To My Family and Friends

Just as a preface - this post has nothing to do with my research. It's directed specifically at my amazing family and friends who just want to know how life is going.

How many times a day do you hear "Hey, how's it going?" Tons, right? Well my answer is always exactly the same: "Good, you?". And this is my answer whether I'm good or not. Not to say that I'm usually not good, it is just so automatic. Partly I feel the auto-play exists for mental simplicity. But, I think it also exists because if I were to tell the questioners around here the truth they would have no idea who I'm talking about. So, here's the truth:
I'm good... mostly. I enjoy the company of everyone I've met; my department is like a big loving, supportive family. I have done lots of awesome things (football games, basketball games, bike rides, parties, running races, the list goes on), and I'm learning so much. SO much.
Still though, I miss you.
I miss the fireplace that heats my house, the fall garden harvest, and listening to my dad casually strumming the guitar while I play cards with my step-mom. I miss knitting with  my mom as we watch The Voice and smell the delicious meal that my step-dad is cooking for dinner. I miss laughing with Maria and drinking wine with Maree. I miss finding some nerdy way to incorporate Harry Potter into everything that Kenny and I do, and I miss going for walks with Sarah. I miss sushi with Kim and Becky, trivia games with Frank and Susan, fires with Mike, Mike, Sarah, Becky, and the gang, the crazy beautiful smiles of Steve and Lauren, Tyler letting the gay out, talking about books with Michelle, dancing at The Flame with Cindy, listening to music with Kyle, Settlers of Catan with Katie, and bowling with Amy and the AAHS crew.
For better or for worse, the people in my life have always defined "how I am". I know that had I not left everyone behind to move across the country, I would be completely unsettled. But still, not a day goes by that I don't think of you. Even though I'm out here, and you're over there, I love and miss you so much! You still help me through every day, and I can't wait to give you a big hug of thanks when I see you next!

Proud Husky

Back in the day, when I was in fifth grade, my basketball coach told me about a team that played way, way off in the faraway place of Connecticut. This was 1999, and in Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Williams, and Ashja Jones, Coach Auriemma had just recruited four of my biggest girl-hood heros to play for the University of Connecticut. I remained in awe of these women until 2002 when the awe was taken to an entirely different level; the Lady Huskies went undefeated and won the coveted national championship. By this time, it was sealed in my fate that I would attend UConn.
Now, what's funny about this story, is that there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that I ever had the potential to play for Geno Auriemma. But, I made it to my dream school anyway. Turns out I'm not on Geno's court but instead in the lab of Dr. Michael Willig in UConn's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department. And, in Mike's words, "I'm just tickled pink to be here!".
I have just begun the road to PhD-hood, and instead of studying basketball, I plan to study disease and/or parasites in bats. This blog is meant as a place to share my experiences and, more importantly, my research with anyone and everyone, "science-brained" or not. I welcome questions, comments, etc. and hope that by sharing what I do, all of my readers can have a new or amplified appreciation of science. Go Science and Go Huskies!

P.S. This blog is a continuation of a previous blog which can be found at: http://naturesheart.tumblr.com/