was this huge ordeal with the check...lets just say tahitian culture doesnt know what splitting the check in half (for the two sides of the table) and everyone thought their food/drinks were 50% off haha. chicken dog managed to get in a lil  tussle with another stray and Jackie knocked a glass off the table in an effort to get out of the way...this is about the time when our grubby gump - ness kicked in a we definitely stuck out amongst the quiet, pleasant honeymooners: breaking glass, griping over the expensive meal, obnoxious drunks....ay yi yi. i just wanted to get back and do something productive. as the only member of the group who brought a flashlight, i lead the way with chicken dog by my side.  as everyone bustled into the house, i headed for the lab to get my computer. i soon found out that the other more conservative group of students would be watching transformers in the classroom via the projector. so up i went...i worked on my field notebook and watched shia lebeouf and megan fox befriend robots. i kinda liked the movie actually.  i good action movie for me :) when i went inside after the movie, everyone was blacked out, drawing on each other, eating things, trying to drink more. not pretty. i dont think i will ever understand that mentality. for my 21st i would rather go to dinner with a close group of friends and my parents, order a drink or two, then go to a club and dance or something and get drunk there but no puking and no blacking out. 

this morning i felt uber nauseous so i grabbed a handful of cornflakes and decided to walk to the store (the rest of my group was still asleep).  i wanted to try to find some oatmeal possibly and apples! its about a 30min walk to the store/Pao Pao.  I took the camera, thinking I would get some cool artsy shots only to find out the battery was dead. oh well. i hiked on. i got to the store and came out with applesauce and two apples haha.  after about 3 min of walking back, an elderly grandpa figure pulled over and pointed at me and then towards gump. i looked him over, frail, european, and looked like my gpa...so i got in the car. he didnt say a word. probably only spoke french or something like that. when we were rounding the corner towards gump, he pointed at the station and i confirmed. as i climbed out i said "merci beaucoup" and i got that nice elderly smile with a eye-twinkle in response.  thank goodness for the kindness of strangers...i was beginning to feel extremely nauseous again.  after i got back, natalie and casey had just woken up and we set back out to the church to clean our cages followed by lunch. immediately after lunch i became extremely ill again and was locked up in the classroom bathroom for like an hour. they went on to the afternoon tasks without me.  i tried to sleep the sickness off but its still lingering. i got to skype with my parents and i finally got their package of protein bars and mambas this afternoon (after two and a half weeks)!! that was a definite highlight. i miss them mucho. now off to the lab to prep for our day tomorrow.

love you all!

when it rains it pours in the tropics

this is a picture from one of the first days we got here. i finally figured out how to resize photos so that i can post em for you! the past couple of days have been unreal weather wise...torrential downpours, howling winds, and lightning galore.  it actually inhibited a lot of stuff that we needed to do for our experiments because cages got turned over, there was no visibility in the water column, and lightning presents a problem when youre surrounded by water. so literally have just been chillin and posting up inside the past couple of days...ive been reading the firm by john grisham (one of the hundreds of interesting novels at the station...most of them smutty romance novels with a few john grisham thrillers thrown in there.  since i last wrote, i had another free day so jackie, michelle, and i went over to the hilton to go swimming in the pool.  it was amazing....first time i actually felt clean clean since ive been here...prolly because of the chlorine and i was finally not sweating for once.  the entirety of the people surrounding the pool were all couples presumably on their honeymoon. needless to say that 3 blonde college girls that looked noticeably grimey and beaten up by the elements stuck out a little.  we started to formulate a plan...michelle speaks polish...we are all blonde...we are polish stepsisters whose parents just got married in moorea.  anytime we were approached, the plan was for michelle to speak polish. this provided laughs and fueled the creative side of our brains for a change. everything was in place until a cabana boy came up to us and asked us if we wanted chips. well duh we replied yes and in english. cover blown but we got free chips and the lil tahitian was so intent on flirting with us that he even brought us ice cold water with lime.  now let me tell you, i havent had ice water before or after that moment since arriving in moorea. it was the most amazing water to hit my lips.  after basking in the pool for a couple hours and trying to get tan on the belly side of my boday (back side is soooooo tan in comparison...think about what faces the sun when youre snorkeling and im snorkeling basically everyday), we went up to the concierge to look at like a pamphlet of stuff to do in moorea besides sit at the gump station.  the woman asked if we were staying at the hotel, and to my utter shock her co-worker behind us replies, "no, they are staying at gump." shoot. busted. guess we werent as sneaky as we thought and dangggggggg does stuff get around on this lil island.  well we went on our merry way and headed to our less luxurious quarters.  before dinner, we went were told to get "dressed up" because we were heading up the mountain to the gump house. i didnt really know what to expect. all i knew was that the director of the gump station lived up there. we hiked in the dark with flowers in our hair and dresses on (well the girls anyway) and arrived at this large rustic house perched on the mountain looking over Cook's Bay. it was beautiful. hinano (tahitian beer) was offered but i chose the local tropical juice...beer isnt my thing.  then we listened as the director ( a hunky australian named neal davies) gave us an overview of the types of studies that the gump station hosts and is involved in (BioCode, LTER, etc).  after this, my group had to give our interview for the COSEE outreach program that we are also doing (my sciencey blog).  it was sufficiently awkward being videotaped and stuff as we answered questions about our project.   i then decided to hit the hay a lil early.

