Flashback to Mo'orea, journal from 9-19-2007

After the past few intense weeks of preparation (both here in the tropics and back in Berkeley), I'm happy to finally see my project getting underway. For those of you who might be a little out of the loop: I'm doing a semester-long biology research course at a UC Berkeley-run research station on a little island just beside Tahiti. I'm one of 22 students in this group. We're working close with 6 professors and 3 graduate students on our individual research projects. The past few weeks have been a rush - but now I'm finally settling into the island research life.

Photos of my experiences can be found here:
http://flickr.com/photos/tina_joyeuse/sets/72157602055169362/
Unfortunately I can only add a few photos every few days, so I don't overload our limited internet. I'll post more photos when I return to the states.

I've experienced all sorts of adventures here in Moorea, French Polynesia, including:

- A ferry ride from Tahiti to Moorea that offered a breathtaking introduction to the island.
- A cramped ride to the research station in a city bus that was a 1970's rickety yellow school bus.
- Stepping on an urchin, not realizing it, finding out a few days later that the painful black dots on the bottom of my foot were urchin spines, which a kind doctor removed (I'm fine now, really).
- Realizing that "high-speed wireless internet access" at the station means "yes, you can access your e-mail sometimes. Oh, and it will kick you off every three seconds. And remember that map you were going to download from online? Yeah, good luck on that."
- Finding that the plant I planned on studying is in its fruiting stage rather than flowering stage (for the plant crowd, in case you're wondering, Freycinetia impavida has male and female fruits on separate inflorescences, if not separate plants entirely. Pandanus tectorius has separate male and female plants).
- Picking an entirely different plant. Way little: a native sedge named Kyllingia nemoralis. I'll be studying distribution, or where you find it on an island, and how it looks differently in each different habitat.
- Working with two friendly, awesome, quirky classmates to make two dinners that everyone seems to have loved.
- Being called "Mom" by my fellow students.
- Convincing all of my classmates that my mom is the coolest person in the world by simply showing them my supply of bug repellent and ziplock bags.
- Finding a warn out Star Wars novel (Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambly) randomly on the shelf in the dorm. And devouring it in my free time.
- Riding a rickety old cruiser along the perimeter road with my new friend Stephanie, in search of our plants.
- Getting to know my classmates, and learning there's far more to them than I realized.