Learning: A New Start

School started recently and since then things have been moving so very quickly. This is my "second senior" year; basically I am staying an extra semester. I should be graduating in December, but we'll see with how financial things work out.

Last semester I started my academic life twice over. I transferred at the beginning of the year to the University of Wisconsin Parkside. It didn't take too long to fit in; the geology department there was very inviting. There were 3 professors (only 2 of which were staff, one was an adjunct). I had most of my classes with the adjunct professor; he had come from years of experience in the field. He was a very interesting man and I learned a lot in the classes I had with him. I made some friends at the school and studied my butt off when it came to minerals.

A picture I took while on a field trip at Parkside

At Parkside I had plans to graduate by December and because I transferred I worked closely with the teachers in order to take the right classes. Unfortunately some things got mixed up and I ended up taking mostly intro geology courses. Needless to say, I didn't feel as academically challenged as I was accustomed to.

But nothing lasts, and in January my family talked about moving. February came around and we did leave, from the town I grew up in to a small hidden town in North Wisconsin. We left a lot behind: good things, bad things, little useless things. We moved from our house overlooking the poorly named lake to a small apartment. Thankfully my sisters and I were used to sharing a room.

I transferred schools again, three times before the end of my senior year. I followed my family up north for a few reasons but one was convenience. It was easier and cheaper to move with my family than to pay the cost to live on campus. I started school a week late; I missed a lot of things.

WELCOME TO UW-RIVER FALLS

This is where I am at currently. My first semester was a whirlwind. So much happened but one important thing was this: I was still taking classes that I had already done. Transferring does weird things to your college credits, so if you can stay in one place, I suggest it. Anyways I took a Geophysics class again. I did take Petrology, which was new information. But it was still stuff that was building off the geology foundation that I now have from 3 years of study.

I haven't had an interesting, new class in a very long time. This semester is different. I do not have any geology classes, save for my senior research project. I am taking two dance classes (don't get me started on the craziness that is 3 college gym classes), an English class and two soils classes.

I wasn't sure about the soils classes; the first is an introductory class. So far it has used some of the basics I learned in Geology 101, because hey! Soil is mostly made from decomposed rock materials. =p The other class I am taking is a 300 level soils class: Hydric Soils and Wetland Development.

Hydric Soils class is basically about wetlands (with have hydric, or water saturated soils) and their uses, diversity, identification and the controversy surrounding them. And surprise! So far I really like it!

A Wetland (Cattails are a sure sign of a wetland!)

There is something about learning science as completely new. I don't like sitting in a class being told the same things I already know. But in these soils classes, well they are something I have never learned before and I LOVE it. Not to forget, I sort of like the way Hydric is taught. The class is very immersive, mostly because the students in the class have already taken soils, biology, ecology and hydrology classes. But I have not, so I find myself suddenly immersed in definitions and facts and pictures of plants and soils and descriptions of different wetlands. I find myself in the middle of a marsh and told to describe, name and talk about it all. And even though I don't know a lot of the information, yet, I do like this "sudden barrage of information" type of learning.

And I'm still learning new things; about others, myself, the world and science. Every day is a new experience that I am very thankful for.

Carollela