there was not much on our agenda by way of our project the next day except that we needed to clean our cages...well we were lazy - i stayed in bed and read the firm and did yoga in my room - so we decided to clean them in the afternoon.  unfortunately that's when the hurricane decided to kick into high gear.  the visibility was practically zero and the inclement weather was less than inviting.  dr. fong made us go over to our site anyway and check out the viz just to be sure.  so on the way there casey and tim carried an empty crate of Hinano to exchange for a new one at the store which is 5 min further from our site (you get a discount for bringing back crate + bottles...recycling is huge here:) ).  on this excursion of walking to the site (aka the church), Tim accidently kicked a stray kitten that literally lunged at him from its hiding spot in the bushes. this was horrible, sad, and yet very funny. tim kicked a kitten.  we got to the store; they got their beer; then the reality sunk in...freaking heavy crate. well to our great fortune, the COSEE people were at the store grocery shopping so we hitched a ride with them.  Once dinner ended, i finally got a much needed "long" skype sesh with robert.  like 10 people decided to drink and play games later. for awhile i observed, but ultimately resided to grammy status and went to bed early again. i like my sleep.

yesterday began with cage cleaning bright and early. rain was still in the forecast so we needed to get this done. if you dont clean the cages, you get sediment and algae built up on the cages which could affect water flow and light distribution.  the rest of the morning was spent in the lab doing menial tasks in preparation for our lab experiment that we were hoping to start today.  however, in the afternoon dr. fong dropped a bomb on us and said that she wants us to dye our algae in situ rather than weighing in the lab so we can compare it to the field experiment. sweet. well it began pouring again in the afternoon so the dying had to be put off until today which put us a day behind schedule.  in the late afternoon, i just labeled jars for the lab experiment and hung out with tim, learning about his life back in new york. people are so interesting especially that diverse array of backgrounds that people are from....not everyone lives in a bubble in agoura and their biggest worries are getting to soccer practice and AP exams.  after dinner, our TAs presented the results of the class projects...well none of the data was significant so the experiments were basically poop. cool. haha.  makes me nervous for our experiments. our TAs have been doing experiments for basically a decade and they got insignificant data....what does that mean for us???!!!! eek.  stayed up late just chit chatting with hayley, alex, casey, and michelle :)

today was a challenging day.  we set out to start dying our algae in front of the gump station. however, like 1/3 of the way through, we realized there wasnt enough of what we needed in the area. thus, we had to go to the church and re-dye it all there.  lots of curveballs in other areas of the experiment today, too.  so much that before lunch i just wanted to curl up and cry....literaly laid in bed for an hour reading because there wasnt enough time before lunch to do what we needed to do.  so in the afternoon, casey and i set out to go place 40 dye bags at the church with the help of tim....such a savior....while natalie stayed with dr. fong to figure out how to get the sediment we needed for the lab portion.  we finished in time to get back and have a couple hours of peace before dinner. tim and i pulled up a bench onto the beach and just gazed out to sea - at the darkening sky (no sunsets here), the blue waters, the green mountains...dang im in tahiti. we talked about our relationships and loved ones...not a frequented topic when im with other people.  the mosquitos started to come out and that was our cue to get ready for dinner.  nothing could be more perfect here except the food. its awful. carbs and the occasional salad is all we get....oh and mystery meat.  since the ridiculously pathetic meal of mashed potatoes, rice, some sort of meat (which i dont touch), and salad, i have been hanging out in the lab with my brothers and jackie and michelle and journaling and talking and doing nothing :)

