Week 21 - Exams, Mule Deer Foundation & 1,500 views?!

 Hey look at me being organized and getting my blog up early :D

Monday February 23rd

8 am genetics lecture as per usual today. This class is quite difficult and I'm not sure how the rest of the semester is going to pan out with it :/ Had an hour off where I did some work on my genetics homework nothing too major. Ornithology at 10am then til 11am. We've started learning about the different plumage and the reasoning behind why the plumage changes and such. It's really interesting and this class is still making me more fascinated by birds every day!
I went straight home after class today and started doing some notes to help me study for this weeks exams. I started to do some Parks and Rec notes because I have 7 papers to read through to get the information needed for my exam </3 Then I started on some Ornithology but right now I'm just not in the right mindset for studying for exams. I still feel like I'm on holiday mode (weird I know).
Fiona and I watched one episode of David Attenborough's Life of Birds documentary to help us with how birds fly a little bit more. It's easy stuff but complicated at the same time.

*image from google images*

Tuesday February 24th

No class until 11am this morning - yay! Still woke up early though (of course). We first had rangeland ecology with Brady. This week we're learning all about photosynthesis so it's kinda interesting. This class is pretty relatable back to ag. science that I took for leaving cert and Brady also likes to drop hints every now and again on questions that will be on our exam.  I really like his style of teaching for this class, it's extremely laid back and doesn't pile on loads of information onto you in one class. But saying that, I learn a pile in this class!

The blue skies and sun are deceiving. It's FREEZING here. Well, for Montana winter it would be considered warm.

Had an hour and a half off so had lunch with Kate while also trying to do some Ornithology study for tomorrow's exam. I'm lucky I spent the weekend reading all my scientific papers because I would have no time for them this week. Also, the fact I did my rangeland ecology proposal last week helped out a bunch too. During this hour and a bit off, I submitted both those assignments so hopefully everything will go well. My proposal topic is: To improve the structure, ecology and habitat quality for breeding waterfowl in the Prairie Pothole Region. - Basically, make the living conditions in that area better for the ducks that breed there. It's a pretty cool looking place actually :P
Recreation and behaviour we went over last weeks paper which was about attitudes. Then we got split up into our discussion groups. I'm not on until the week of spring break, March 24th. This project makes us work as a team to essentially 'teach' the class about the paper we're assigned. We can be as creative as we want with it so that's kind of fun. It's 100% open to us :P Definitely something we wouldn't do back home!Libby also did a review for our test by basically summarizing the papers and picking out things we should know but also not giving us too much information.
Once I got home this evening, I went straight into studying for my Ornithology exam (or should I say trying). I have so much on my mind with the recreation exam and also the genetics exam I can't seem to get my mind to settle down.


Wednesday February 25th

Genetics today was 100% pointless, I didn't sleep last night and the stuff covered in today's lecture isn't on our exam friday so I could have got an extra while in bed for myself.. Ah well.. The ornithology exam was weird. I'm not sure if it was a complete trainwreck or I did well.. There was a couple of things that I specifically learned but I blanked on when I read the questions which really pissed me off. I think just because this week is so busy my brain is suddenly got into overdrive or a complete meltdown :P
After this, I had my genetics lab where Ryan our TA ran through linkage again. The question I was having difficulty with for homework he explained it. And I kinda understand it but it's weird. I don't know. It makes more sense now than it did when I first did it anyways, so I guess that's something?
Tried to do a bit of study for my Recreation behaviour exam but that was also not going in my favour.. This week just is not my day :P Can't wait for it to already be over with to be honest!
I got home and did a massive clean up. Washed my clothes and also every single towel or cloth in the apartment, I scrubbed the kitchen and cleaned the bathroom. I didn't do the hoovering cause Dave has our hoover and I also didn't take the bin out seeing as it's not my turn.. But the whole place smells so nice and clean now it's great!
This evening was then spent learning the birds for my quiz tomorrow in ornithology, Jamie and I had our usual facebook study session :P Believe me or not, but these actually work really well :P As well as trying to learn some of the Recreation Behaviour stuff.. Fun times!

