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.