everything here in paradise is peachy. tomorrow holds a busy day. we are putting the whole lab experiment together followed by a gump station staff vs student volleyball match and a traditional tahitian feast put on by the people who work here. they are bringing their families and cooking a pig in the ground and everything. should be really fun. i love you all so much and i really do miss you!!!!

sunset cocktails with my brothers

To Do List

so there is a lot of stuff i need to do here before i leave. this list will be in progress but i found out a lot stuff i have to do yesterday from Boston Kate so here it goes:

swim with dolphins
get chum and swim with the sharks
see a sea turtle
get ice cream from the agricultural school
sunrise hike
find a way to bora bora??

thats all i got for now. oh and i forgot, went to tahitian dance class last week. i was awful. theres a reason a played sports.  the rest of the girls are going 3 times a week now. i may pop in every once in awhile but its def not my thing.  i made a lot of people laugh though :)

heaven

So since I last wrote we basically have started our group experiments! You can check mine out at http://rncmoorea2010.blogspot.com/ !! follow us! it will be updated at least three times a week :) anyways so that has been going on. lots of late nights writing our proposal, cage making while watching disney movies, and encountering many challenges and injuries in the field. yesterday was the official start of our experiment. after dying all of our algae in situ the previous day, we had to apply all the correct treatments. because im a mermaid, i generally have the harder tasks in field because i can work underwater more aptly and can hold my breath for longer than even i expected. i stepped on a pearl oyster though and sliced the bottom of my foot nice and deep....two parallel lines cuz of the mouth of the oyster...kinda funny but really painful. everyone is really concerned when you get cuts around here because staff infections are a huge problem so my foot looks like it got attacked by electrical tape (its the only thing that will stick in this humidity...that or ducktape). we finished applying all our treatments like 3 times faster than expected yesterday so we didnt have to go back to the site in the afternoon aka free time! two of the girls (michelle and jackie) and i tried to formulate a plan to do something fun with science and roombah for the night time. came up with jello roombah shots in syringes. our mission that afternoon, thus, was to go to the store, get jello and roombah, borrow syringes from the lab, and create these fun lil treats. just as we were about to walk to the store in pao pao (25min), a csun grad student here who is super chill (Boston Kate) offered to drive us...so we went to Maharepa which is a much bigger store/city/atm, etc.  we got our roombah but jello must be a rare comodity...savor it, guys. haha. then we went to a store that had a bunch of moorea souvenirs...lots of dolphin stuff...refuse to get anything until i see some. Boston Kate claims to see them all the time in our bay...i must be blind or seriously unlucky. anyways its a goal. after the souvenir shop, we went over to this lil ice cream parlor with all these tropical flavors of homemade ice cream....mmm pineapple ice cream is baller.  we got back to gump, and i decided to catch up in my field notebook while sitting on the beach. i was shortly joined by tim who wanted to leave early for our secret adventure :) i rallied nick and casey, and we all raced down the street before anyone could see where we were off to....the Hilton for happy hour and a sunset.  it was like a 30 min walk. ive frequently driven this way to go to Oponohu Bay which is the next bay over but there really is so much you miss when youre driving, even if youre really looking. i was literally in shock....that this was my life. walking down a paved road surrounded on either side by lush green trees and tropical flowers. the ocean was visible to our right and with each step, i could see more and more of the sun. and to compound this breathtaking moment, i was walking with my best buds/brothers....laughing, joking, living it up. once we arrived at the hilton, i was stunned. the hotel is gorgeous and the view even more so. perfect sunset complimented by one too many pina coladas and what we doned fried flowers (prob more like potato chips but they looked like flowers but not taro). by the time we decided to leave our beautiful spot, it was sprinkling....tropical rain. couldnt have been more perfect. nick and tim gave me their shirts to cover my dad's precious camera and we were off. this walk will be ingrained in my mind forever...basically pitch black, weaving, Nick grabbing me out of the street when cars would fly by and holding me up when i needed it, Tim retrieving my flower when it would fall out of my hair, me giving Tim at least five flat tires, talks of ice cream and pizza desires, personal talks, jokes, boy talk, and sneaking back into Gump 15 min late for dinner, all of us buzzed, and floored to find two tubs of ice cream on the kitchen counter. nothing could have been better. after dinner, tried to keep the buzz going with games of kings cup and spoons but to me it was so subpar compared to the entirety of the day that i resigned to my bed. randomly woke up to brush my teeth and found tim climbing in the rafters above our rooms. <3 moorea