The Snowy Owl on this weeks birds to know list *image from google images*

 We have also paid for our apartment in Seattle so it is now 100% official, March 12th - 15th WE ARE GOING TO SEATTLE! I REPEAT, WE ARE GOING TO SEATTLE! When I say we I mean: Fiona, Kate, Aoife, Bridget and I. It's going to be so much fun! We have a really pretty apartment booked and it's right in the centre of everything! We also get secured parking for my car which is a piece of mind for all of us! So excited now! :D We'll get some time out of Missoula :P

I FINALLY GET TO GO HERE! *image from google images*

Thursday February 26th

 Ornithology lab went good today! The quiz was grand and then we moved onto learning woodpeckers and flycatchers. For the second half of the lab we were in the native american studies lab listening to bird calls on screen and examining the different pitches and whatnot. We then got to record our own voices and compare them with the people beside us. This was hilarious, Fiona, Jamie and I started talking away into it and then speeding up the sounds of our voices to sound like Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks. So much fun :P

This is when I said "Hi my name is Shannen Foley".. The 'Sh' from Shannen made the big blue part in the middle.

Our rangeland class today was half full. There was loads of people missing but the presentations still carried on. We tried to fight for 10 pts extra credit for those that showed up but it didn't work :P
During my breaks between classes I was cramming for the recreation behavior exam. Which in the end was not a disaster, I think! It was my first time taking an exam like this (when I say like this I mean psychological and that).  My hand was also fit to fall off me at the end of the exam. I wrote 6 A4 pages in 1.5 hours. Ow.
Got home and took a 30 min break just lying on my bed trying to clear my headache. But nothing seemed to want to work. So I just got back up and started cramming for my genetics exam tomorrow morning at 8am. Now, I know I've complained enough about the genetics class at 8am. But an exam at 8am?! That's cruel. My brain doesn't properly turn on until closer to 11am :P
Lewis and Clark was having 'Breakfast for Dinner' today. So we got free food :D Bacon, croissants, muffins, ham, cheese, fruit and yoghurt. It was so yummy! Myself, Fiona, Dave, Barry, Siobhan, Dervla and Savannah all had a fine feed for ourselves with some people grabbing seconds :P This was an hour break from study so I went back home and got straight back into studying. This exam tomorrow I fell isn't going to have a lot of definitions in it just because crosses are more important in genetics. I have also decided that I'm not going into Ornithology tomorrow, I am coming home after my genetics exam and sleeping for a few hours to catch up on all the sleep I've missed so far this week :P

The signs put up around Lewis and Clark :P

Croissant, cheese, bacon, a glazed donut and a muffin of some sort, there was also a glass of milk :P

Friday February 27th

So the genetics exam was weird.. I'm really not sure what to make of it to be honest.. I hope I did well but I know the multiple choice questions caught me out on a few.. Oh well! I didn't go to my Ornithology class today cause I'm so tired I wanted to try and sleep.. Which didn't work out too well :P I couldn't sleep so I got up and started my genetics take home exam, but then I got really sleepy so I went back to bed and still couldn't sleep :P I eventually got back up at 12pm and had lunch and then sat down and actually got my take home exam done (I think). For the take home exam, we were assigned a recessive trait by the last digit of our student number here, I got Galactosemia which is the inability to digest galactose properly. So I've got two pages single spaced written up on it. I think what I've done is okay. I wrote the report as a letter style as if I was a genetic counselor, kinda cool :P We have to submit it online Monday by 5pm. Since it's a take home exam we got a whole week to do it which is great except I didn't get around to starting it until today :P This evening I went to see the UM drama people put on Translations by Brian Friel with my Missoula family. The Irish accents were not anything to boast but the play was brilliant! I really enjoyed it and the Irish music made it feel nice and homey :D


Saturday February 28th

So this morning my alarm went off at 6.30am and I wasn't happy. We left the apartment at 7.40 at got to the Hilton at 8am bang on time. We met up with some of the members of the Mule Deer Foundation and we were put to work straight away. Loading different boxes out of cars and all sorts really. My first job was folding American flags into triangles that fit into these tiny flag frame things.

