All packed up and ready to go home!

Proving that I can in fact fit inside my laundry bag.

How do I express my love: Bring laundry to the mommy!

Presenting.

As you can see, things have been very busy the past couple of days. Presentations went really well. I rushed through the first one because I was a little nervous, but the second one went really well aside from a minor spitting accident. Things have been a little less tense since we finished presentations and final exams. Last night there was an attempted BBQ that ended in a few of us stranded under a pavilion in a lightning storm. We all made it back to the building safely with the help of professor Echols. The BBQ resumed after midnight and I heard the food was great. Finals were a little tough, but they're over now. I feel like the hydrologic cycle will forever be burned into my memory. I've got a few more meetings tonight and tomorrow and then I'm on the road! I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. I also can't wait to do a little relaxing before school starts. I'm really glad I decided to come participate in this internship, I've met so many great people and done so many awesome things. I'm definitely going to recommend this program to the other environmental science students at my school, there's so much to gain from this. I hope everyone else enjoyed themselves as much as I did and has a safe trip home. Mommy, get ready for some laundry! See you soon!

The SRS Ecology Lab

This morning we headed over to the Savannah River Site for the last time. We visited the University of Georgia's onsite ecology lab. We got to see and hold, bull frogs, turtles, snakes, a gopher tortoise, baby alligators, and a legless lizard (yes, he's supposed to be legless). We also got up close and personal with a snapping turtle, a bigger baby alligator and some venomous snakes. We later went outside to the turtle and alligator ponds. The yellow bellied sliders were being quarantined because they had been exposed to industrial pollutants. And then there was the big gator. Their biggest male gator is 13 feet long and weighs over 600 pounds. They feed him whole opossums...pretty gross to watch. It was a really fun way to wrap up our time at SRS. I think we should've spent more time at the ecology lab over the course of the internship.

Beware: Steaming piles of poop ahead!

First and foremost, please check out my video diary that summarizes my time spent at the Savannah River Site. I hope you all can enjoy my video half as much as I have enjoyed this internship. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8xBBRwjAwQ

On another note, today we visited the Riverbanks Zoo, and IT. WAS. AWESOME! We weren't really there for the animals...more for the feces, and we saw a lot of feces. Brittany and I are considering suggesting a name change for the program, something that focuses more on the amount of waste matter we've seen. All jokes aside, the compoost zoo is actually very well managed and saving the park a lot of money. More importantly, perfectly good poop is no longer going to waste. We also got to go in the elephant barn so we could "see where it comes from," as if we didn't already know. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love elephants, and I got to stand 10 feet from one! It was the highlight of the day. Back to the poop: the ideal temperature for compoosting is between 120 and 160 degrees. Our guide was proud to inform us that his compoost was a steaming 140. Just to be sure, we all dug in, and it was hot!

For those of you that aren't as excited about the temperature of fecal matter, I've also included a picture of a baby flamingo. I don't think he had mastered the art of standing just yet, but he was a talker. Can't wait to come home at the end of the week!

Exams, DHEC, and Congaree!

Like my goggles? I did!

As you can probably tell by my pictures, I much prefer canoeing in the great outdoors than working in a chemistry lab. This week has been busy, hence the Sunday blog posting. On top of a couple exams in the past few days, I've visited the Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Congaree National Park. DHEC was a learning experience for me, I got to see how South Carolina manages air pollution. It was a pretty interesting process, and we learned how to collect specific types (and sizes) of particulate matter from the air.

And then there was Congaree! I don't know if I posted it or not, but the other day the heat index was 118 here. Yesterday it was only 109...but still very hot. Once we arrived, my half of the group took a guided canoe tour up the canal that leads to the actual Congaree river. We never made it to the river, but we did see a lot of wildlife. In the picture, you'll see my partner Kwame and me, we were pretty good considering it was Kwame's first time in a canoe. After all the sweating, we headed back to the visitor's center for lunch and a break. Later, we headed out for a 2.5 mile hike (which took several hours). This was my first visit to an old growth forest, and I was excited. The trees were HUGE! We saw Loblolly Pines that were 140 ft tall and cypress knees as tall as me! After more sweating, we met back up with the other half of our group and drove home. All in all I'm really glad we made the trip out there.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Incinerate, Landfill

Today we visited the 3 Rivers Solid Waste Authority. This landfill is a class 3 lined facility that serves 9 counties. There's a lot of trash to be buried, and it seems like they have a pretty good system. They even sell their methane gas to Kimberly Clark for fuel! One of the best improvements to the facility will be opening sometime around December, 3 Rivers is opening a new recycling building where household garbage will be hand sorted for recyclables. Obviously, it's cheaper and easier for everyone to use the recycling service in their neighborhood, but only 6% of all recycling is post consumer. Now, when people throw away a plastic bottle for convenience, someone will be at 3 Rivers to pull it out and put it in its rightful place. Good job, 3 Rivers. Although our tour guide seemed less than thrilled to see us and answer our questions, I think it's great to see people making an effort to do the right thing.

