Catching Up

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay of posts. I just got back from Germany on the 28th, and now have easy access to a computer. It was difficult to blog during the program because we were very busy. In addition, the computer I had was very very slow, so it was difficult to posts blogs as it was. Here are a few posts I had written but not posted online.

08.02.2012

Making Plans

Today was a day of lecture and planning. In the morning, we had our lecture on Algae, Biofilm, and Phytoplankton. I had not really heard much about biofilm before, so it was interesting to hear about it. Biofilm is that "slimy stuff" on rocks that you find in lakes and streams. It is essentially a collection of microorganisms that adhere to a surface. Such microorganisms such as bacteria, form a matrix of polymeric compounds that protects the cells and assists physical and chemical communication between microorganisms. (For more info, check out this link about biofilms)

I was a bit sleepy during lecture today from staying up writing the night before, but the lecture was interesting and engaging, and I managed to stay focused. It is difficult adjusting my sleep schedule due to my previous summer sleep schedule. I was used to getting up much later around 9am because of summer vacation, and now I was suddenly waking up every morning at 7am. Luckily, we had access to coffee and/or tea every morning which made the transition easier.

Today after lecture, we met up with our advisers and began to finalize our project. Piet, our graduate student adviser, sat down with my group and I, and discussed project ideas. We decided to look at this new parasite, a gill monogenean, that has been observed in Lake Constance. The overall general plan we came up with with that we would sample 100 young Eurasian Perch (0+) from two sides of the lake, and look for presence, prevalence, abundance, and intensity of this gill monogenean. We also decided that we would look for the larvae of the pike tapeworm, which encysts in the liver of the Eurasian Perch, and also look at their presence, prevalence, abundance, and intensity.


Towards the evening, two of my friends in the group and I went out to town. We took a stroll through the new and old part of town, and took pictures. It was very relaxing, and we just walked around looking at the water and the birds. We walked until the sun set, and stopped by the water to see the moon out overlooking the lake, near where the Rhine river runs, next to a beautiful willow tree. It was a romantic sight, and I was glad to be sharing such a beautiful moment with my friends.

Liz and I on the bridge

The bridge and a boat

Boats lined up

A great view of Constance

Moonlight over the water

On the Water

07.31.2012

Today was a bit stressful for me, mixed with excitement and adrenaline. After class today, we had to pick a research project to work on. We would be working in small groups of 3, and there were 3 projects to choose from. The three projects included working with 1) limiting nutrients in the lake,  2) biofilms, 3) fish behaviour/parasites. I was torn between working with fish parasites or biofilms. Both projects were very interesting, but I ended up picking fish parasites because I have worked with them before, and was more familiar with fish morphology and dissection.

After our groups were assembled, we had a trip on the limnology institutes's research vessel, where we were able to observe the various techniques used in limnological studies. One example is the secchi disk, which is a circular white disk that is lowered into the water until it is no longer visible. It is used to measure water transparency. Another thing we did was use a zooplankton net to catch some daphnia at different depths to observe the different species of daphnia and the amount of daphnia present. We observed many other different techniques, and took sediment samples of lake mud to look at the soil stratification.

The best part of being on this research vessel was not only learning and observing all these clever techniques, but also the boat ride itself. It was a sunny day, and the shadowy outline of the alps were in the distance. The fine mist from the speeding boat was refreshing on a warm day such as today.

The evening was spent wandering the streets of old Constance, browsing around all the local shops. There was a violinist playing on the street, and he was absolutely amazing. Elderly women who passed him did so with smiles on their faces as well, and every note of his music brought another smile. I couldn't believe that I was here, in Constance - surrounded by this beautiful music, cobble stone roads, and buildings so old that each one had its own story.

Constance has a charm that makes you forget about anything stressful - all it takes is a stroll through town or by the lake, and you find yourself lost in thought.

The research vessel - its larger than it looks!

The secchi disk being lowered.

Trapping water from a certain depth.

Just a view of the lake - its a very, very large lake. Visibility of the alps vary by cloudiness and clearness of the sky. Some days you can see the clearly - days like today, you can barely see them

Getting Familiar

07.29.2012

Today was the day to get to know the town of Constance. We had a guided tour around Constance, and it was amazing. I had chills down my spine half of the time. I know it sounds cliche to say that this place is rich with history, as much of Europe is, but this place was like opening several time capsules because of the many buildings from various centuries. I have trouble remembering dates and names, as I am terrible at European history. Nonetheless, it was interesting. It is so eerie to be near, or in, buildings varying from 200 A.D, up through the 18th and 19th century. It is difficult to imagine that such buildings and places were once of such historical importance. To be in a hotel that was once a protestant monastery, or staring up at the buildings where bishops and kings held important meetings, or by the lake side where unfaithful wives were tied into a sac with rocks and drowned. This one particular building we visited was where people who committed crimes were killed, and liars had their tongues nailed to the building. The only way to get off the wall cause to pull their tongue, which would then cause their tongues to rip in half. When it healed, it would become a forked tongue, so that everyone would know that this individual was a liar because they had the 'serpents tounge'. It is strange to see such buildings today as shops and cafes along the street.

The buildings here at Constance are very quaint, old, and pleasant to the eye. Many of the houses have dates on them, indicating when they were first mentioned or known at that particular century, or when they were built. Many buildings also had shields and emblems, or some kind of decoration that indicated what type of building it was. In the old part of town, streets are narrow and not many cars pass through. It is mainly for walking and biking, and cars are only present in noticeable numbers once you reach the edges of the old part of town.

