I seem to be spending more time inside now,unfortunately, which is either a function of the bouts of rain we’ve experienced recently or the fact that my homework load that seems to have grown exponentially.
I’m finishing up this week in a café on campus listening to a trio (The Understory!) play really amazing acoustic music. I was lucky enough to have lived on the same floor as one of the musicians and have been able to watch her perform over the course of my four years here.
Midterms came and went with lots of time spent (inside) studying and writing essays. Following midterms, we get a weekend and the following Monday and Tuesday off… whew. A much needed…break? Well, at least from classes.
A skier pauses on his way down the Muir snowfield.
I took a final worm trip up to Mt. Rainier to see if I could get a final stable isotope sample. Unfortunately, it had already snowed at our collection site, so the only thing I saw on slopes were a bunch of skiers enjoying the fresh snow.
Annie McCormick excited to row on Lake Samish! Photo Cred: Etan Bard
I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that I’m on the Crew team at UPS. We have a short season in the fall, which is only six weeks long, including one regatta (race). Crew is an interesting varsity sport at UPS because the majority of rowers are recruited their freshman year, and have had no previous rowing experience. We have a huge group of novices this year on both the men’s and women’s teams!
Low ropes course at Lake Samish.
AHHHHHHHhhhhh... morning rows and fall colors...
Over fall break the team went on a retreat to Lake Samish, near Bellingham, WA, and we had a BLAST! We did a low ropes course with the whole team, including the novices, so we had a bunch of time to bond! The varsity teams were able to row out on the lake in the mornings, while the novices went on a hike. It was great to be at a different location for a while, and lucky for us the weather happened to be gorgeous while we were there! The leaves on the deciduous trees were changing color, which made for lots of beautiful pictures!
CIRCLE CHEER!
The following weekend was our one regatta of the fall season, a dual against Lewis and Clark, and unfortunately it was cancelled! On their journey up to Tacoma, their trailer got a flat tire, and the wind was kicking up waves that were going to be too dangerous to row in. Instead we spent some time chatting with the other team, then we did a relay race against each other on rowing machines (or ergs).
I usually feel like my life will be less busy after I stop having formal practices and am able to set my own schedule to work out, but somehow I seem to have committed myself to so many things that I feel just as busy as before. It seems like this year is flying by and it may be because of how many things are going on. This is the time of year when the due dates for research projects and papers we read about our syllabus at the beginning of the year begin creeping up. One of my friends described this time of the year as the calm before the storm. The prospect of finishing all of the projects is both exciting and intimidating.