Scavenger hunts and IT day!

Today was an on campus kind of day. So not many pictures were taken =(

We started with a scavenger hunt to get us familiar with some of the departments and history of the campus. We learned some interesting things! Groups got to talk to different faculty and staff, and talk about how things work and everything gets done around here.

We then spent the rest of the day doing technical stuff like going over the operations and graduate policy manual, getting our emails set up, and learning about the alarm system on campus.

The highlight of the day was when the faculty members raided April's (our Associate Executive Director) closet and surprised her (and us) by wearing some of her clothes!

Happy Birthday April!

~Meghan

First day!

Today was our first day of instruction and "class". First we got to experience what a TSS community meeting is like. Then we went on a hike put to coyote rock, and played a bunch of icebreaker type games to continue to get to know each other. It rained a bit during our hike, but the weather held out pretty well for us. We even learned about pines, spruces, and firs! Something I understand! Yay for Woody Plants!

A welcome sign for the 21st graduate class!

Upper Meadow (I think)

The Tetons, shrouded in clouds

Dinner was a blast tonight, as Jared (our chef) let us make our own pizzas and hang out in the kitchen so he could get to know us and our eating habits a little better. The pizzas were great, and we got to finish up the leftover beer and wine
from last night's reception!

The grad students then convened to the common lounge for game night, where we played some catchphrase (although not as intense of a game as we played on the Woody Plants Redwoods trip!), and talked for a while to bond.

I am slowly getting over my fear of moths, as there are at least 10 of them in my room at all times. I can see 7 from my vantage point right now! I had a traumatizing moth experience when I was little, so this is a big deal!

~Meghan

Settling in

The rest of the graduate students arrived today! Except for one who does not get here until this weekend. There was a nice little cocktails/appetizers/getting to know each other session, as well as dinner afterwards. The food has already been amazing here, and I just hope my picky appetite doesn't cause me too many problems!

Tomorrow we set off on a day hike to get to know each other and some faculty better. My hiking boots are still not properly broken in, so I'm just hoping I avoid too many blisters!

We stumbled across Morman Row on our adventures today

Visited the Visitor Center in Moose

Got some Caramel Caribou ice cream at Dornan's

Finally took a picture with the school sign

More of this amazing view

All of us grad students 

Random picture of the main lodge

~Meghan

Move in day!

Yesterday I began the first leg of the drive to Wyoming. This included driving across Nevada and Idaho. Then finally crossed into Wyoming today!

Today I made it to campus around 1, and moved into my home for the next year!

My new cabin is named Staelin, which I will be sharing with another grad student. She gets here tomorrow I think. My room is small, but it will do! We also share a bathroom so we do not have to use the common bathrooms, woohoo!

The view of the Tetons from campus

The outside of my cabin!

Some inside pics

I met 6 other grad students very briefly today, and tomorrow we're having a dinner in order to be officially introduced to everyone. I can't wait to meet them all and explore the area some more!

~Meghan

Last day at home!

Tomorrow I set out for Wyoming! I cannot wait to move into my cabin on Monday and meet some of my classmates.

While I am absolutely excited to begin this new journey, it is also incredibly weird to not be heading back to McMinnville! I sometimes find myself thinking that I am moving right back into HP A204, and that I'll be living with my amazing roommates once again. However, that is not the case!

Now on to this brand new journey, and a year to hopefully rival the last 4 (that'll be hard to do)!

Packing up the car! Wayyyy too much stuff

~Meghan

4 days and counting!

I am officially a Wilderness First Responder! That was one of the most stressful 10 days of my life, but I learned so much and will always remember that experience. Enjoy a couple more photos from the last few days!

 A pretty sweet lower leg splint by Sarah!

We did it!

Now I am off to the ESA conference for the next two days to explore the world of Ecology, and do a poster presentation, eek!

~Meghan

Becoming a Wilderness First Responder

For the past 5 days I have been in Sonoma taking my Wilderness First Responder class. Just 5 more days left! This has been an incredible (and stressful!) experience, learning about safety, injuries and illnesses that can occur while out in the backcountry. 

As far as I can tell, I'm the only one that has never been backpacking or camping in my life, which makes me feel really nervous during our scenarios! But I am learning a lot, both from the class itself and from the other students. Since everyone is more experienced with the outdoors than I am, I have gotten lots of great advice about backpacking and camping.

While I now know a lot more about how to be safe and treat injuries in the wilderness, it also makes me leery of actually spending any great amount of time out there! No one ever thinks these things will happen to them, but it's so easy to get hurt or fall sick while away from urbanization!

Some wound closing practice. This particular "wound" closed by Sarah

Practicing our splinting! Sarah did a lovely job with my arm

And some crazy versions of splinting! I got a little bit creative here...

Sometimes our limbs look deformed…but still a adequate splint by Sarah!

I'm getting more and more excited to leave for the Tetons in a week and a half! So much clothing and equipment was bought for this adventure!

My pile of stuff has grown!

~Meghan