Week in Review: Start of School, & Botanical Gardens Edition 2

Well hey there everyone! I'd just like to add a disclaimer, if you will, to this blog...I'm pretty sure the majority of the content on here will be turning into "this week at the botanical gardens", and less of what I'm actually up to. But so be it! :D

This week was good. I went through almost eight hours of orientation by the UGA Graduate School, and now I feel properly oriented ;) I'm very impressed with the culture of respect, integrity, and academic excellence - stuff I can definitely get behind. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly and I feel super grateful and excited to be here. I even have my own desk!! :D Had my first three days of class, and I'm happy to report that they went well. I'm taking two honestly pretty fascinating classes - one on how to clearly communicate your science to laypeople, and the other on generally how to be a good graduate student. Both are going to be a really good investment of my time, I can tell already! I'm also, for the next couple weeks, doing a rotation in professor's lab where the research project I'm doing involves walking around the forest in the botanical gardens...so yes, I'm getting paid to take a walk in the woods!!! ;)

This evening I needed some entertainment, so I headed over to the botanical gardens with my camera in hand. What follows are some of the better pictures I was able to capture. I targeted the wildflower meadow and meditation gardens, and finished with a quick walk through the shade garden. Today was the fifth time I had visited the gardens in the past two weeks...I'm not complaining! Anyways, enjoy the photos!

The convention center where the orientation was held was very fancy!

First day of classes!! (gotta be one of my top favorite days of the year, might even beat out Christmas. I mean, it's so exciting! It's the land of new beginnings. We're going to learn and there's going to be PEOPLE and it's going to be FUN!!!!!!!!!!!) (okay so maybe I'm a little over the top...but hey, I do think I picked the right career to pursue ;) ).

Common box turtle at the botanical gardens. Following below are the photos from tonight...

I really like all the symmetry in these two plants.

Nope! Can't get away from squirrels ;) I am the Squirrel Whisperer...and evidently the Spider and Deer Whisperer, too, because I've had close encounters with both of those creatures at the gardens earlier in the week!

Simple. Elegant. Beautiful.

I really like the leading lines here...

Such pretty lantana!

I really like this shot above!

I don't know what these blue and purple flowers are, but I absolutely love them! Tonight I went as a photographer to appreciate the beauty...sometime soon I want to go as a botanist, and figure out what all the plants I take photos of are!