My First Nuclear Power Plant!

As previously stated, today I traveled to Vogtle Electric Energy Plant. We learned about the entire process of producing nuclear energy. Just one tiny pellet of uranium can provide as much energy as 149 gallons of oil, one ton of coal, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Nuclear power (despite how scary it may seem) is actually a smart option for energy production. The US currently has about 104 nuclear reactors, Vogtle runs 2 of those. They are in the process of building 2 new reactors which would make them the first plant to have 4 functioning reactors. I think one of the highlights of our visit was getting to go to the cooling towers. Not only are they amazingly large, but they also provide a nice mist on a hot afternoon. We took a pretty in-depth tour of the plant, and then went down to the Savannah River to do some water sampling. All in all, it was a long day full of steamy excitement.

Welcome to My World

Yesterday we had our first exam for Environmental Science. It went really well...except for the part where I didn't remember to study how the Wastewater Treatment Plant works. Having Dr. CK for both of my classes can get a little confusing, and all of the days seem to be running together. Needless to say, I mixed up my field trips and classes. Nonetheless, I think I'm still going to pass. I've been spending a lot of my time writing my papers. I challenged myself to write everything correctly the first time, and have all of my sources lined up and cited correctly the first time. This makes it feel like I just spent 3 days writing the introduction, but in reality, the paper is almost complete.

Today we were lectured by Dr. Weirda. Dr. Weirda worked with Bald Eagles in Michigan, measuring their accumulation of DDT and PCBs. It seemed like really interesting work, and definitely the type of work that gets you outside...and in trees. Basically, toxins like Mercury, DDT and PCBs build up in top predators due to bioaccumulation. Eaglets are a great subject for this kind of study because not only are they being fed by their parents (which are the top predator), but the adult eagles are only eating fish and only from a certain area. The idea is, you test the babies that are eating the same stuff as the adults, which are accumulating the same amount of the toxins as the humans that eat the fish. As previously stated, his worked seemed great, and little eaglets are pretty cute in their own special way.

Chris went solo, and I saw my first game of polo!

The title may be slightly confusing, but hey, it rhymes! Our TA, Mr. Glover had to take our class out to Aiken State Natural Area for our field trip yesterday. We walked the nature trails and saw some wildlife (including a very friendly duck), but due to the volume of our group, I'm surprised the duck even stuck around. On our way out to the park, we were talking about the equine history of Aiken, South Carolina. Apparently, racehorses from the northern states are boarded here in the cold months. Right as Mr. Glover finished his story, we passed a huge polo area with piles of horses. Being a horse lover, I immediately screamed "POLO!" Since no one in the van had ever seen a game, Chris pulled over and let us watch for a few minutes. After we finished up at the park, we drove out to a gopher tortoise reserve and several parts of the Edisto river. We were welcomed back with a pop quiz.

Today was a free day since we had such a long day on Tuesday. So far I've had a very productive day. I ran some errands in the morning, decided on my final sources for my Wetlands research paper, wrote part of the paper, and went to the gym. After I study for tomorrow's exam in Environmental, I plan to complete the introduction of my paper. I like the pace of things up here, I function best when I have time constraints.

Go Rays!

Usually exam days aren't the best days for students, but today was a pretty great day. Despite still being tired from whitewater rafting on Sunday, I felt pretty good going into the exam. Once Dr. CK handed out the exam, I felt even better. I'm especially excited about the take-home portion of the exam! After a recess for lunch, we headed out to the Savannah River Site for a tour. Since we haven't had an official tour of the site or anyone official to question about the site, I was intrigued. First things first, inspection. Then, hop in the SRS bus for a tour of the limited access areas. Of course we didn't get to go into any of the buildings or walk around the reactors, but then again, who would want to? It was neat to actually get close to the buildings we'd only seen from a distance. We also learned that the walls of the buildings are 5 feet thick and there's typically another three stories of building underground. Many of the areas are being closed down, but new buildings are still being built and designed. Many of the new areas are being designed to store plutonium until a final resting place is determined for the radioactive waste of the entire U.S. I found the whole tour pretty interesting, and our tour guide seemed to really know her stuff. That being said, you can't believe everything you hear!

Ps. GO AL EAST!!! That's me watching the All-Star game!

What's that smell?! RAW SEWAGE!

