Seasons Greetings!

After a hectic first semester in my second year, I feel like this christmas holiday has been the first time I have relaxed in a while. Finally, I have time to sleep-in, read pointless but awesome books such as Twilight, play in the snow, and cuddle with my pup. I also have had time to reflect, and realize I have lost touch with part of my artsy side- deviantart! Quite a bit of time has passed since my last entry...again. And a lot has happened....I will try to sum up second semester of first year, the summer, and first semester of second year, as quickly as possible:

Second semester was great...especially since there was no rude 3-week interruptions by a strike (first semester was not so lucky). I did well in classes, still love the environmental sciences and Acadia, and established some really great friendships. In the summer, I worked back at home at the university, for the Earth Science department. I landed a really great job-I was a "lab assistant" for a research team that is studying the effect of foresting on greenhouse gas emissions (in a nutshell). For most of the summer, I would spend about a third of my work days at the forest sites, a 30 to 40 minute drive from any sort of civilization ( "the field", as we fondly called it). It was a great break, being in the outdoors, from the mind-numbing work we did in the lab. Although, digging pits and taking gas samples in the heat, rain, or swarms of flies was sometimes less inviting than the air-conditioned lab. It was balanced well enough that by the time we were tired of one job, we had the other one coming up. The people were very nice, and the pay was good as well. The most exciting part of my summer was no doubt my trip to Calgary- absolutely amaaaazing. I had one week to visit my two best friends, got to the Calgary stampede, camp and hike in the rocky mountains, and work on a horse ranch. Lets just say, one week was not enough. The weather was very cooperative for the whole trip, and got some great visiting time with my pals, and good memories.
First semester second year, the most fresh in my memory, was extremely busy but equally rewarding. The classes were much harder than first year, but somehow I managed to get by with seemingly less studying. This would be due to my new commitment: the sustainability office. It is a part of the student union at Acadia, and its job (or my job) is to initiate and oversee environmental projects on campus. My good friend roped me into doing it last year, saying that we'd work as a team, as he coordinated the environmental society...it was a lot of work, but I don't regret it for a second. With a bit of determination and a group of equally motivated people helping and working alongside, we accomplished a lot in first semester and Acadia is looking greener than ever.

With these new experiences, and a particularly engaging class called Environmental Education, from the Rec. department, I decided to approach these holidays with a less money-oriented plan for my christmas presents...art! It has been a great way to get back in touch with my creative side, while also giving some home-made, thoughtful gifts to friends and family...in addition to not buying into all the Christmas advertising, and saving my pockets from the usual raid. Unfortunately, a couple of the drawings will not be making it onto the site, as they have already been sent off...but now that I have rediscovered my long-lost web page, I will try to scan and download the next ones that come up.

Hope everything is well in your part of the dev-world,
Happy Holidays,

~flying-change~