Aaaannnnndddd we're off!! 

The start of stress and hard work has come! I was not ready for that!! I actually had to be up at a decent hour this morning. I didn't have to be anywhere until 9:00 but that means waking up at 7:30 for me. Not easy.

I don't know how many of you have heard of a little thing called the GRE, but it is evil. For real. And one of the requirements for me this summer (something I signed on to when I was accepted into the program out here) is to take classes to prepare for the GRE aka the Graduate Record Exam. Yea it's this test I have to take in order to get into grad school, like the SAT's or the ACT's for college.

Now I would just like to say that I am so thankful for this program and all of the opportunities that I otherwise would not even know of let alone be able to participate in, for real, I am so grateful! But these classes are gonna suck. Haha. They are just stressful. Three hours going over basically just how to take a test. We review actual math and words a little bit but for the most part this class is techniques on how to take each part of the exam. I already took the GRE but I am going to be taking it again after I take this course and I am freaking out. Those three hours aren't spent doing nothing, there is sssooooo much to know about this test!

After that lovely class my day was just starting. We all had a little break for lunch with Mario and Walter, after which they showed us to the building where their offices are, pretty much just so that we knew where we could go to print things off for free. You see a big part of all of our research is reading articles, most of which are found online. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to read articles online, but after the fourth or fifth your eyes kind of start to freak out! So we needed to find a couple of places to print these things off!!

We only had one more scheduled event for today, which any college student knows means an hour long talk on how to use the research guides online to find articles and a 15 minute tour of the actual library. I feel like a real student now, I have my very only UCSB library card and can check out books anytime I want. Yippers :) 

A bunch of us also forgot a lot of supplies that are necessary when it comes to research and so off to the bookstore we went!

First trip of many

The fun doesn't stop there kids! I actually got to start some research today! Honestly, I love it. Spending hours in a library and finding your own little nook to stash books and relax while you read. It makes me all smiley inside. I even found a few books and a whole bunch of articles.

I love library books. The order. The smell. The crisp paper. Its magical.

Look! I'm even taking notes already!

I kind of got carried away with the articles. Have you ever gotten sucked into a Wikipedia wormhole? Where you go to look up one thing and then keep clicking links that are connected to that topic until you have spent an ungodly amount of time reading. Maybe that's just me. Anyway. That's what happened to me today and it didn't end until Evelyn text me reminding me that I need to find time to eat.

The rest of the night has been a little more chill. I did do a little more reading and plan on reading just a bit more before I sleep. I'm meeting with my Graduate Mentor Kristy again tomorrow so I'm excited but a little nervous at the same time. I just can't wait to get the real research going so I can start using my highlighters and sticky notes. Gosh I am such a nerd.

Phantom Planet--California


(This song is dedicated to Jenna and Hannah both of whom I learned just this last semester love a show to which this is the theme song to.)