That's right, today everyone got to visit the Richmond Wastewater Treatment Plant. Did it smell? Yes. Was there poop everywhere? Yes. Did I learn something? Yes! Luckily this was a very well-run plant where every little piece of waste has its place. I originally didn't know what I was going to get out of this field trip, but I found the logistics of the whole operation quite intriguing. These people had their (place funny word here) together, if you catch my drift. I will sleep well knowing that my waste is being managed responsibly by the people at the Richmond plant. Here's how it works in a nutshell: Water is pumped in, and goes through a bar screen where larger waste is removed and taken to a landfill (they still haven't found the perfect place for it). Then, the grit tanks collect your dirt and sand particles. The waste then goes through settling tanks where oils are pushed to one end on the top, and sludge is pushed to the other end on the bottom. They use an activated sludge process and aeration tanks to keep the "bugs" happy as they munch on Aiken's poo. At the disinfecting stage, salt is added to gently disinfect the water without using harmful chemicals that can injure employees. After all is said and done, the water is moved out to the wetlands where it goes through tertiary treatment. What an amazing way to clean water! The picture at the top shows the sludge being thickened before it is taken out to be spread on land...hopefully land that I will never set foot on. This plant actually is working on a biological process for odor control...and it smelled glorious! I'm just kidding. As previously stated, the logistics involved were mind-blowing. This plant can handle over 60 million gallons of waste a day! Overall the whole process worked like a charm, but I would really hate to be there if the (again, use your imagination) ever hit the fan.

Lazy Days in SC...NOT!

We've really picked up the pace in these parts over the past few days...Now that I have an idea of the work load, I feel a lot more prepared for the rest of my time here. For my Intro to Environmental class I have two partners, Dorneisha and Alesha. Together we will be writing a research paper, creating a scientific poster, a powerpoint presentation, and presenting it all on the last day. While that may seem like a lot, consider this: I'll be doing the same amount of work with only one partner, Michael, for my Wetlands class. I'm really excited about narrowing down my topics and hitting the books. Luckily it seems like everyone here has made posters and done presentations before, and I feel like we're all on the same page. Unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures to share so I'm going to share an old one. I hope you guys enjoy, I'll try to make up for my lack of pictures in the future!

Happy Holidays!

I think of the 4th as a pretty big family holiday, so I wasn't too keen on being away from home. Luckily, our wonderful professors came through and made it one of the most memorable celebrations I've had in a long time. We started setting up the pavilion behind the dorms around 3pm, and played a wild game of volleyball at 4pm. Once the flames on the grill had died down to a reasonable level, Dr. CK took over the grilling! After eating and chatting for awhile, we changed and headed down to the pool area for some more beach volleyball. These games were a little more intense thanks to our coach, Brandon! Finally, we headed to the pool to get cooled off. Swimming lessons, jokes, and races ensued! It gets dark around 9pm here, so we had a lot of time to kill...We finally drove out to a "safe area" with Dr. CK and Dr. Weirda to set off the fireworks. Thanks to them we had a pretty great show...I'm sure they're a little sore today from all of the running. We had some great fireworks until the mortar-holder-thing finally gave out and shot one completely horizontal. At that point we noticed the HIGH PRESSURE GAS LINE sign and decided to find a new place to set off our Roman Candles. We had a great time, and I can't think of a better way to spend the 4th without my family. Thanks again to our enthusiastic professors for throwing it all together for us!

Today we hit the ground running (or sitting) with class. I've got two great partners to work with for the Intro to Environmental class, and I feel like we'll make a great team.

My first time in waders!

I get the feeling a lot of my days are going to begin bright and early around here...so I'll do my best not to start every blog the same way. Today's class was Introduction to Environmental Science with Dr. Carvalho-Knighton. This will serve as my Monday/Wednesday/Friday course. We spent a lot of time outdoors, which I wasn't dressed for. Luckily, when it came time to go in the muddy stream, we had waders! Apparently I fit perfectly in a men's size 7...you can be the judge of that one. I was really surprised by how well the waders actually worked, I came out perfectly clean and dry!

While we were in the water, we used nets to scoop under the vegetation along the sides of the stream. I was originally supposed to take the temperature of the water and collect a water sample, but I ended up using the net a few times too. I missed the initial instructions about not scooping up sediment, but I collected some pretty neat things! My misfortune yielded clams, a crayfish, a random fish, a baby catfish, and a tiny little shrimp. I was pretty pleased with the results!

I've found that I really like learning about plants when I visit new places, and there were tons of new and interesting plants to see today. We saw lots of cattails, cut grass (which is a wild rice), and duckweed. It's pretty amazing to learn about man-made wetlands, and how they can act as tertiary water treatment facilities. I don't want to overwhelm you all with pictures, but there're a lot more where these came from.

Look, Mom, I'm alive! Actually, I'm SUPER!

First Day of Class!

So today was the first official day of class. My Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday class is Wetlands and Aquatic Ecology with Dr. Carvalho-Knighton of the University of South Florida (pretty great school if I do say so myself). We got off to an early start around 8:30am and headed straight to the Savannah River Site. We stopped into the spiffy "modular classroom" for a while to go over the syllabus, and then headed out into the wilderness in search of wetlands. No sooner had we found the wetlands than the deer-flies found us. No joke, they were swarming the vehicle and giving us threatening looks. They also seemed to know where all the exits were located. Needless to say, we never left the vehicle or opened the windows. We did scope out some good looking areas and we got a pretty good idea of the type of clothing/armor we're going to want to wear in the field. Overall, I would say I'm ready...ready to go shopping for outdoor gear.

Wondering what that thing is at the top of the screen? Yeah, me too! This came with my ecology book. Pretty funny, right?