Week 36- Visiting Montana's Irish Capital and a Ghost Town

Monday 27th April-

Just my regular Monday with classes and work shifts. It was my last Monday in the Food Zoo though. I collected more boxes to pack away mine and Shannen's stuff for the students coming from University College Cork in August. 

The wolf the Wildlife Society cleaned and articulated. I did some of his toes :P

Tuesday 28th April-

We're finishing things up in lectures this week. In rangeland ecology we continued learning about fire and grazing interactions on prairies and how important they are. In recreation this week were being taught about social norms in recreation. Like how other people expect you to behave, such as not littering or walking off trails. After class I was in the mood to bake so I made some scones. I'm getting pretty good with the whole making scones thing and according to Shannen they were my "best scones yet!". That evening Shannen and I booked tickets for the first screening of the new Avengers movie in 3D on Thursday night. I haven't watched the trailers so I'm pretty excited to see it.

Wednesday 29th April-

In my bird class this week we've been split up into groups. Each group has to read other people's grant proposals and decide if we would fund it or not. It's pretty cool to see what ideas other people in the class came up with to study. After class I went to the Food Zoo for the last time ever! It was fine working there, I'm just excited to finish and see what it's like to not have to run to work after classes finish. I brought in some of the scones I made for one of the ladies I worked with all year. She loves hearing about Ireland and was delighted with the scones. 

Thursday 30th April-

This morning I had a big exam for my bird lab. We were being examined on the 220 or so bird species from Montana we had to learn all semester. It was 100 questions long and I feel I did ok in it. Shannen and I had to leave our recreation behavior class early because there was a farewell dinner for international students in the conference room above the football stadium. They had certificates for us, finger food and plenty of speeches. One international student gave a speech about his time in Missoula and I really liked some lines from it:

"I found a place, where culture matters, but cultural differences don't. I found a place where I rediscovered the joy of smiling and random chitchatting. I found a place so similar to big cities, yet so respectful and so close to nature. To me, the University of Montana truly is a game changer. "

After the get together, we all headed into the stadium for a huge picture organised by my friend Kate. She'd had the idea for international students and their friends to spell out "UM" on the field. Aoife, Kate, Shannen and I organised all of the people into the letters and gave out flags to represent some of the countries students come from. The photo looks great and I'm so happy Kate thought of doing it. We even made the homepage of the universities website :D . That night Shannen and I headed off to see the Avengers. It was really cool and great to see in 3D. I love going to the cinema in America because people laugh and clap during the film. Some people even dress up as their favourite characters. It really just gives it a better atmosphere. 

I'm next to the Irish flag at the front of the U.

Friday 1st May-

After class I quickly finished last week's blog post and packed for a night away in Butte. Shannen, Kate, Aoife and I were off to visit the Irish capital and mining town of Butte. On the drive there we saw so many different species of raptors it was insane. A golden eagle even flew right in front of the car! You don't see those everyday. When we got to Butte we first visited Berkeley Pit. This was once a huge copper mine over a mile deep which made a lot of Irish men very rich back in the day. Now it's a man made toxic lake. Nothing can live in it except highly specialised bacteria, which Kate was excited about. There is a project to detoxify the lake but it's a lengthy process. After that we walked around the historical district of Butte. This city really has a western feel to it, unlike the more modern Missoula. That night we had dinner in a converted car mechanic workshop. I had bbq chicken, which was delicious. The restaurant was so cool with lots of vintage signs around the walls.

Me, Kate, Aoife and Shannen

View of Butte

Saturday 2nd May-

After a quick stroll in Butte and visiting an Irish gift shop we left to head south to Bannack Ghost town. This was the first capital of Montana as it was a mining town. Rather than copper, it was gold and garnets they mined here. We strolled around the abandoned buildings in a self guided tour. It was like going back in time and kind of spooky. While we were there we got to pan for gold. This was really fun but much harder than it looks. I found some tiny flecks of gold and a few garnets. The flecks are the size of glitter, so not worth anything but still pretty cool. We also got to see some wildlife including some rabbits and bay great horned owls. :) On the drive home we decided to take the scenic route over the mountains back to Missoula. We stopped at the Big Hole Battlefield, where 90 Nez Perce native Americans were killed in a fight. After that we drove up and over the Bitteroot mountains chain. From here it was just straight north through the Bitteroot Valley to Missoula. 

 

Ground squirrel

Battlefield site

The old schoolhouse

Sunday 3rd May-

I spent my Sunday working on my 10 page paper for my recreation behavior class. I'm doing mine on how managers can work to prevent human-wildlife conflicts as tourism numbers continue to grow. That evening Shannen and I watched the fourth Game of Thrones episode. This is turning into one of the most exciting seasons so far.

So that's what I got up to last week. I only have a short time left in Missoula now, before we head off to New York on a roadtrip. Thanks to everyone who read this weeks post.- Fiona :)