Almost up to date. Vive le MBQ!

Yesterday morning was spent breaking down Ranjan's growth assay in Oponohu Bay that we had set up within the first couple days of the class project process.  I was snorkeling so my job was to locate the bags of algae that were tied to substrate ahead of Ranjan who recorded the depth they were at and then a diver collected it.  This was to expedite the process because we had ~80 bags to find.  I saw a trumpetfish! They are so much bigger than I thought.  Other than that most of the fish and things to see are the same as Gump reef except more in number. Oponohu is largely covered with algae...it really is sad.  This took a couple hours.  I pulled my wet suit down to my hips in an effort to get a lil sun on my tummy and back.  Most of the time here we are fully covered because we are doing things for long periods of time in the water and would fry otherwise.  After collecting everything, we came back to the lab and started taking the algae out of the bags.  My job was to dry the algae in a salad spinner so that an accurate weight could be taken to determine growth.  After about my fifth go-around with the salad spinner, my huge girl-ceps managed to rip off the handle. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.  I felt so stupid.  However, Handyman Wilson was able to fix it while I continued the work with the second spinner.  After all the algae was weighed and recorded we were officially done for the day.  The draft of the project proposal was due the next day so that's literally what we did until 10:30pm.  I still don't think it was very complete.  So much work and so little time really.  I feel like ours was largely subpar after hearing about other groups but at the same time Peggy told us to make it concise and 15 pages is not concise so ours will probably be okay.   Our group has a lot of work ahead of us.

So today! All morning I have been playing catch up in my field notebook and on the blog while the rest of my group and another group work on sediment sorting.  However, only 3 people really work at a time so my business with something else was not detrimental.  The rest of today will be spent chilling, exploring, and then working on our proposal once we get the revisions back from Peggy...that should be interesting.  

The past couple days I have been kinda homesick and miss you all so much! Sending lots of love. I hope you are all healthy and happy :) Even though I may be homesick, I am having the greatest time and making the most of every moment.

The next day I woke up feeling not only sick to my stomach but light-headed and dizzy.  I tried to partake in the group work, which was another day of picking and sorting things in sediment, but I just couldn't focus so I went back to bed.  I literally slept until lunch time and woke up feeling a little better.  After lunch time was greeted by cramming for our invert test at 3pm.  The test was twofold: one question portion and one identification of live specimens portion.  I definitely dominated naming the live things.  The other part we wont talk about haha.  After the test, Ranjan took 4 of us to the ATM. I had only just realized that in my mad dash to make it to Tahiti, I had forgotten to exchange money and had no Polynesian Francs! The other half of the excursion was marked by a roombah run for many of our classmates. I opted out of buying one for myslef, knowing that Tim and Nick would share with me :) At the supermarche here, there was so many different kinds of French, Asian, etc. candy.  It was so weird.  I think foreign foods are one of the most interesting and amusing things....like there were these ball-shaped candies with frogs all over the bag. Ranjan got some and we later discovered that they were just sour apple gummies...why there were frogs on the bag we will never know.  Once we returned, we had dinner and got to work on our project proposals.  The draft is due on Wednesday and the majority of people were starting already.  The third member of our group was MIA, so Casey and I basically just flirted with a lot of options.  Our project could literally go in fifty different directions with fifty different methods.  I will talk about it when it is finalized :) After a couple hours of talking with Peggy and her daughter about how to structure our methods, we abandoned our post in the lab and went back into the house. To our chagrin, there were a group of people just starting Catch Phrase...with roombah.  So we joined in :)  For some reason Tim was determined to drink past his limit...chugging cups of mixed drinks. But let me tell you, there is no stopping him.  He did wrestling in high school and is not opposed to whipping out some paralyzing moves when he is sober...without a second doubt when he is drunk.  While several uber drunkies went to go hang out on the dock, Nick and I stayed inside and had one of those deep meaningful intoxicated conversations.  It was mainly started off with me saying how I don't think I'm cut out for this research business as a profession.  I'm really enjoying it now and in this setting, but I don't think I want to do it after this experience.  I'm not that big of a fan.  He loves it though.  The conversation trailed into what our futures hold...maybe med school, maybe grad school, and maybe something totally different for me. Who knows what the future holds.

