More Grad School!

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Posted by Jami Couch | Posted in | Posted on 1:42 PM

Right. So, after two weeks, I can say that I'm loving grad school. So far, we've gotten free lunch almost every day, and lots of free time to hang out in the GS/MS student lounge (which, by the way, has ping-pong, pool, foosball, and air-hockey). We've been getting free lunches because each program gets one day to introduce us to their research and whatnot, and they feed us. (Also, there is usually beer and some kind of dessert). We have another entire week of this. It's awesome.

There is some really cool research going on, so I've had a couple post-food afternoon meetings with professors to talk about their research and potential rotation projects. I have several more this week, so that's exciting. Also, there's this bar in Nashville called "Flying Saucer" that has, seriously, over 200 different types of beer. We were just there last night and we're going again on Monday.

Also, just FYI, there may have been some karaoke in there somewhere...



Grad School!

1

Posted by Jami Couch | Posted in | Posted on 6:16 PM

Hey guys, long time, no post. Anyway, orientation for my program at Vandy was yesterday and today. I guess just as a change of pace for them, we met at the zoo yesterday, actually. During some free time we all went and saw the elephants and giraffes...one of the giraffes was licking a tree. I'm not sure what that's about. Basically yesterday was about what we should expect in terms of classwork and overall experiences, although they can't be too specific about lab rotations and such because it varies so much between labs.

Today all the program directors introduced their programs (by which I mean they reminisced about their grad school orientation). Then we spent the rest of the morning getting our ID's and parking passes. Since most people went for the ID first, a few of us got the bright idea to try to get our parking passes and skip the ID line for later. As it turns out, you need your ID to get a parking pass, so we ended up in the very back of the ID line. Good times. They budgeted way too much time for that, though, so we managed to get everything done, eat lunch, and play pool in the student lounge for like an hour. By the way, Indian food is kinda tasty...there's a buffet across the street from campus. More importantly, I met a couple people that play racquetball, which is exciting.

One thing that is really crazy is that the students are from all over. There are probably more international students that students from Tennessee. For example, my conversation with a girl on the shuttle to the parking lot went something like this:

"Where are you from?"
"New Hampshire"
"How long did it take you to get here?"
"Twelve hours the first day and eight the second."
"Holy crap!"

And so on.

So I guess James and Mary Ellen are starting at their respective schools pretty soon, I can't wait to hear about it. We have a bunch of safety training tomorrow then we start class Thursday, so it's getting to be that time.

Barack's Stomping Grounds

3

Posted by Allison | Posted in | Posted on 5:59 PM



What an adventure! Sunday I flew up to visit with Mary Ellen (whom I haven't seen since our little reunion in June) and it's been a busy week! Early Monday morning we drove with her mom and sister to DC where we shopped till we dropped!


We had no problem navigating the subway system, and with our map, guidebook, and fanny-packs we fit right in!


Joe Biden offered to take the picture for us so we could have one of us together, thanks Joe, you still owe us those drinks you promised!



Don't be fooled, you may think we are still in DC but we are actually in Baltimore, MD. While I was focusing the camera my ipod was being stolen by a 13 yr old sk8r boi. He was rocking out to some Jonas Brothers and looking a little too suspicious. We chased him down and gave him a few good kicks to the ribs before he finally gave it back. When we got back in the car, we realized my ipod was there all along... we hightailed it back to DC with sirens blaring the whole way.



We ate dinner at the white house, Michelle was such a great hostess! B-rock talked to the cops for us and got us off the hook and then Sasha showed us her American Girl Doll collection.



To make up for the altercation in Baltimore we were sent first class to Wiltshire to see Stonehenge. It was neat although there was an unfortunate incident involving Jada and a colossal furry caterpillar (the bugs in England are Land of the Lost or SyFy esque).



All in all, it's been a rather uneventful week in the lives of Allison Volek and Mary Ellen Moomaw.


Hey everybody,

I think I got back on Tuesday, and I've been resting/recovering ever since then. I think I took close 600 pictures. I didn't upload all of them but I've uploaded some of them to my picasa site here. I'm trying to help my dad and my uncle figure out how to use picasa so they can upload some of theirs too. They are both over 50, it may take them a while to figure it out.

It would probably take me a week to write a blog about everything I did in Peru, seriously. But I'll try to give you guys some ideas.

Cusco, the city that used to be the capitol of the Incas, was where we stayed most of the time. It's an absolutely beautiful city filled with cathedrals, some really good restaurants and bars, and some very cool people.



We took a train from Cusco through the Andes to a town called Aquas Calientes. The train ride could quite possibly be my favorite part of the trip, it was absolutely beautiful.


Aquas Calientes is a lot smaller than cusco, but I liked it a lot more as a place to live. It was just such a neat little community. Evereone felt safe, there were little kids and dogs everwhere, just running around at all hours of the night.



Then we went to Machu Picchu, the city in the clouds. It's really cool, and the only reason the Spanish didn't destroy it is because the never found it, thank gooodness. Really, if you go to Peru, you have to see this place. Espically if you like hiking, deadly cliffs, and tourist.



Then we went back to Cusco and stayed there for about 3 days. We did a lot of gift shopping and went to a lot of Museums, Cathedrals. There are a lot of VERY talented musicians living in Cusco who play in the bars at night, which was probably my other favorite part of the trip. I also got a chance to do some hiking to the top of the "mountain" that overlooks Cusco to do some stargazing.



Then we went to Lima, the new Capitol of Peru. It's just a huge city. We got to see the Catecombs underneath the San Francisco Cathedral. I've never seen so many bones. They think there were over 28,000 people buried there. We stayed there 2 nights. On the last day we went took boat to an island that was litterally covered with sea lions. The smell was bad, but it was worth it. Me and Toby were brave enough to jump in the freezing water to go swimming with them. I dont know if it was thermal shock or seasickness, but I almost didnt make it without puking once I got back on the boat.



There's a lot more to tell, but just ceck out the rest of the picturs. In other news, grad school starts next week :) How about everyone else? What are you guys up to?

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