SECOND BLOG POST!!!!!






 August 6th, 2024

Hello! My name is Lauren, I just graduated with my biology degree in May of 2024 from the University of La Verne!

Summary:

I had to wake up at 3:00am for a 6:00am flight, but I was able to sleep pretty early the night beforehand. The first group of students already arrived to Magpie Ranch on the 5th, so the last group of us were very excited to meet up with everyone! Our first flight was only an hour and a half and we had a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our second flight was another hour and a half and I was able to sleep on the whole flight :) Once we landed at the Missoula airport in Montana, our small group met up with Professor Weaver (Pablo) and we headed to Cracker Barrel for some lunch (everything was delicious, I had the best blt ever). After lunch, we went to WinCo Foods for snacks and food for the rest of the week. I am paired up with two other people (Brianna and Gaby) to make dinner for one night while we are at the research station, and we all decided on making fettuccine alfredo, chicken katsu and bruschetta. After running around WinCo for our ingredients and different snacks, we began to make our way over to the research station! On the way over, we played a couple of car games to keep ourselves occupied. Once we arrived at the station, we said hi to everyone that was already here and we were given a nice tour of the whole site. Next to our research station, there is a farm with a large group of cows and they are so nice to watch from a little porch swing that is attached to the main building. Pablo actually spotted a Bald Eagle and we were able to look at it through a telescope! After settling in, the group had to decide who was cooking dinner tonight and my group decided to go first to get it out of the way. We began cooking around 6:00pm and we finished around 7:30pm. Brianna made the pasta, Gaby made the bruschetta, and I made the chicken katsu. Bri has made the pasta before, but it was Gaby and my first time making those dishes. We decided to set the mood with some Italian music in the background and it was so great to sit down with everyone and enjoy a group meal. The food was delicious but the atmosphere of everyone enjoying food and chatting was even better. During dinner, Pablo mentioned a fun game called “who dat”, where everyone takes a turn telling him 3 fun facts about ourselves in private, then we would all gather around and guess who’s random fact is who’s. It was such a cool bonding expierence, my 3 facts were that: 1. I love video games 2. my favorite animal is a red panda and 3. I have a list ranking of every movie and tv shows I have seen. Everyone decided to go to bed after that, but it was so much fun getting to hang out with everyone!! I was a bit nervous headed over, but finally getting to the research site definitely calmed me down. I cannot wait for what the rest of this trip has in store for me ♥️

Image 1: Starting on the left, this is an image of me, Bri, Gaby and Gail (another professor) after we landed in Missoula with a cool bear at the airport!!

Image 2: View from the main deck of the research station 

Image 3: The bald eagle from the view of the telescope

Image 4: The dinner!! 

Image 5: Playing who dat with the group!

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