_This Saturday marked the Sprinting Spider’s very first road race! Sprinting Spiders (aka running club) was first created last semester by two of my good friends, and its slowly becoming more and more legitimate. For those interested in joining, practice meets three times a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5pm, Saturdays at 3pm. We begin with a warm-up and stretching session, then usually run between 3 and 4 miles per practice. Each practice features at least two different runs, so you can chose which to go on based on preferred distances or pace. Although the race took place on a particularly cold, wet and early morning, I’ve heard it went well and everyone made great time! Our next race is this coming weekend. It’s hosted by a teammate’s high school to cover the medical expenses of a former student who was involved in a car accident. I’m hoping it will be followed by a team lunch. Last time we had a team dinner, we went to Thai Diner Too in Carytown and it was delicious! Very worth looking into if you’re a Thai food fan.
_The reason I’ve only heard about just how well the road race went is that I spent my Saturday morning (slash entire weekend) with someone I can only refer to as my “bffl”! My friend Mallory, who transfered to University of Tennessee last year, came up to visit over her fall break and we spent it goofing off, watching ridiculous YouTube videos, and eating. My roommate is on the Crew team here and was away this weekend at a regatta. She left on Friday, and soon after her departure Mal and I decided to erect a fort on her bed while it wasn’t in use. One of my hall mates popped in to say hello while I was busy arranging a sheet to drape over it. I wondered at first if she had seen our creation, then I caught sight of her facial expression when she passed back by a few minutes later and realized that she definitely had! haha…oops. To add to our list of child-like activities, we also went to see “Where the Wild Things Are” on Saturday night. We were the first in the theater, so I of course took the opportunity to frolic down the aisles. Just as I sent myself soaring across the screen in a rather epic leap, an usher walked in, dropped his jaw, and immediately turned to leave. Again…oops. Mallory left early this morning, and I missed her as soon as she got in the car. In order to cheer myself up, I immediately made a trip to McDonald’s. Yumm. Emotional eating is my favorite bad habit 
malmal! <3_Â I haven’t got much work for the week, and since it’s supposed to be sunny I’m hoping to get out and about a bit. My friend Meg and I have discovered a back road that leads up to a nearby park by our local Ukrops, so I may insist on a picnic/shopping trip combo sometime soon. I need to pick up some Halloween decorations for the dorm! Haha.Have a good week!
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Thanksgiving break starts Tuesday after classes and barely anyone on campus seems to be able to focus. OK. That was huge generalization that I based primarily (only) on myself. I can’t focus. Instead of doing homework, my friend Sam and I spent the day walking down by the James River. Here’s a photo so you all can see how beautiful the surrounding area is! This particular spot is only a 2 or 3 minute drive from campus. It was too chilly today, obviously, but the James is a great place to lay out, stick your feet in the water, and enjoy the sun during the spring and summer months!
As I shuffle from class to class rolled up in sweatshirts, jackets, gloves, and sweatpants I wonder why the city I grew up in never seemed quite so cold as it does now. In the past, my winter (technically late fall) weather exposure was limited to movement between the car and whatever my destination was…aka a building with heat. That being said, my advice is that you come to UR prepared with hats, scarves, gloves, and warm coats even if you don’t typically use them! I love bustling around in the cold, smelling the icy air and scattering the crisp remaining leaves with my feet. Trips to D-hall may make my nose start to run and require a little extra effort to prepare for, but it makes the hot food feel that much better.
Speaking of food, I had two dinners on Thursday. The first was D-hall’s Thanksgiving Dinner – mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, and delicious gravy. I went in knowing that an entire meal awaited me afterwards and somehow still managed to consume as much as everyone else at the table. Post-turkey and such, I went to eat again at La Milpa with a group of students from the Intercambios Program. Students in advanced Spanish courses are paired up with native-speakers who are here for Study Abroad. My partner, or pareja, Valentina and I usually get together over lunch to talk, switching back and forth between Spanish and English. She’s from Chile and has introduced me to a number of other international students. Those who can join in the Spanish chats but most of them stick to English.
Anyway, a group of us (including my professor) went to La Milpa for dinner and spent a good two hours conversing in Spanish. I’m a complete and utter language nerd as any of my high-school friends will tell you, so I had a blast. Mostly we compared our perceptions of each others’ cultures, movies, and music. We told a lot of jokes and stories that only people who at least kind of spoke both languages could understand. Not many of them were appropriate enough to share online, but all of them were hilarious! The restaurant itself was cute and included a little shop with goods typically sold in Mexico. One of the girls eating with me had spent time volunteering in Guadalajara and said that La Milpa’s atmosphere was incredibly authentic.
