So today is the first day of week two! I didn't sleep very well last night, I woke up at 2am, 4am and 5am before my alarm went off at 6.30am to get up for my 8am lecture. These 8ams are slowly starting to kill me! Had genetics and evolution and then at 10am I had my ornithology lecture. Luckily for me I finish college at 11am Mondays, so I went straight home and decided to take a nap for an hour simply because I was so tired.. 3 hours later I woke up! And even though I felt so refreshed, I had too much work to be doing and instead I slept :/ Oh well! Tonight, Fiona and I were meeting up with Joe, Sofia her boyfriend, Mike, and Bridget at the Badlander for a quiz night. There were 5 rounds, one of which was a picture round, each with 10 questions. In the start we were coming either 2nd or 3rd.. Then we had the picture round, which was Scottish themed, and we did shite. So this brought us down to 5th place and even after getting 9/10 in the next round it didn't move our placing up. The last round music, also Scottish themed, we got 1 right in this round.. Nevertheless, we had a good night! :P
Tuesday February 3rd
So today, we had no rangeland ecology class as our lecturer was away at a rangeland convention of some sort meeting all these authors of papers and what not. So our first class didn't start until 2pm today (YAY)! This evening didn't have anything all that exciting involved, I watched another Game of Thrones episode and also watched Supernatural and Pretty Little Liars :P Have to keep up to date with my TV shows cause social media just ruins them if I miss out on an episode!
Wednesday February 4th
Another 8am start this morning, I was stuck to my bed but I somehow managed to drag myself out of it to get ready.. The usual Wednesday timetable again today, genetics and evolution followed by an hour break and then ornithology. Today I also had my first genetics and evolution 'lab'. Technically not a lab, we basically just discuss the homework we did/are doing and just ask some questions on things in the lectures that we didn't understand. After this Fiona went to work and I headed home, I did my washing while also working on an assignment due in for tomorrow - Why aren't there more trees on rangelands? - I got it done, while also reading a 24 page paper for another class tomorrow and studying for my ornithology lab quiz on birds..Thursdays appear to be my biggest workload of the semester so far so Wednesdays will be chockerblocked trying to get all the work done! Fun times :P
Thursday February 5th
8am start again this morning.. A little easier to get out of bed, but at the same time, not really.. The sky is black so therefore I should be asleep in my eyes... Hahahah.. Had our ornithology quiz, which I think I got 9/10 in. We had to be able to identify a variety of birds, while also knowing their order name in latin, their common tribe name, and some characteristics of those birds. We also had to learn the bird feet, and the different marking on their bodies. A lot of stuff to learn just to be asked 10 questions.. We also had a computer lab for ornithology which we looked up the DNA sequencing for some birds and then we used software in order to complete a phylogenetic tree, which was pretty cool! I worked with one of the girls from the Wildlife Society to do this and we got it done in no time. We had an hour off and we met with Kate and chatted away before the three of us headed off to class. In our rangeland class we discussed our assignment and went through the various reasons why there aren't trees in rangelands.. After an 1.5 hour lunch where we met up with Kate, Eoghan and Dave briefly for chats and whatnot.. Recreation behaviour was next and I do like this class! The people in it are incredibly friendly and the lecturer is lovely, she always refers back to Ireland or Europe somehow. It's a class I didn't think I would like so much but I do!
This evening, Kate and Desiree called over and we finally booked our hostels for Spring Break!! Soooo, I suppose I'll tell ye where we're going to :P Our first stop is San Fransisco!! We're here for four nights/five days before heading off to LAS VEGAS!! My excitement is literally something else for this trip. It's going to be brilliant. We're staying in hostels while we're away, simply because they're so much cheaper and we don't plan on spending too much time in them, just really for sleeping / washing and eating sometimes.
