Week 6- Winter is Coming

 This week there was a big change in the weather, gone was the 25+C heat, t-shirts and shorts we were only just getting used to. Back to usual weather for now with rain making an appearance for the first time in weeks. When the Americans say Fall has started, they mean it. The leaves fall off at a crazy rate here and the ground is covered in them. I even saw children making a leaf pile and jumping in it! Thought that only happened in movies. The changing weather can only mean one thing: Winter is Coming!

Fall is really here

Monday 29th September-
After my morning Mammalogy class, which was a review section for our exam Wednesday I headed to the library to start studying. Spent a few hours there and then went to my Vertebrate Design class, where we learned how muscles receive signals. In the lab we had a quiz on our lesser vertebrates muscles and moved on to the bird and rabbit muscles. I spent that evening revising for my exam and then me and Shannen watched The Princess and the Frog with homemade cookies!

Tuesday 30th September-
We covered the hoofed animals, rabbits and hares that live in Montana in my mammalogy lab. Afterwards I spent more time in the library studying. Me and Shannen had our class on Habitat Conservation where we continued with our discussion on how animals choose their habitats. We headed home, had dinner and then went back to the library for more studying. I got the results from my Mammalogy lab exam back, I got 10% above the class average so I was delighted. That evening Lewis & Clark had their monthly community night, which was a free breakfast for dinner. Shannen, Sarah, Elliot and I were like eager beavers being the first ones there. We stuffed ourselves with bacon, scrambled eggs, croissants and fruit and watched Frozen Planet when we got home.

Male and female pronghorn skulls

Wednesday  1st October-
Had my exam this morning at 8am. You were allowed to begin as soon as you arrived at class, which I was unused to. There were 12 short questions and we had around an hour to complete them. They covered all of the topics we had done in class. I felt the exam went well and our lecturer said he should have them corrected in a week. That evening I wrote up my assignment on deer watching, which was due the next day. I had most of the work completed from last week so I only had to analyse my findings.

Thursday 2nd October-
Went to work and then later in my Habitat class we were told about our field trip next Tuesday.We are going to the Blackfoot valley to look at how the local ranchers do conservation work on their land. That night Siobhan called over for tea and chats.

Friday 3rd October-
It's first Friday! We didn't have our usual evening lab so some of our Vertebrate class decided to go downtown for a night out. On the first Friday of every month all of the art galleries in Missoula (of which there are surprisingly many) have an open night where the public wander in, have cheese, wine and crackers and admire some nice art. We all met up at Montgomery Distillery at 4pm for drinks along with Preethy, Kate, Elliot and James. Going from gallery to gallery was fun and we got to see some really stunning paintings and photography. We headed to Flathead Brewing Company for some dinner and afterward we went to Union Hall. There was a local band, Three Eyed Dog, playing here and they had a big crowd up swing dancing. It was really strange and not like anything I've ever experienced but great craic. Me and Shannen were even up dancing!

Me with some of the art

Montana's fish: The cutthroat trout

Saturday 4th October-
Shannen, Preethy, Elliot and I headed off early to the Bison Range. Unfortunately though the main drive was closed when we got there as the rangers were rounding up bison for the Winter. We were still able to drive along the prairie though where we saw most of the wildlife, including bison, elk, deer and pronghorns. No coyotes today though. That afternoon we headed south to Lolo with Dave to look at RV's for our weekend trip to Yellowstone. But we forgot this in Montana and it was Saturday so the rental place was closed at 3pm :P . We watched The Avengers that night with Sarah.

View of the snow on the Mission mountains

Pronghorn, white-tails and a bull elk

Advertising at its finest in Montana!

Sunday 5th October-
Myself, Shannen, Kate and Preethy went for a ladies brunch aka pancakes at Denny's! I got all you can eat pancakes which were only $4! I studied for the rest of the day and rang home and Aishling for all the news :). Went to work my custodial shift at 8pm which goes by pretty fast, especially because I can listen to my music. Cycling home from work is getting pretty chilly, gonna be fun in a few weeks!

Blueberry, chocolate chip pancakes!

Hope you liked this week's blog. College is getting fairly busy now with midterm exams and lots of assignments due. - Fiona