Just as we were about to go to sleep we realized that there were four people missing...presumably out on the dock. So we went our to retrieve them.  To no surprise, they were all completely passed out.  I  caried Jackie in, Nick got Tim, and the others werent really our responsibility lol.  We put them in bed and I followed :) Another great day with the MBQrew in paradise.

Surveys and worm poop

So the last couple of days have been out of control busy. I left off with talking about Tonya's experiment. The next day we started by learning how to do surveys with Peggy.  Basically a survey includes laying a transect line on the bottom/benthos and randomly picking numbers along the transect (most common is to pick numbers out of a hat beforehand) and putting a quadrat on the selected meter. Our quadrats have subsections made by stringing fishing line through the PVC frame (1m by 1m).  There are a total of 81 cross sections and below each cross section we are to record the type of benthic material in a chart i.e. sediment, macroalgae, cyanobacteria, coral, etc.  It basically is a long tedious process. Especially when you have to do it ten times! Casey was my dive buddy; we took surveys at 3m in Gump reef.  At like 11:30am we had two more to complete. Peggy came up to us and asked if we wanted to "quit" and I bet you can guess what went through my mind...heck no!  So we finished our last two quadrats and ran to lunch pretty much. After lunch, my group was handed over to Dr. Jacobs who was unanimoulsy renamed as DJ Invert (he is the one giving us our invert test).  So DJ Invert took us out of Cook's Bay to this slope thing to take pictures of acorn worm poop. Basically by looking at the disappearance rate of acorn worm poop piles, we can determine the carbonate flux based on water flow....I think.  Once we got on location, it was time for scuba. I went with DJ Invert and Casey to measure the water flow on the slope.  Put a meter stick on the benthos and timed how long it took for a yellow dye to move from one end to the other.  We did this too many times to count.  Then we went with the other divers and took pictures of previously recorded poop piles to document the decrease in size.  After this task was finished (about an hour), I was done for the day because it was the other groups turn to take part.  So me and this guy Alex started jumping off the top of the boat into the turquoise waters :) After awhile, I just stationed myself on top of the boat.  Combination of sunbathing, observing my peers working around me, and taking in the awesome panoramic view.  It was heaven.  I didnt come down until we docked the boat back at the Gump station.  After we cleaned up and such it was dinner time.  Then came hard core study mode.  The invert test was the next day and I desperately needed to review and learn.  We started at the water table, looking at the live specimens that had been collected and then moved into the lab to learn phylogeny of like a bajillion invertebrates.  I basically fell asleep on Nick, flashcards in hand.

