Yesterday I had a school field-trip! It was amazing, not just because this is a college course, but the place we went was really great!
The field-trip was to Antelope Island. Where is Antelope Island? It is in the Great Salt Lake, and depending on the water level is if Antelope Island is actually an island or is connected to the mainland. Right now because of the low water level it is not an island.
Wendy the Park Naturalist was great, she stayed late just to accommodate our group. She talked about the Great Salt Lake and answered any questions we came up with. For me, one of the most interesting things she told us was about the different levels of salt in the lake. She even had visual aids to compare the salt content of the ocean as compared to three different parts of the lake!
I would recommend Antelope Island to anyone visiting Utah, and even to those who live here!
On the way out, we saw bison wandering the island and even saw one that was to the side of the road, but I forgot too take my camera. And driving on the causeway to get back to the mainland there were swarms of bats just flying overhead. Where did all those bats come from? It was interesting to see that many bats swarm!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Adventure in the Desert
First off I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything recently, school is really tough this semester. I need to find that balance of studying and staying ahead in my reading and writing papers. Maybe that balance will be achieved this week, I probably should hope for something more realistic!
Over the weekend I was able to go to Millard County, Utah and visit some family. It was a good break from classes,however I think I might be behind in my classes again, and I had a lot of fun!
Saturday we went out to Old Fort Desert and to the Topaz Relocation Site. There is a reason we went to these historic places,no it is not because I am a dual major in history and geography and like to bore others with the significance of these places, one of my geography professors will give me an extra point for each site that I visit!
We went to Fort Deseret first and while we were there, my sister was speeding past to get to our aunt's house,we I jumped up and down on the side of the road waving our my arms trying and get her attention like a fool, but one of those fools who has a lot of fun, and it worked! After she zoomed past, she stopped, turned around, and came back.
On the way back from Topaz, my cousin was driving and started to speed up while driving down this road. I asked her, don't you have to watch out for cattle crossing the road? She said, that on this road there were no cows. Well that only lasted until we turned onto another road, there ahead of us were probably 20-30 cows and bulls in the middle of the road! We had to slow down and get through the crowd, it was a little dangerous, and I was worried we might not make it through,there was one that had pretty long horns, I though that if I made eye contact we would be done for, but my cousin had the experience to keep me calm and sane while going through this ordeal, we made it through alive! Living in a rural area has a local charm and many adventures that just are not available when you live in an urban area!
For those of you who have no idea about the dangers of driving at night in a rural area, stop reading now! You will be worried about, concerned for, and even scared to ever try this yourself! I warned you, continue at your own risk!
My mom and I left around 6:30 that evening for our drive back to Salt Lake. Dusk was already upon us by the time we turned onto US Route 6. We had turned at Lynndyl to take US State Route 132 to Nephi (this route gets you to Interstate 15, instead of taking US Route 6 to Eureka and then along US State Route 68 which is along the west side of Utah Lake), and were driving along and in the growing darkness. You need to realize that there are very few lights along the road to light up the surrounding area, you only have your headlights to rely on! I am not making up these town names,look at a map of Utah if you don't believe me!
All of a sudden we saw three deer crossing the road, one was in the middle while the other two were in front and behind the deer that was in the middle of the road. I screamed "Deer!" at the same moment my mom saw them and slammed on the breaks. Don't worry, the deer made it out just fine! No deer, humans, or cars were harmed in this event! However this eventprobably shaved a few months off of my life caused my heart to pound for the next 25 minutes!
When we finally arrived in the city of Nephi, the road to the entrance to the Interstate in the middle of the town was blocked for an emergency of some type and we had to travel through the city to the southern entrance to the Interstate. All continued fine until we realized that the big game was being held that evening in Provo! We were frantically searching for any radio station that could tell us if the game was still on or if we were going to have to deal with the traffic trying to get home!
Luckily for us, the game was still on. The game refers to Brigham Young University vs University of Utah. I don't really understand this big football rivalry, but if any of you do, you are smarter than I am. We made it home and then I went straight to sleep because I was too tired to do anything else!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
Over the weekend I was able to go to Millard County, Utah and visit some family. It was a good break from classes,
Saturday we went out to Old Fort Desert and to the Topaz Relocation Site. There is a reason we went to these historic places,
We went to Fort Deseret first and while we were there, my sister was speeding past to get to our aunt's house,
Fort Deseret
Historic Fort Deseret
Another doorway at Fort Deseret
Me and Fort Deseret
Topaz
Information on Topaz
Memorial for the Japanese-Americans who served!
Topaz
Topaz
Where the Hospital was
Where the Main Gate was
Where the Administration was
No removing of artifacts!
This means you Gabe!
On the way back from Topaz, my cousin was driving and started to speed up while driving down this road. I asked her, don't you have to watch out for cattle crossing the road? She said, that on this road there were no cows. Well that only lasted until we turned onto another road, there ahead of us were probably 20-30 cows and bulls in the middle of the road! We had to slow down and get through the crowd, it was a little dangerous, and I was worried we might not make it through,
For those of you who have no idea about the dangers of driving at night in a rural area, stop reading now! You will be worried about, concerned for, and even scared to ever try this yourself! I warned you, continue at your own risk!
