Week 22-23 - New York, Return to Missoula and Back to College

Tuesday 20th January-

I got up at 3am to head into the bus station in Philadelphia when my uncle was going to work. My bus to New York was at 7am so I just hung around 30th Street Station for a while. I slept for most of the trip seeing as I'd gotten about an hours sleep after staying up with my aunt. When I got to New York, I lugged my suitcase to the subway and got on the train to Queens. I tried to ring Shannen to let her know I wouldn't be long... but I'd forgotten to refill my phone credit! I couldn't ring her and she couldn't ring me! I frantically connected to the station wifi and sent her a message. The train pulled out just as the message sent. At the next stop I got wifi again and sent to meet up at Dunkin Donuts (the only place I knew in the neighbourhood). To add to the drama my phone's battery was dying and on about 6%  . Luckily at the next station I got a message saying she was on the way and would meet me there. Panic over! Moral of the story always make sure to arrange a place and time before traveling! When we got to Shannen's house I dropped off my bag, had lunch and headed back into Manhattan. We wandered around Central Park and found some of the statues before heading back to Times Square for a while. We had an early night because I was wrecked and Shannen was jet-lagged having just arrived from Ireland Monday night.

Bedtime stories with Hans Christian Anderson

Alice in Wonderland

Taking on a grizzly

Wednesday 21st January-

We headed to a restaurant where Shannen had worked before during the summer for lunch. After that we went up to the top of the Rockefeller Center. I'd been up the Empire State building at night, but it was nice to see New York during the day. You don't realise how huge Central Park is until you're up high. That evening we went to a Queens butcher shop which had lots of Irish products. I was able to get puddings (the meat kind not the chocolate kind), Flahavans Irish porridge (oatmeal), some Cadbury's chocolate bars (have since been banned here!) and taytos. We had a nice dinner in Queens before heading back to Shannen's house to pack. Safe to say my bag was bulging with all the stuff I'd accumulated on my 6 weeks of traveling!

Rockefeller Ice Rink

Central Park

Thursday 22nd January-

Today's the day I fly to Missoula! Well first to Boston, then to Minneapolis and THEN to Missoula! When I checked in my bag it was bang on the dot with 23kg (50lb). Our flight left JFK at 10am and we made it to Missoula at 7.30 pm local time (9.30pm for what I'd become used to). It was so cool flying over the great lakes to Minneapolis and seeing them frozen over. As we continued west the frequency of lights in the countryside slowly dwindled. Just goes to show how spread out houses are in the (Wild) West. I was so excited to see mountains again when we landed! There were a lot of college students arriving back on the same flight. My Missoula family picked me up from the airport and brought me back to my apartment, which I was grateful for considering the grand total of 7 taxis in Missoula! :P Once I'd semi-unpacked I headed to sleep for class in the morning. No rest for the wicked!

Boston

At the edge of one of the great lakes

Flying into Minneapolis

Leaving Minneapolis

Friday 23rd-Sunday 25th January-

I'd decided to take a class on wildlife handling and chemical immoblisation for the 3 days before college started back. I got the bus to campus and couldn't help but smile at being back. Class started at 8am and there was surprisingly a large number of students there. Our instructor was a Wildlife Veterinarian and specialised in canines. He was the vet involved in bringing wolves back to Yellowstone, so I was delighted. I learned so much about animal care and having consideration for the animal you are working with. It was a great class and I would recommend anyone to take it. Sunday night I was back to working at the Food Zoo, my usual 2 hour hoovering shift. 

Monday 26th January-

My first class, Genetics and Evolution, started at 8am. Gotta love those early starts. After that I went to Wildlife Population Conservation, which I was disappointed to learn I wouldn't be able to take because the class was full. Next was Ornithology, the study of birds. Kris, the TA from Vertebrate Design and Evolution last semester is teaching this class. That class was full too but luckily I was already registered for it. When that was over I headed into work for a 4 hour shift, which went grand. That evening I watched Game of Thrones with Shannen.

Tuesday 27th January-

My first class today was Rangeland Ecology, then Comparative Animal Physiology and then Recreation Behaviour, all of which are an hour and a half long. Since Comparative Animal Physiology seemed fairly close to what I'd already covered to Vertebrate Design and Evolution I decided to drop the class. That leaves me on 16 credits this semester, including wildlife handling which is more than enough considering I only need 12 credits. That evening I baked brownies for the Wildlife Society potluck dinner. They seem to have lots of plans for the semester which will be cool. I signed up to help prepare a wolf skeleton for the university to display.

Wednesday 28th January-

Today essentially consisted of two classes and two work shifts, so I was on campus from 8am - 9pm :P .

Thursday 29th January-

I had my first ornithology lab today which was a lot like mammalogy, in that we looked at bird bodies and figured out how to identify them. We're focusing mostly on Montana species so that we can see them on field trips. I had rangeland ecology and rec. behaviour later and had to have read papers for them as homework. I'll have to do this for them every Tuesday and Thursday because we discuss them in class.

Hooded merganser

Eared grebe

Harlequin duck

Friday 30th January-

Had two classes and then a shift working as a chefs assistant, which was great. It's  more fun to be cooking food then to be serving it :) . I finished up at 5pm and that evening Kate (who has now moved out of dorms and into Lewis and Clark) and Bridget (our downstairs neighbour) called over for a movie. Bridget had cooked Hawaiian banana desserts, which were delicious.

Saturday 31st January-

Today Shannen and I went to the Wildlife Society to work on the wolf skeleton. The wolf had been hit and killed by a car and at the time it was thought he was 4-5 years old because he was so huge. When he was aged using his teeth they found out he was less than a year old! So we spent the morning boiling feet bones and toes and cleaning them up, careful not to mix up the four paws. It's so cool to be involved in a project like this. Later that evening I got ready for Dave's 21st birthday party, which was a great night! We played beer pong, learned how to play flip cup and met Dave's new housemate, a typical Montanan cowboy. He even has deer antlers on the walls of their apartment. We headed downtown and had a brilliant time.

Wolf paw bones

A wolf in a box

Dinosaur cake

Superbowl Sunday 1st February-

I made pancakes for breakfast (well, more like lunch) for Shannen, Kate and I. Then I spent most of the day reading papers, starting assignments and worked my usual Sunday night shift.

Thanks again for reading- Fiona :)