In in the evening, we went to this wonderful restaurant by the lake,with large windows and vines that climbed the walls. It was an enchanting place, with delicious food to accompany the wonderful atmosphere. We all had a glass of white wine, made locally. It was THE best wine I had ever tasted, and it was the first time I had ever drank a full glass of wine. I had German meatballs with potato salad, and others had spaetzle. It was a enjoyable evening, and a great day. I couldn't wait to see what else Constance had to offer.

Our tour guide.

Remember when I was talking about the dates and pictues on the buildings?

Bread makers, or a market, perhaps?

Strolling through the old town.

Better Late than Never

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the delayed postings! I did not have internet for the first five days here. I borrowed a laptop from the University, and unfortuately it is very slow and limited in its usages. However, I managed to upload some pictures, and so I'd like to share a few things with you that I should have shared a while ago. Here are a few thoughts from my first week here.

July 28, 2012

The realization that I was going to Germany did not kick in until the plane started to move. I felt like a child at Disney World, getting excited and antsy with the adventure ahead of me. It dawned on me that in approximately 7 hours, all me, every cell of my body (minus a few skin cells) would be on a completely different continent.

Take-off was an interesting experience...I have not been on an airplane since the age of 12, so I was beyond excited. People were giving me funny looks, as I was giggling and smiling at my classmate Phil, who was much calmer than I was. My mind was blown that I was in the air. It sounds silly - but being thousands of feet in the air, hovering over clouds - it was a moment I truly admired mankind's ambition to travel, explore, and create. And at the same time while admiring how far we as people have come, I also realized how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things; how little we are in this vast, big, beautiful planet.

Taking off from Newark Airport was a rewarding experience. The view was beautiful as we climbed high up into the air. All that could be seen was the sparkly night time glimmer of the east coast. It was noticeable contrast to the landing in Zurich. Unending pastures of pale green grass, large pine-like trees, and a clear blue sky. It was rural, but somehow very modern at the same time, if that makes any sense. The trains in Zurich were very quiet and run smoothly, in comparison to the loud rumbles of the New Jersey Transit and MTA trains that I am used to.

We were escorted to Constance by a student from the University. We met with Cornelia, our advisor for the trip. The minute I saw Constance, I fell in love. Cars are used sparingly, and bikers are seen everywhere. The buildings are quaint and pleasant, and it is obvious to the naked eye that they are old and rich with character. Cornelia took us by the water to this outdoor eating establishment. My first meal in Germany consisted of bratwurst mit curry sauce, a typical dish here, along with potato salad. In addition, I had a Radler, a popular drink here, which is composed of half beer, half lemonade.

After our wonderful introduction to German food, we were brought to Andy's hostel, in which we would be staying in for three days until we moved into the University. After putting down my bags and getting cozy, I don't remember much more, for I found myself absolutely exhausted as I laid down for well needed sleep...I knew that when I woke up, I would have a long day ahead of me.

My first view of Constance

A bench by the shore of the lake

-Emily

Jumping into Ecology.

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole [of] nature in its beauty."
 ~Albert Einstein, 1950

I couldn't agree more with ol' Albey. It's the reason I decided I wanted to be an ecologist - to view the world not just from a human perspective, or even my perspective for the matter. All too often we only think of ourselves - we think of everything we've ever experienced in life, and for most of us, it was quite the privileged upbringing. We were confined to this anthropomorphic point of view, and anything we encounter we tend to compare to ourselves.

We never saw "nature" as nature. We would see birds and animals, and occasional watch the discovery channel. We love pandas, lions, elephants. But we fail to see the world as it truly is - a place of great biodiversity with strange looking, and not-so-strange looking creatures. A world where there is great wonder, teeming with life, and a world with great ferociousness, competition, and death. And our lack of understanding of this world is without excuse - it is all around is. We live among it. All we must do is explore and question. When we fail to do so, it is not without consequence. 

Such consequences were brought to my attention as a senior in high school, while taking AP environmental science. I read a book titled, "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice" by Dr.Mark Plotkin, and this book changed my life. It told the stories of Dr.Mark Plotkin from his humble beginnings as a janitor for Harvard University, to a great ethnobotanist. As an ethnobotanist, he believed the knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the rainforest held knowledge valuable to the field of medicine. And such indigenous people understood their environment. They were untainted by modern ways of life, deep in the forest where they learned from mouth about the different plants and animals that they were surrounded by. The book also discusses the struggle of the people losing their way of life due to interference from modern technology and ideas. 


Such a book opened my eyes to the importance of understanding the world around us - and the impact it has, and can have, in our lives. So I decided that that is what I wanted to study. I applied as an Environmental Science major at Rutgers University, and soon realized that chemistry and math were not my forte. I changed my major to Ecology and Evolution, which is more biologically oriented. And I will never regret it. The classes here at Rutgers are AMAZING - I've had some extraordinary professors and interesting classes that I never would have been able to experience had I not come to Rutgers. Some of such classes include Social Evolution taught by the great Robert Trivers, Parasite Ecology taught by the editor in chief of Journal of Parasitology, the great Michael Sukhdeo, & Human Ecology by the epic-ly bearded George Clark, and many many more. The classes and the names go on and on and on.


And as amazing as my journey so far here at Rutgers has been, I am delighted to take my journey abroad, to be taught by German Professors the field of limnology. I am always willing to expand my knowledge of different ecosystems, and am honored to be able to do so at the University of Konstanz. So - there ends my rant about life and what I like. The next time I post - it will be right before my departure. I can't wait to share my experience with all of you! Thanks for reading! ( I know this one is long!)


-Emily