You're looking at the new professional flag folder over here :P

 So I got that done in no time and then we were asked to assemble a wine cabinet. We took a look at the instructions and well that was pointless cause they didn't really contain any useful information. We (Fiona, Evan and I) did what we could with them and then we winged the top part of it by ourselves. It looks pretty good :P Then Fiona and I helped Chad finish off the bookshelf he was assembling. He didn't use the instructions and got his done a lot faster than us :P

Mid-Construction

The final product :)

 Fiona and I helped Ryan assemble the raffle prizes, we got to decide what we thought looked best together so this was kinda fun! I saw Joe sitting over at a table by himself so I said I would go and see what he was at. He was matching ticket numbers to coins and taping them together.. 'Mind numbing work' described by Joe himself. So I sat down to help him out with it and then Fiona followed over and helped out too we had them all done in no time whatsoever. We did upwards of 200 coins -_- .

The hall all ready and done up :) On the table you can see all the coins we worked on :P

The chairman of the foundation, Tracey, asked which of us had the best handwriting and it was me so they asked me to go around with Ryan to the items for the live auction and write up the cards describing the items. They had five bottles of alcohol all whiskey and one person who entered the raffle for each bottle got a key. So five keys total and only one of these keys unlocked a gun box with some sort of a gun in it and apparently this gun is a big deal :P As Ryan said to me 'Incase you haven't noticed, we like guns here' hahaha nooooo I didn't notice that at all :/

The really cool MULEY coins :)

The REALLY cool lampshade in the Hilton Garden Inn, Missoula.

I got home then and slept for an hour before having dinner and finally sitting down to watch the first episode of Game of Thrones Season 4. YAY. Didn't like the flashback though, it brought back horrible memories of the season 3 finale :P
Tonight, the UC theatre on campus is playing the Theory of Everything, the movie based on Stephen Hawking's life. Myself, Fiona, Kate, Aoife, Bridget and Brittany went to see it. This movie was INCREDIBLE! I can definitely see why Eddie Redmayne won all the awards he did for the role. It was amazing! A definite worthwhile watch. Once I got home I fell asleep straight away, I was so exhausted from all the early starts so far this week :P Next weekend will require no early starts but a lot of work in order to get it all done ahead of our weekend in SEATTLE!!


Sunday MARCH 1st

Soooooooo, it's March already?! What the hell.. It was just Christmas! This year is already flying by. This means I have two and a half months left here in Missoula and this makes me very upset. I love this place way too much. 
So just before 1pm today, Fiona, Kate and I went and did a bit of shopping. We all had bits and pieces to get. And this is a nice break from doing college work.
We got back close to 4pm, and I sat down to start on my assignments as well as work some more on my blog :) I have an annotated bibliography and paper readings and summaries to do for Thursday and another annotated bibliography due for the following Monday which I want to start as soon as I can. How fabulous :P




THANKS A BUNCH to YOU!! I hit 1,500 VIEWS this week! (special thanks to Shauna who viewed twice just to get me to 1,500 :P ) As I post this I'm on 1,520 so this is mad! I honestly never thought I would ever get this many views on this blog. I started it for my friends and family to keep up with me and since going home at Christmas I realised a lot more than just family and some of my friends read this. Some people I may not have spoken to in a good while told me over Christmas how they loved reading my blog (INSANE). So again, for the bazillionth time, thank you. I really do appreciate it and knowing my efforts aren't going unnoticed is such a nice feeling.

Okay! Enough of that crap :P Muchos gracias my friends :) See you next week!

Thanks for reading!

- Shannen.