My mom and I left around 6:30 that evening for our drive back to Salt Lake. Dusk was already upon us by the time we turned onto US Route 6. We had turned at Lynndyl to take US State Route 132 to Nephi (this route gets you to Interstate 15, instead of taking US Route 6 to Eureka and then along US State Route 68 which is along the west side of Utah Lake), and were driving along and in the growing darkness. You need to realize that there are very few lights along the road to light up the surrounding area, you only have your headlights to rely on! I am not making up these town names,
All of a sudden we saw three deer crossing the road, one was in the middle while the other two were in front and behind the deer that was in the middle of the road. I screamed "Deer!" at the same moment my mom saw them and slammed on the breaks. Don't worry, the deer made it out just fine! No deer, humans, or cars were harmed in this event! However this event
When we finally arrived in the city of Nephi, the road to the entrance to the Interstate in the middle of the town was blocked for an emergency of some type and we had to travel through the city to the southern entrance to the Interstate. All continued fine until we realized that the big game was being held that evening in Provo! We were frantically searching for any radio station that could tell us if the game was still on or if we were going to have to deal with the traffic trying to get home!
Luckily for us, the game was still on. The game refers to Brigham Young University vs University of Utah. I don't really understand this big football rivalry, but if any of you do, you are smarter than I am. We made it home and then I went straight to sleep because I was too tired to do anything else!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Blood Battle 2013!
This week on campus there is a blood drive going on! This is the American Red Cross, and also a little friendly competition between a few other universities in the state. Hence the title Blood Battle 2013!
So I decided that I should be the good personbecause I have the good blood and I donated this afternoon. I have donated before, but it has been several years since the last time I donated in the US, I used to go all the time before I went to Japan. I even donated once in Chile and once in Japan!
I did eat my breakfast this morning, but silly me I didn't eat lunch and I thought that the just snack I ate (big mistake) would be enough before I went to donate. I made it through the process of taking the blood just fine (with only one minor bump), but the trouble started after the needle came out!
I started to feel a light-headed, so I told the phlebotomist, and then it just went downhill from there! I started to feel hot and then cold! My body (specifically my hands, arms, legs, and feet) started to cramp up and lock in weird positions. I was unable to straighten my fingers or wrists and it was very painful! I joked that this must be what arthritis feels like, but I'm sure it is more painful that what I experienced. When I was relating this adventure to a friend, she said that instead of arthritis it sounded more like rigor mortis!
Two other phlebotomists came over and started to massage my extremely cold hands and also had me breath into a paper bag! I felt a little embarrassed at the time, but what could I have done... nothing! At this point the ARC was closing up for the day and I was one of the last ones there, one thing to be happy about! After about 10 minutes, my muscles started to relax and I could move my fingers without much pain. This is when the shaking set in. So then I joked that I've moved on from arthritis to palsy. It took me another 15 minutes before I felt comfortable enough to walk out of the room and not faint or fall flat on my face! In all of that time (from the moment I started to feel light-headed until I left) I had 2 cans of juice, 1 bottle of water, 1 banana, 1 bag of cookies, and 1 bag of pretzels. This will not stop me from donating in the future, however the next time I go I will eat a lot so this doesn't happen again!
The one minor bump was due to the fact that my vein in my left arm moved a little when the needle went in, so there was a little bit of pain that lasted longer than normal.
The best thing about this experience is that I was able to kind of keep a sense of humor about the ordeal. And now I can laugh about it!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
So I decided that I should be the good person
I did eat my breakfast this morning, but silly me I didn't eat lunch and I thought that the just snack I ate (big mistake) would be enough before I went to donate. I made it through the process of taking the blood just fine (with only one minor bump), but the trouble started after the needle came out!
I started to feel a light-headed, so I told the phlebotomist, and then it just went downhill from there! I started to feel hot and then cold! My body (specifically my hands, arms, legs, and feet) started to cramp up and lock in weird positions. I was unable to straighten my fingers or wrists and it was very painful! I joked that this must be what arthritis feels like, but I'm sure it is more painful that what I experienced. When I was relating this adventure to a friend, she said that instead of arthritis it sounded more like rigor mortis!
Two other phlebotomists came over and started to massage my extremely cold hands and also had me breath into a paper bag! I felt a little embarrassed at the time, but what could I have done... nothing! At this point the ARC was closing up for the day and I was one of the last ones there, one thing to be happy about! After about 10 minutes, my muscles started to relax and I could move my fingers without much pain. This is when the shaking set in. So then I joked that I've moved on from arthritis to palsy. It took me another 15 minutes before I felt comfortable enough to walk out of the room and not faint or fall flat on my face! In all of that time (from the moment I started to feel light-headed until I left) I had 2 cans of juice, 1 bottle of water, 1 banana, 1 bag of cookies, and 1 bag of pretzels. This will not stop me from donating in the future, however the next time I go I will eat a lot so this doesn't happen again!
