So I have no idea what day it is, and no one else does either. I'm breaking this into 2 posts, one for the previous days labs and what the days have consisted of, and then what we did tonight. To mainly get my footing on where I am in time and space. If you don't believe me, one of the women here called her mom to wish her happy birthday, only she called 2 days too early and didn't realize it because, like me, she has lost track of time and has no idea what day it is and thinks we have been here 2x as long. Which is fine. We have learned a considerable amount of information, which is good and a bit overwhelming at the same time. I want to hold onto all of this information as best I can, but when you are learning from 9:00 am to midnight, with 2 hours off for food (lunch and dinner) there is a bit of brain leakage. I wanted to also show you some of the beauty of the campus, near the labs we are studying around, which is good and bad. Good because Maine is amazing, bad because the sunsets are stunning and we'd rather go look at that for a few minutes than anything else in those few moments. But it is back to our amazing machines and work...
Labs til Late
Busy day, just pics
Yesterday was a very busy day, started at 8:30 w/breakfast and ended at 11:30 pm heading to my room after lab to drop onto my bed to fall asleep. I'll tell you more later, but here are photos from the campus, I've got another packed day ahead of me.
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| MDI Bio Lab campus |
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| Why am I here?? |
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| Inside lecture hall |
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| Lectures, lectures, lectures |
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| Dining Hall |
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| Trail to class |
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| Path back to my room |
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| Home for the week! |
Science Geek Camp!
Yes, I'm here. In Maine beginning my week-long adventure in what one of my cohorts here called "science geek camp" while at dinner last night. She is right, but that's okay, I'm going to enjoy it anyway. I started off very early at the airport yesterday in PHL, and luckily so. The security lines were a bit longer than I thought they would be. Checking in was a breeze, took me 5 min, but then I waited another 45 to get my carry-on's and me checked over for actual passage into the terminal. But all was good, got my shoes back on and headed off to my gate. BTW, the terminal with the US Air section in PHL doesn't have much to offer in healthy food, lots of typical fast foods but nothing really on this side of yummy. Ah well.
Got on that flight to Boston and found some yummy food, and some dark chocolate covered raisins (okay not exactly healthy but they are tasty!). Our plane has some maintenance issues, and we ended up having to wait 45 min for a new plane to arrive for us. Which made us 1 hour late to Bar Harbor. I spent the time reading my book and trying to relax in a very uncomfortable airport chair. Then I headed out to the tarmac when it was time to load to our prop plane and head to the island. I haven't been on a prop plane in years! Probably since the last time I was heading up to Halifax, Nova Scotia! Wow. Still loud and rumble-y, but a thrill to ride in!
We got to Bar Harbor 50 min later, covered in fog. Lots and lots of fog! I found our taxi, bags, and the other group of people I was meeting to head to the workshop at the lab. A short ride later and a bit of confusion w/the driver (still not sure on that one) we were greeted with "you're walking the wrong way." Okay. This place is beautiful, but confusing, green trees everywhere, little paths, and lots of building with little signs. We got to our location, picked up our room assignments and headed off in our different directions. I found mine, a small room that is rather large for a cabin of sorts, with a shared bathroom next door to me, but the beds reminded me immediately of research ships (hello Atlantis, RV Cape Henlopen??) After making it up, raising the thermostat from 58 to 70 and hoping I wouldn't freeze, I went to dinner.
Dinner was good, salad, pasta salad and corn. (Okay they forgot the vegetarians...) If you were not a vegetarian you also got roast beef, a hunk of some other meat and I think a pork loin. I don't know exactly, I know there were 3 other meats at the end of the table, but I typically do not take notice. After dinner we guessed where we were going and guessed right! Yay! and got to the wine and cheese party. Here we got our huge 3-ring binder, name badges and found out our schedule for the week. Lots to do, lots to learn. My little desk will come in handy.
Finally after the little get-together party, I headed back to my room, did my nightly things, wrapped up my unpacking that I hadn't finished earlier and said good night to my sweetie. It was early but so time for sleep. I think about 10 of us did the same thing, as I saw us headed off into our rooms with the mission of a pillow and blanket! So how was the temperature by the time I reached my room? Still creeping up, it still hadn't reached a warm temp, I was hoping for, but enough that I could crawl under my covers and not succumb to hypothermia! :)
Happy Day to you!