Friday February 6th
8am start again this morning with genetics and evolution and then finished up with Ornithology at 11am. I got home and worked some on my genetics homework that's due on Monday. Then I accidentally fell asleep and didn't wake up until 3.45 pm.. Just as well though because I've got the foresters ball tonight and seeing as I'm up at 6.30am most days of the week now I'm pretty tired :P I got up and had a quick pizza for dinner and got ready to go over to Kate's. The Foresters Ball is a non-alcoholic event but we were all having a few drinks beforehand. So we had very basic swing dancing lessons on Tuesday with the Wildlife Society so we at least had some idea of what to do. Before long we were out dancing our hearts out having an absolute blast! There was unlimited coke/diet coke/water.. All free and the only payment required was kissing the bartender on the cheek (brilliant!) haha. Evan, from our Vertebrate class last semester got Fiona and I arrested, so we were put into the jail for a couple of minutes! I was dancing with guys from one of my classes last semester and two guys from the wildlife society also brought me out dancing. There was also a chapel there so Fiona and I took the opportunity and we got 'hitched'. The marriage lasts for 24hours, we even get rings too haha. There is also can-can girls wearing colourful corsets and tutus. We got home about 1 am ish and Kate, Fiona, Bridget and I were all hungry. The odd thing about Missoula is there isn't a McDonalds open passed 11pm so instead, we went to Denny's, a 24hr restaurant and got some food. Legitimately one of the best nights I have ever had here in Montana.
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| From left to right (back row) Bridget, Joe and Dave. Front row: Me, Fiona, Marc, Kate, Rodger and Desiree. |
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| Our late night feast at Denny's. |
Saturday February 7th
So this morning, we had great plans to go hiking up at the Rattlesnake Trailhead. But the one day we decide to go for a hike, it was pissing rain here in Missoula. It NEVER rains in Missoula. Hahaha. So we called off the hike and I decided to take this opportunity to go and do my food shopping. Kate and Eoghan also tagged along to the usual Walmart and Dollar Store. When I got home, I had a bite to eat and then sat down and watched some more Game of Thrones. I then went to my Missoula families house this evening just after 6pm as I was having some dinner there and I also had some little bits and bobs to give them from Ireland. We had a raclette dinner, a typical Swiss thing. I also got to meet their first Swiss student, Chris, who is back here for a two week holiday. The grill can then flip upside down and you can make crepes on it, I was only able for one because I was so full after the dinner :P They loved all their Christmas presents which consisted of fridge magnets, an Ireland mug, an Ireland flag, some Irish chocolates and just some stuff like that.. I got home just after 10pm and then I finished off Season 3 of Game of Thrones and I can tell you I am NOT a happy camper. I won't say what happened just incase anyone reading this hasn't got that far in the TV show yet :P
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| The table setting at Shannon and Craig's house :) |
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| The raclette cooking up our food :D |
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| The underside of the raclette, making our crepes :D |
Sunday February 8th
So today, we went to the Rattlesnake Trailhead! The roads up were completely clear but once we got to the parking lot the whole place was covered in a thick layer of ice and it was treacherous to walk on! (Fiona actually fell on it too). We pottered along by the river instead for a while and took some nice photos. We decided we'll come back when the snow properly clears up and the weather gets warmer cause I doooon't plan on breaking any bones while I'm here.
We came home and decided we would go and try out the famous IHOP. I've never had it before and I will most definitely go back again! I got Belgian waffle with chicken and bacon. It was delicious! Got home and then FaceTimed Mom before finishing off my genetics homework.
The evening consisted of nothing else too fascinating, just working on readings/homework and also working on my blog a little more too.
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| The wooded area at the Rattlesnake <3 |
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| The Clark Fork River. Just gorgeous. |
So this week has been hectic! The highlight was most definitely the Foresters Ball. I learned how to swing dance and basically had such a fantastic night! Probably the most Montanan experience I will ever have while I'm here :P My blog has since hit 1,400 views which is INCREDIBLE! I didn't think in a million years it would come along this far.
Thanks again for reading,
- Shannen.
