Back to School

Well, hello from Santa Barbara! I've finished my two weeks of orientation and started real classes. This quarter I'm taking Ecology of Managed Ecosystems, Earth System Science, Business and the Environment, and Intro to Environmental Policy Analysis. Sounds exciting, no? As complicated as the course titles may seem (and really, when do they not?) everything seems pretty manageable right now. It'll most likely change, seeing as I'm only two days in, but it's all good these days.

I'm living in university housing with three other first-year girls, two of which are in the same major program as me, and the other a psychology PhD. We all have very similar interests and lifestyles, so it's pretty nice here.

I've also joined the rest of the university population in owning and riding a bike. It's a pretty lavender beach cruiser with a little white basket in the front. I feel like I should have flowers or a small dog in there, but it's just been my water bottle and bike lock so far. Maybe I'll catch a squirrel or something. That would be cool too.

So that's about all that's going on here. Two weeks of orientation and settling into the apartment, exploring the area, hunting down the elusive Trader Joe's and the associated adventures with Google Maps, and trying to learn the names of my 97 other classmates, each with varying degrees of success.