Persistence

Persistence pays off. Supposedly.


After recently receiving rejection notices to environmental internships in California, Isle Royal, Florida National Sea Base, and about ten others that I tried to apply for but was not even considered, I have decided that a new approach is necessary. My latest strategy is simple enough: be persistent.

Somewhere, hundreds of miles away is a park ranger sifting through piles of applications from teenagers who want to work for him. He or she hardly knows the applications other than what it says on their piece of paper. In order to make my paper more personable to them, I decided to call and ask about my application process. In the case of the Hawaii Hawksbill Sea Turtle project, I just got a voice mail. Undeterred, I called again the next day, and the next, and the next....finally, on the 18th try, I decided to have someone else try and call them. Success!

I was able to put a face to that piece of paper in some park ranger's hand somewhere and let them know how badly I wanted that internship. By April 15th I will know whether or not my two remaining applications (Hawksbill Sea Turtle Project in Hawaii and Missouri National Park services) have come to fruition. I'm hoping for the best as always and expecting the least as usual.

The Henry Doorly Zoo

After consecutive tests in Analytical Chemistry on Wednesday and Biology II on Thursday, I was ready to take a short respite from school this weekend. Kim Patterson and some other fellow Omahaians took me and some friends up north to see their hometown. I have a vested interest in Omaha because of Creighton's dental school and the possibility that I might attend graduate school there. I'll save that tour for another day though since our group wanted to focus on the highly acclaimed Henry Doorly Zoo. Since I have enjoyed my past experiences at the Saint Louis Zoo, I was curious to see how they compared. The following is my general opinion on both:

1.) Saint Louis Zoo does not have much of an aquarium to speak of. The Henry Doorly Zoo has an incredible marine aquarium and an entire building dedicated to it and other "fishlike" creatures.

2.) HD Zoo costs $11.50 to get in. STL Zoo is FREE.

3.) HD Zoo has most of their exhibits indoors, St. Louis Zoo has around half indoors and half outdoors.

4.) Saint Louis Zoo is replete with a variety of flora covering much of the trials between houses and exhibits, giving the visitor the feeling of truly being outdoors. HD Zoo does not have the outdoor landscaping and plants to compare with STL's.

5.) HD Zoo has many new exhibits, including a "Sky tour" while the STL Zoo has an aged look and feel to it.

In conclusion: I feel that both Zoo's are exceptional for their own reasons. However, since my personal favorite zoo experience is marine life (besides butterflies which both zoo's have), I would have to say that I prefer the Henry Doorly Zoo SLIGHTLY over the Saint Louis Zoo, depending on the kind of zoo experience I am looking for on any given day.

Organic Cereal

Before I left home over spring break I made sure to stock up on some of my favorite cereals for the weeks ahead. I purchased the smallest meal plan from Sodexo which allows me to spend approximately 12 dollars a day on food. In order to have a full meal at lunch and dinner, I have to eat breakfast in my dorm. As part of the organic kick I'm on, I focused mainly on brands such as Kashi, Full Circle, and Cascadia Farms. These cereals lack the powerful sugar kick that you might find in name brand products, but that's what makes them appealing to me. The subtle sweet taste these organic cereals do have comes from either sugarcane (usually in the form of suganot or turbinado) or naturally raised honey. You still get the same amount of fiber (oftentimes more) from organic cereal; however, you will not get many of the vitamins that come in regular cereal. This is because the brand name companies "enrich" their cereals with vitamins that would not normally be contained within the cereal.

Spring Break

I am officially on Spring Break. Many college students have made elaborate plans for this week long respite from college. For some reason I chose to do more work. My parents are making plans to sell the house in Cape so I have been landscaping for the past few days and will continue to do so until break is over. In addition I can't resist studying for my analytical chemistry test next Wednesday. Throw in an independent research project, an ongoing summer job search, training for a marathon and I find that this hardly feels like a break at all. Maybe I should have gone to Florida.......

Florida aside, I'm looking forward to getting a job away from home this summer (wherever that may be). I'm fairly certain that this "new home" will feel nothing like home at all, which is part of the reason that I have applied to locations such as Hawaii and California. I look forward to the time when I can truly escape my books/new house/people I know and meet new people who know nothing of me. I can't wait for the REAL break to begin.