Goodbye Concordia!

I am now done all work required for the completion of my undergraduate degree. Yes, that is right: Goodbye Concordia! Some of you may be wondering what my plans are now that I will soon have my diploma for a Bachelor of Science in Biology in my exhausted little hands. Some of you already now what my plans are but are unaware of the specifics, while a select few know exactly what I have planned and can’t wait to get rid of me.

I have decided to pursue a Master’s degree at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. The degree will officially start in September, but I will be working as a field assistant in Kananaskis, Alberta starting in May.

I have started this blog to inform those of you whom I most unfortunately have to part from of what’s going on in my life. I have decided to call this blog “An Ode to Bucky” after the title was suggested by Orly, Eliott’s sister, as well as by Eliott’s mom. If anyone has any better suggestions, I am open to hearing them.

So what am I doing now and what comes between now and the moment I leave for Alberta to live in a trailer at the base of the mountains? Well, I’ve found a place to live in London. The post-doctoral student of the lab I am about to join has offered me the two-bedroom basement apartment of the house she owns. I’d have my own separate entrance, and we’d share a washer and dryer, a driveway, and a backyard. I stayed in her house when I went to London to meet the professor, so I know I like her, the house, and the area. I will of course be paying for all this with the money I’ve saved up, my Canada Graduate Scholarship from NSERC, and the money I will make as a field assistant in the summer and as a teacher’s assistant during the school year.

So right now, I’m busy preparing to pack for an entire season in the field and getting ready to move. I will be moving to London the weekend of April 28-29, going in to Western for orientation April 30, and leaving for Alberta May 1. Yes, it is all happening very fast.

If anyone happens to have that weekend free, I will be needing a few people to help me move. This would require waking up really early the Saturday morning, helping to load a truck in the West Island, travelling all the way to London (possibly driving a truck), unloading the truck, and spending the night sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag (sleeping bag not included) before driving home the next day. I am in desperate need of someone with a car. If I get enough people, they’re not all going to fit in the truck, and everyone would need a way home. I can pay for gas, but I doubt I could afford several train tickets from London to Montreal.

Those who come for the whole trip will get breakfast out of it and will have the pleasure of being one of the first to see where I will be spending the next two years of my life and of being one of the last to see me before I leave for the summer.

I will end this here since I believe I have already given you too much to read already. Hopefully, I will manage to find the time amidst packing up my life and everyone’s exam schedules to see as many of you as possible before I leave.