RUN!!! The Swine Flu is coming! The Swine Flu is coming!

Why hello everyone! I just thought I would share the latest Whitworth sentiments with you through my blog title :) I am happy to say that classes have begun and so has the mountains of work. It's bittersweet to not have leadership duties to distract me from the amount of work to do in the upcoming months, but I guess reality bites you in the... well, you know...

I have quite the class line-up for the semester: Microbial Physiology, Animal Behavior, labs for both of those, Exceptional Learners and Inclusion, Core 150 (aka Christian Traditions in Western Civilizations) and my Teaching Assistantship (the class where I'm the freshman counselor basically). It's great because my two science courses spent their first day trying to convince us that their specific course is the hardest biology course offered at Whitworth (both contradictory and untrue, I know that to be Genetics...) and that the research projects assigned will be the death of us. We have all semester to do this project in Microbial Physiology in which we isolate a single colony or strain of a specific genus from an environment, characterize it, grow a pure culture of it and run an experimental procedure on it. Does that hurt your head?! Because it hurts mine. Just think how many bacteria species live on a square inch of the skin on the back of your hand! And I have to grab one of those suckers?! I hope I can afford this class, I might set up a "Glass-Breaking" fund to hinge my bets... I've gotta make rent... Anyway, this professor is employing the "fly and be free" tactic, basically meaning he assigned us this project today and it's due in December. The rest is up to us. So if you're wondering where I am at most times, I'll probably be elbow-deep in sheep's blood and agar... ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.

It's going to be one of the more writing-heavy semesters, but I'm ready for the challenge. It's been really nice being off-campus; don't get me wrong, I'm still somewhat bummed about not being an RA, but I've been having a great time and I know it's only going to get better. Everyone has come back for classes and I'm already in the midst of planning my first prank (hehehe...), auditioned for choir yesterday and have tour guide training on Saturday. Woot! That and a whole slew of fun activities for the weekend, school is back in full swing.

The house is coming together quite nicely, if I do say so myself :) Here are some pictures of the place to tied you over until you visit!

Our b-e-a-Utiful garden, if I do say so myself ;) we broke the bank on the landscaping for this place, but ya know, it's worth the ambiance.

This is one of my wonderful housemates, Katie, making steamed rice and vegetables... I surprised her :)

Welcome to Steph and my room! It's great, we're having a ball. And the best part is, our neighbors across the street have three yippy dogs that start barking at 7am every morning so I now have test subjects for my research projects :) just kidding! Steph keeps saying she's going to make Doggy Stew... doesn't sound too appetizing...

So there are your pictures, more to come of the fun to be had :) I usually swipe other peoples' pictures of events because I forget my camera at most times, but I'll try my best!

Okay, off to the next event of the day (if I can remember what it is...) To my nifty planner I go!

Be well everyone

With love,

Chels