That Georgia Biologist

It's really hard for me to believe that it's been one year now since my big exciting trip out to California, to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. As I started this blog shortly after the trip, I'd like to take the opportunity to, over the next week, write blog posts of my CA trip adventures, one year to the day later! *** My alarm woke me up at 4am. I had spent a wonderful ten days with my family on my first visit home since starting grad school, and honestly, the time flew by a lot faster than I had anticipated. Prior to my time in Tennessee, I thought that the only big exciting happy thing for me would be going to California, but I guess absence makes the heart fonder...it was so fun to spend time with my family in my old stomping grounds, for Christmas no less! Alas, a great time but it was time to go. I was SO EXCITED to see my relatives in California but also sad to leave my family in Tennessee! I remembered the day prior, my uncle and I had texted back...

So yesterday I returned to Michigan from a week vacation in Florida to visit my grandparents, and tomorrow I'll begin posting articles about the fun times I had down there. But what my articles leave out is a full 25% of my 8 day trip - flying! My life usually consists of seeing a small group of people on a daily or weekly basis. Flying from Indiana (South Bend) to Atlanta, spending a few hours in that mammoth on layover, and then flying down to Melbourne (think east central Florida, right by Kennedy Space Center !) exposed me to a much larger cross section of society (and ditto on the way back!). As someone who is fascinated by people and their behavior, these were some really cool opportunities for me. While South Bend and Melbourne had a few people around, they are pretty small airports with not a whole lot going on. Atlanta, on the other hand, is the busiest airport in the world. 'Nuff said. I have a love/hate relationship with the Atlanta airport. I've grown up i...