Winding Down

This is so weird.

Today it officially hit me how fast graduation day is approaching. I have one more day of classes-- Wednesday-- and then it's time to study for finals. Wowza! Unlike a lot of my other friends, I haven't had the whole experience of thinking, "This will be my last final ever..." This is simply because of grad school at Iowa State.

There have been some exciting developments since I last posted. I have officially gotten my first apartment that is not through school housing. This is an exciting opportunity. I have also signed my contract with Iowa State, so now I feel like I'm REALLY going somewhere.

I have also gotten information from the DNR [Department of Natural Resources] regarding my summer position. It looks like I'm going to be having a ton of fun at different state parks, learning a lot, and just enjoying each day as it comes! I have the opportunity to take a few cool workshops, such as Archery and another that involves looking at wild plants and determining which ones are EDIBLE. That's a nice survival skill!!

Well-- a few hours of data analysis, a chemistry write-up, 1 paper, and 2 finals later... I'll be done. That's a really weird feeling.

April Showers bring... Snow?

The other day, I was driving with my friend, and we were talking about the saying, "April Showers Bring Mayflowers...". I was so excited for April to come. I was getting ready for the warm weather, back to t-shirts and flip flops, sitting out on the quad, doing homework in the sun... 

Except, I woke up on April 1st to snow. 

But no biggie, right? It all melted the next day. Winter just has to get one more storm in before going out right? Bring on the sun!

Yesterday, April 5th: 6 inches of snow in Ames, IA, where I was visiting. 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Well-- if you want to come to Iowa, just be prepared for the crazy weather. Quite literally, it was sunny and cloudless when I left Cedar Rapids for Ames. Once I got to Ames, the weather switches suddenly from sunny to dark skies and rain. I fell asleep, and in the morning, I opened the shades to my window and saw a picturesque Christmas scene. Large flakes were coming down, covering the trees, the ground was covered in white...I even started humming the song, "Oh, the weather outside is frightful.. but the fire's so delightful!.. And since we've no place to go... Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!"

Except, it's not Christmas. It's April.