Friday, August 27, 2004

Long Week

This has been an extremely intense week. I took five placement exams that encompassed biochemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and inorganic chemistry. Overall they went rather well. My brain is fried though now, and I am having trouble concentrating on some reading on liposomes that I am trying to do. Today is good though, because my parents are coming to see me and my lab buddies are on their way back! Tomorrow my parents and I are going to the falls. Hopefully it will be a relaxing day. Classes start Monday!!! ahhh!!

Monday, August 23, 2004

I love Florida

First of all, I want to apologize to all of my blog fans out there for me being so horrible at updating this thing... I am sorry. Second, I want to say hi to my group members who are in Phili. if they can read this. I miss you all it isn't the same here without you.

My trip to Bradenton, Fl:
My flight to Tampa was a bit bumpy, but I arrived safe and on time. It was raining pretty bad that day, but we had planned to go shopping anyways, so after lunch we hit the outlets up. It didn't rain, and was beautiful the rest of my time there. The next three days we spent on Longboat Key on the Gulf of Mexico. These three days were very eventful. Not only were they beautiful on the white sand and in the blue water, we saw A LOT of marine life, and decided a trip to an aquarium would never stack up to it. Every day we saw dolphins not more than 20 yds. away. We found a conch shell that was over a foot long with the conch still well and alive in it. When I get pictures developed I will post one. A manatee (the animal after which the county my sister lives in is named) swam by about 4 feet from us. These animals are rarely seen in the gulf, but mainly inhabit the inlets and bays. Then, when we thought maybe another manatee was coming, we started to get closer to it, but quickly turned to run. Two sting rays, that were both bigger than my arm span were swimming together within 8 feet of us. This instance was a bit scary. On top of those experiences, we found a little conch, some cool looking crabs, baby sand sharks, a good pile of sand dollars, and tons of shells. Those three days were the best days I have ever spent at a beach.

The next day was the last one that the rest of my family was there. We went to the mall then swam in my sister’s pool for the rest of the day. It was nice to have two days with just my sister and her husband. We went for breakfast, swam, shopped, and ate a lot. I had to buy another suitcase to bring back everything! It was very sad when I had to go. Not only was I going to miss my sister, but I was leaving 90 degree weather and returning to 60 degree weather in Buffalo. I had an awesome time though, and I am very thankful for the experience.



Conche Posted by Hello