Leaving Italy
And it is done. Vacation is over, the fun and relaxation of Sorrento, the ease of shopping, the quaint side street restaurants, the smell of leather shops, the spice shops, the hunt for silk scarves (found a beautiful red one!), and the casual walks along the cobble streets are done. Sigh. Back on the train, back to Rome for one more night. A walk through the streets, enjoying my home away from the US, realizing that I feel so beyond comfortable here that it is difficult to leave. I wish I could grab my darling, hop on the plane and come here and not leave. The culture, the atmosphere, the weather, the sea, the proximity to history, and the amazing world that just is, I love it. Maybe a retirement location? Who knew this Irish-Czech/Galician-English-Iroquois woman would feel most comfortable in Italy... I've been to Ireland, I loved it too, I've been to the Czech Republic and actually did not feel at home at all, but rather more of an outsider for some reason, and I've yet to actually be in England any place other than Heathrow airport....(that doesn't count) But then again the second most comfortable place I've been has been Berlin, Germany. Italy, Germany, not Czech, not France (god no!), not the Netherlands, or even Ireland. I've enjoyed many other countries too, but anyway. I digress. The point of this whole thing was that I love Italy, and I will miss it, but I will be back, but I will not wait 10 years again like the last time. I realize that this is too long to wait to be in a place I love so much. Ciao, but not for long Italia! Ciao Bella!
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| Leaving the airport, over the Mediterranean Sea... |
And off to Sorrento and Pompeii
And after our days in Rome, touring the Italian version of Manhattan (I LOVE this place!!!!), we hop on the train and head out to down to the Amalfi Coast to Sorrento. We have to switch trains in Napoli. This is where I discover that the Jersey Shore is not original. Nope. There is an entire city, in Italy, existing of the same thing.... At the train station, all I saw was bedazzed jeans, 4 inch spiked heels, skinny jeans, low rise skinny jeans, crop tops, hoop earings, big hair, lots of make up, long red finger nails, and chain wallets.... Yep, the Jersey Shore in Italy. Sigh. We escaped, I mean left, Napoli on the next train and headed off to our final destination... Sorrento. We arrived, and after an extensive search and a nearly 1.5 or 2 mile walk, we found our hotel. Our beautiful, wonderful, large room, deep bathtub, tile floor, airy huge room hotel. :-) Yay!!! And then after a quick change we did what was absolutely necessary.... Walk to the Mediterranean Sea! This is were we saw the edge of Europe, the beauty of family fishing, the romantic hillside world and the place that will forever remain as a peaceful thought in my mind. We found a nice restaurant, which was built out onto a pier stretching over the Mediterranean Sea. As we sat there, eating dinner, watching the sun set, sipping our wine..... I realized how wonderful this moment really was. Mental snapshot!
We also took a day and went to Pompeii. Unfortunately, it was raining, off and on and with a lot of cloud cover. Our trip up to Mt. Vesuvius was canceled, it was cloud covered and I'm sure pouring rain. Our walk through Pompeii consisted of several escapes into ancient ruins to hide from downpours. At one point we hid in an ancient fast-food restaurant, and decided this was the perfect place to eat our snacks. Ironic. It was an amazing place to be, but there was a lingering thought in my mind too. .. .. ... This place was destroyed and all the people died within about 3 minutes when the noxious gases escaped from the volcano, then buried under the ash, then lava. No time to escape or think. The volcano is still active and has a huge plume of lava that stretches out for miles, even out under the Mediterranean Sea... And.. I.... am... standing.... here....
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| Free Lemoncello with dinner, you can see the Med Sea from our table |
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| Admiring the sunset in Sorrento |
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| Me loving where I am! |
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| Shopping Day!!! |
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| The lemons in Sorrento are huge |
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| In Pompeii, the amazing place, between rain storms |
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| Pompeii, the jacket I had to buy because it was so cold due to the rain. |
Welcome to Italy!
We're Here! (or rather were there....)
Running through the streets of Rome... to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Vatican City, St. Peter's, Vatican Museum, Castel Sant'Angelo, Campo di Fiorni, Parthenon, Villa Borgehese, various Piazza's, and Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps to name a few....
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| On the train from the airport to Roma Termini |
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| Inside the Colosseum |
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| Leo's Mom outside the Colosseum |
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| St. Peter's in Vatican City |
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| The view from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo |
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| Trevi Fountain after we tossed our coins in there! |
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| The best meal in the world at La Carbonara! |
A pictoral of our days in Rome.... :-)