the dock at the station

Je suis tres content...j'adore moorea

The past three days have been absolutely crazy. Going in to extensive detail would probably not only bore you with the science lingo but also might be impossible for me to recall...luckily i have my field notebook.  im going to give you the rundown of the past couple days in the simplest form possible.  So i left off with one of our class projects (collecting Galaxora).  One of our TAs Ranjan is in charge of this class experiment.  The goal is to look at growth and herbivory assays in coral or algae dominated areas in relation to high and low topographical complexity.  After lunch, we took our bags and drove to Oponohu Bay to distribute our 80 treatments.  I snorkeled and free dove the bags to divers who attached them to rocks.  We did this for about 3 hours and called it a day (more like night). We only got through about half of the treatment bags...the reason it took so long is because we had to assign different treatments to different topographical locations that were chosen solely by Ranjan.  During a brief hiatus, I stopped and looked around (something I can't help but do frequently) and on the left side of my view was blue sky and light gray puffy clouds and to the right hung a beautiful rainbow in front of lush green mountains and dark ominous clouds that clearly alluded to heavy rainfall elsewhere on the island.  As we were climbing out of the bay, we heard it.  Buckets and buckets of water pouring from the sky.  But we were still dry (well relatively because we had just exited the ocean...more like free of fresh water).  We looked across the street and saw the sheet of water right in front of our eyes. Truly remarkable.  Within 60 seconds we were drenched...hooting andx hollering for the first tropical rain of our stay.  We drove home to a bountiful dinner and hot showers. My group had dishes duty which was probably the absolute worst night to have it because we supposedly had an invertebrate test that included over 100 hundred organisms that must be memorized by the next afternoon...no one was prepared.  We rushed through the cleaning process (such messy boys) and finished to run across the street to the lecture room for a "review."  Dr. Jacobs really likes to hear himself talk sooooo the review was rendered useless...I snuck out early to work on my flashcards.  After about an hour of fervent flash card making, Jackie (one of the girls I am actually a fan of) came down to the lab to tell me the test was moved to Monday.  Hallelujah. Off to bed :)

The next day was greeted with more French bread with nutella or jam.  I couldnt stomach the white bread anymore...i like my bread grainy so I have since resorted to my pre-packed Odwalla Super Protein bars for breakfast.  My group got rotated to another class project by Dr. Jacobs' TA, Chris.  This day was completely devoted to sediment collection and separation.  The first task was to go out to two sites and collect sediment...Im actually not really sure the point of this experiment except the sheer torture of undergrads.  I did get to go on my first scientific dive and shovel the sediment into bags! After we finished our task the prof said my buddy and I could cruise for about ten minutes...saw a massive Acanthaster and gave it the finger (these crown of thorns sea star is responsible for the majority of coral death here).  Once we returned, the torture ensued.  We had to sort all the sediment sizes in to categories: bivalves, gastropods, urchin parts, worm tube parts, coral, decapod parts, etc...and these arent whole pieces...all fragments the size of a pin.  This was carried on all afternoon until 5pm.  Needless to say, sediment is not my favorite thing in the world.  After dinner, the majority of us had a plan...party.  The only relaxing time we have had from waking up to going to sleep.  Nick and Tim went and got Tahitian rum Rhumba (later to be called roombah in a drunken stupor) for us.  The night started with King's cup and ended with laying in the water looking up at the stars and laughing and talking (drunkenly elated with our current fortune) to taking a 12:00am shower (yes, at that exact time...hard to explain haha).  After I climbed into bed, I just smiled to myself. Pure bliss: a hard long day of work followed by the most fun in a long time with some of my closest friends and new ones :)  Im not exactly sure how long I was asleep (no more than 20min) but I was shaken awake by Nick who ushered me to his room.  And to our non-sober delight laid Casey, passed out on his bed so hard that he didnt even wake to a good shaking. So out came the Sharpie.  He got chiefed with initials, phallic images, and lame sentences. Epic. Then back to bed after hugs from my best buddies.

This morning was more french bread and nutella and jam. Out cam my trusty Odwalla bars. Im seeing a theme here.  Again my group was rotated to another class project, this one belonging to our third TA, Tonya.  Her experiment is twofold...we started the second part today.  So the gist of the experiment is to look at the growth of a cyanobacteria and a macroalgae relative to nutrient supply and the two interactions of the organisms.  My role today was probably the biggest out of the whole bunch....Tonya likes me now haha.  I did all of the inital set up while the rest of my group collected the specimens.  My tasks included prepping the water table and making the nutrient solutions (+Nitrate, +Phosphorus, +Nitrate & +Phosphorus) on a larges scale (20L solutiuons).  Once my group returned, they cleaned the specimens while I dried and weighed over 180 sample sizes.  It was a long day on my feet and a lot of tedious work: including continuous fights with a scale and a salad spinner (used to dry the algae).  After we finished at 5:30pm, I just chilled with Nick in the dining area while loosely studying for our inverts test on Monday.  Dinner rolled around and now we are getting a debriefing on a new experiment that Dr. Jacobs developed in the last couple days that will begin tomorrow.  Then studying and bed time :)

