mossel bay to los angeles to atlanta... and a lot of other places.

oh goodness it’s been a while. and a lot has changed. so… here we go. south africa was great, really i learned so much and pretty much decided that i definitely want to keep doing shark research in grad school. i’m (supposedly) still working on my paper from our data, although i’ve been busy enough that it really hasn’t happened lately. so i drove to cape town, which was really nice:



oh and the fundraiser! there was some drama (whatever) but we reached our goal and so the aquarium is undergoing lots of improvements in the rebuilding. which is awesome!

okay so all that happened, and south africa was amazing, but it was time to go home. which, for a week, meant LA. basically ryan and i realized we’re looking for really different things right now (he’s settled down, i’m… you know, not). so, while that all actually ended on pretty decent terms, i figured we shouldn’t drag things out so figured i would head back home. that’s right: atlanta.

sorry, i’m also super distracted right now. okay, anyway. did some traveling, including visiting/interviewing at university of hawaii (ummm maybe the best iphone picture ever taken):


and attending the european elasmobranch association conference (which basically means shark conference) in lisbon:


okay so this isn’t necessarily representative of lisbon. but the conference was at an aquarium. and they had a sunfish! seriously the disc alone on this thing was like my height. (why do i love stupid-looking animals?)

i also checked out the university of rhode island, but didn’t take pictures. so… you probably figured it out, but what all this means is i’m finally applying to grad school. this is the fourth year i’ve considered applying, but for the first time, i actually have applications in! so i’m trying to do shark research, and will keep y’all posted as to what that means.

other than that, i’m working for my dad for the moment as a research assistant. not exactly a resume builder, but it does give me a lot of flexibility, which i need right now. i am living alone in virginia-highland, which is a lot of fun, and have been hanging out with my high school friends (a surprising number of which live in atlanta!)

so it’s not exactly where i saw myself, but it’s a good place to be while i figure my life out. so… yeah! i’ll keep y’all posted as things develop!



so i’m not usually one for this sort of thing, but sleeping otters are really cute (also in lisbon).


and the perfect picture to counteract that one… i learned to shoot a shotgun! (at barnsley gardens over thanksgiving)

oh ps! in case you missed them, the link to my south africa album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2393079&l=a0352&id=2504404