The one minor bump was due to the fact that my vein in my left arm moved a little when the needle went in, so there was a little bit of pain that lasted longer than normal.
The best thing about this experience is that I was able to kind of keep a sense of humor about the ordeal. And now I can laugh about it!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Pisa Tower
One morning on the Study Abroad I participated in, I took a quick trip from Florence to Pisa. I went with 3 other girls from the group and we went to see The Leaning Tower of Pisa! That was something I had wanted to do for a while, and I was finally able to go!
We took a train fro Florence around 7:30 and arrived in Pisa around 8:30. We walked from the station to the Tower and it took probably 30 minutes. During that walk we passed an older man, as he walked past us he kind of leaned towards Jenn and said in a husky/creepy voice "I like it" and from then on it was something we said to each other to get out a laugh.
On the way to the Tower we passed this old little chapel/church. One feature that I liked was the rain-spouts were also gargoyles!
The Leaning Tower of Pisa!
We walked back a different way and just happened upon some ancient Roman ruins. I didn't take any pictures of those, but that just means I will have to go back!
We were able to get back to Florence with enough time to eat lunch and then meet up with the rest of the group for the tour through the Ufizzi!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
We took a train fro Florence around 7:30 and arrived in Pisa around 8:30. We walked from the station to the Tower and it took probably 30 minutes. During that walk we passed an older man, as he walked past us he kind of leaned towards Jenn and said in a husky/creepy voice "I like it" and from then on it was something we said to each other to get out a laugh.
On the way to the Tower we passed this old little chapel/church. One feature that I liked was the rain-spouts were also gargoyles!
The Leaning Tower of Pisa!
The group!
Marie
Christina
Jen
Me
We walked back a different way and just happened upon some ancient Roman ruins. I didn't take any pictures of those, but that just means I will have to go back!
We were able to get back to Florence with enough time to eat lunch and then meet up with the rest of the group for the tour through the Ufizzi!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Uffizi Gallery
It has been about three months since my Study Abroad trip. It was a short trip, but so full of sights, food, friends, and fun. I posted earlier about Duomo & Gelato but that was only one of my adventures!
The Uffizi Gallery has amazing masterpieces on display. Madonna and Child, Primavera, Birth of Venus, and many many others! My personal favorite was "Massacre of the Innocents," I am not a morbid person, I just liked the colors and the activity in this painting! This is a touched up version of what it looks like.
Looking at a reprint is never the same as seeing it in person, but it does give you some idea of the painting. You are not allowed to take pictures of the painting, but you can by prints in the gift shop. They are not as strict as the Vatican with people who take pictures, but it could also depend on the security guard.
An amazing book that has pictures of the most popular painting is Uffizi Gallery: the official guide; all of the works by Gloria Fossi. I look through it and remember seeing those painting and it make me want to go back! Maybe someday I will!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
The Uffizi Gallery has amazing masterpieces on display. Madonna and Child, Primavera, Birth of Venus, and many many others! My personal favorite was "Massacre of the Innocents," I am not a morbid person, I just liked the colors and the activity in this painting! This is a touched up version of what it looks like.
Massacre of the Innocents by Marco Benefial
Looking at a reprint is never the same as seeing it in person, but it does give you some idea of the painting. You are not allowed to take pictures of the painting, but you can by prints in the gift shop. They are not as strict as the Vatican with people who take pictures, but it could also depend on the security guard.
An amazing book that has pictures of the most popular painting is Uffizi Gallery: the official guide; all of the works by Gloria Fossi. I look through it and remember seeing those painting and it make me want to go back! Maybe someday I will!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Twelve Month Recap
It has been a year today since I finished working for the BOE (Board of Education) in Kakamigahara, Japan. The past twelve months have been hectic, fun, interesting, challenging, and most of all very busy!
For the first few months back in the states, I spent time visiting (and staying with) my family and getting to know my nieces and nephews better. I was basically homeless and lived out of a suitcase until January of this year when I started school. Weber State University in Ogden, Utah has been a good fit for me so far. Since January I have started and finished Spring and Summer semesters with the hope of graduating with a degree by the end of Spring 2015. I also started this blog earlier this summer!
I've met some really great people at WSU, and have had amazing adventures with them!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
For the first few months back in the states, I spent time visiting (and staying with) my family and getting to know my nieces and nephews better. I was basically homeless and lived out of a suitcase until January of this year when I started school. Weber State University in Ogden, Utah has been a good fit for me so far. Since January I have started and finished Spring and Summer semesters with the hope of graduating with a degree by the end of Spring 2015. I also started this blog earlier this summer!
I've met some really great people at WSU, and have had amazing adventures with them!
Here are some of the great people I have met!
~Adventures in Anything & Everything
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