I love you all. I would post more pictures but we are not allowed to upload or download things on this shotty internet.  I may try to sneak one every now and then for your viewing pleasure. More scuba for me tomorrow..doing percent coral/algae cover surveys at a TBD location.  Basically our class projects are a way for our TAs (grad students) to get little minions to do all their work in an offsite location haha. It is cool because the projects are interesting and we get to learn experiment technique before we begin our own projects.  But they are super long hard days of tedious tasks.  But how can I even begin to complain...this is what I love and im in Tahiti!!!!!!!!!!

Bonjour

So I have officially and finally arrived in Tahiti. Basically the traveling experience to Tahiti from LA had me antsy and anxious and down right impatient the whole time, but thanks to my inadequate French and a super speedy taxi driver, I made it to the Gump Station in a enough time to make the day trip to the motus!! Literally within 2 hours of landing in Tahiti, I was snorkeling in the crystal turquoise waters. Apparently, my arrival on Wednesday was crucial because that was the most exciting day and they day that they actually saw marine life in the water...I guess everything DOES happen for a reason.  Anyways, I really wasnt expecting what I would see below the water's surface. I, like many other unknowning tourists (yet I did know some facts but just not the severity of the situation), envisioned a colorful benthos with lots of beautifully covered fish EVERYWHERE.  This is not the case.  FYI people, we are killing the ocean.  Coral was mostly covered in sediment, which was most likely brought from the cyclone a month ago or anthropogenic terrigenous input.  I did see a decent variety of fish but nothing like pictures or what one would expect.  My favorite was the Moorish Idol...saw two.  Their colors and they way they just kind of float neutrally buoyant in the water column is so cool (ref. Gill in Finding Nemo).  After snorkeling around the forereef and the motu, I was exhausted. We were swimming against some pretty outrageous currents.  Our quest to swim around the motu was more of a race.  We tried to go as fast as possible because we thought we were racing against the clock to return at a certain time...we werent.  All of the girls and our professor laid basking in the shallow water, conversing about really cool topics...you know, angiosperms, cyanobacteria, reef formation...typical girl talk.  It was absolutely heavenly and just what I needed after a long stressful day both mentally and physically.  On our return trip back to Gump, we stopped at this area that seemed like the middle of nowhere and jumped into the water with at least a dozen sting rays.  They were just swimming right up to us and around us.  I touched several of them...two fingers only of course.  Let me tell you, these werent aquarium sized sting rays either.  I'm talking massive!! Like the surface area of four baseball home plates.  It was magical.  I literally passed out once I showered.  Like slept through dinner and woke up at 9:30 starving. Luckily, Tim made me a plate and stuck it in the fridge...such a good buddy.  Then back to sleep and woke up this morning at the crack of dawn to French baguettes and nutella.  My favorite part of yesterday was definitely getting on the boat on the way to the motus and sitting on the edge feeling the breeze in my hair and looking at the island of Mo'orea and at the water in pure happiness.  Nick was sitting behind me and whispering all the details of topography and such that I had missed out on.  I just got the biggest feeling of relief and happiness and that I am the luckiest girl in the world.  After all the stress of getting there, I was in the French Polynesia with only the prospect of research, sunburns, laughs, and hardwork ahead. Just the way I like it :)  Everything happens for a reason.  Those few extra days I was without a passport allowed me to spend time with my dad and laugh while watching Austin Powers, with my sister prom dress shopping, and with mom just being us.  I would never give that up now.

I must go and get lunch...probably baguettes and pineapple haha.  We collected Galaxora algae in Cook's Bay all morning and made cages for our class group project (different from our individual/group project) that we are working on for the next week !

welcome to my classroom for the next 5 weeks