In the last six months I've....
- moved to New Zealand; that was pretty cool
- bought two little budgies, smudgie and pudgie and they're awesome
- been holding down a steady job as a crepe maker at the farmers market
- finished the first semester of my masters degree
- got started on my fieldwork
- sort of learned what I'm supposed to do in the lab
- helped build a rabbit fence dangling off a cliff
- killed african boxthorn
- learned about kea
- tried to learn about NZ birds
- tutored geography
- eaten chocolate
Probably the one that requires a bit of explination would be the bit about my masters degree. So I'm still in the first year, where I have to take classes. But I'm halfway though, so I'm on the midsemester break right now. Classes start up again on the 11th, and I probably won't have nearly as much time to puruse the internet. Theoretically then, I have all next year to do field work and work on my thesis. Naturally, I've already started both my field and lab work so I can slack off next year.
My project involves walking along the beach and picking up kelp of a specific species. I have 18 sites along the EC of NZ, and potentially will add more. I bring the kelp back here, dry it out and then do some fancy genetic hocus pocus in the lab. Once I've gotten the genetic stuff to work, I can tell where said beach-washed kelp originated (ie. the sub-anatarctic, Northern NZ, Southern NZ etc). This tells us stuff about dispersal potential and inter-connectiveness of the populations. Neat huh?
I've gone out once and found some kelp, now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. My lab results have been really mixed, but I'm excited because I just got a batch that worked awesomely this morning!! Usually about 50-60% of the samples will amplify, and out of those, some might be the wrong species. So it's a bit hit or miss to say the least.
Anyways, I should go do lab stuff again, then go home and pack for my bushwalk tomorrow! Photos will come soon!