The semester is coming to a close and, naturally, we’re finishing up our semester experiments in bio. Melisa, my lab partner, and I finally finished sectioning out our embryos and mounting them on slides. I thought I’d include a few shots from inside the classroom/lab for those of you interested in science! Our experiment involved in-vitro fertilization of frog embryos. We fertlized frog eggs then treated them with different combinations of UV light and Lithium Chloride to assess the effects on structural and axis development. And yes, it is exactly as exciting as it sounds.
Note: lab coats are not required, I just like wearing them because it makes me look like a doctor….
For those of you interested in knowing how slides are made: Melisa slices the dehydrated embryos embedded in wax then floats them on the warm water bath. I then scoop them onto slides and leave them out. The wax dries on the slide in a warming tray, then the slides are treated to removed the wax but not the tissue samples. Lastly, they’re stained. I didn’t know how it all worked until this year and was pretty intrigued by the whole process. I originally planned to major in science, but have since changed my mind. It’s weird that this is my last science class ever (if all goes as planned). I’m half-excited to be finished with lab reports, cells, gene signals, etc, and half-scared that I’m making a huge mistake. There’s still part of me that fears I will randomly and passionately want to major in science starting sometime mid-way through next year.
General lab shots - if these don’t look science-y, I don’t know what does The labs are a good deal roomier than they appear in these pictures. My camera just couldn’t capture a wide enough view!
 I hope everyone has a great week and a happy Thanksgiving!
Finally. Finally, fall break is here and my plans for the next few days consist only of sleeping and eating in various locations. Being back home (which is anything but far from campus) is a little strange. It feels as if I’ve gone back in time, like I’m in high school all over again. The things I’ve missed probably would seem a bit ridiculous to you, but you’ll understand next year when you’re in college. For example, I took at shower today without flip-flops on and that was a huge deal.
I’m one of those people who handles the wait for an exciting event by thinking about all the hard or obnoxious things they have to get through until the event can occur. This week, the thing to be “gotten through” was a biology midterm. It was my first midterm of my college career and I was nervous as…well, you know. I survived the last week by hiding in the library, glued to my biology book, feeding off cherry Coke zero and Reese’s cups. Ok, that was a lie. I didn’t hide out in the library every waking moment. I instead crammed my brain with embryology facts two days before the test. I did consume a lot of Reese’s and cherry Coke zero, though. By the way, it really does have all the cherry taste without the calories of regular cherry Coke. I was surprised. Anyway, even though I took it under the influence of a residual caffeine high, I think the midterm went well. It was pretty straightforward,. Material right off the study guide. My CORE midterm isn’t until this Thursday. That should be a delightful experience - not. We’ll see if I’m so confident after I take that one.
Before my week of intense, late-night cram sessions in Gottwald, I attend my first horse show! When I say that, I don’t mean my first collegiate-level horse show. I mean my first ever. All of my show clothes were borrowed (thanks, guys!) and I had no idea what to expect. We left bright and early from UR and drove to Goucher College, which is way up in Maryland. The drive wasn’t too bad. I kept falling asleep, waking up, and realizing awkwardly that my mouth had been hanging open. Nice. The barn and ring at Goucher are right on campus, which made all of us jealous since The Pines is 30 minutes away. The show started with upper-level classes and proceeded down through the ranks to walk-trot. That’s me! The weather was gorgeous and none of us minded standing around to watch. None of us minded early on, anyway. As the day progressed there were a few snags that slowed down the show a bit. A few girls needed re-rides, one set of riders fell off their horses after nearly colliding, and so on. No one was hurt, thankfully, but by the time the show was over we were ready to head home. We literally pulled away five minutes after I dismounted.
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These two are of the President, Sarah, in the Open jumping class
Showing itself was exciting but nerve-racking. I had to ride with a purpose. My diagonal mattered now. So did closing my fingers, turning my toe out, keeping my heel down and all the other little things that are crucial to good riding and that I should automatically do anyway. My boots were two sizes too big – a consequence of borrowing, I suppose – so my feet kept sliding back around in them. I felt very off balance and out of place, but everyone said that somehow I didn’t look nervous. I got third place, so I must’ve done at least a few things right! All things considered, I had a great time and can’t wait for the next one.
Me, looking like a legit rider in my (everyone else’s) show attire
My dog just fell asleep on my lap. She’s technically too big for that sort of thing, but I’m only here every so often so I’ll let it slide…Goodnight all!
