It all started when . . .

Maybe it's just me, but I like to chronicle events in my life like a chapter in a book, from a starting to point to an ending point of some sort, or at least a continuing point.

I'm having a harder time starting this one than I did with the FSP because that had a definite starting point, the moment in Celia's Marine Biology class while watching the coral reef video when it suddenly occurred to me that I had to go on the FSP and see fish and corals for real. Although, maybe it started before that, before I came to Dartmouth even, when I was looking at schools and my dad said "Hey, Dartmouth's biology department has a study abroad program to Costa Rica and Jamaica!" "But it's in Ecology; I'll be a genetics major." And then the winding, twisting road as I slowly switched to an Environmental and Evolutionary Biology major from Genetics and focused most of my attention in Animal Behavior. And went on FSP (to Costa Rica and Little Cayman) and had one of the best experiences of my life.

So. I guess my new adventure started June 10, 2007, when I officially graduated from Dartmouth with a major in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology and a minor in Anthropology, and no real idea of what to do with the future. I knew:
(a) I wanted to stay in Hanover for the summer;
(b) I wanted a full time job in biology starting in the fall;
(c) I wanted that job to be in the Northeast, preferably Boston/New Hampshire/Vermont;
and (d) I wanted to work with animals, if at all possible.

I worked full time for two Biology professors, lived with some friends, and sent my cover letter and resumé to everyone who sounded interesting. People weren't hiring, didn't have the money, or were waiting to hear about grants (and wouldn't hear until January). I extended my jobs through fall, found a new place to live, and continued to search for employment.

January came around, and no one got grants. Not the one person in Hanover who studies Animal Behavior, a couple of plant geneticists in Hanover (not my ideal, but work), a Marine Biologist at UNH, and not a few other people who were interested in me. I spent a week receiving email after email telling me that there wasn't money to hire a tech, and I got more and more depressed. Then, one day, I got an email with a job offer!

So, to make a long story short (too late), I'm working for the Natural Resources department at UNH starting in April, doing field work in Milford, ME during the spring and summer and lab work in Durham, NH during the fall and winter.

Details about the actual process of officially acquiring the job to come.