Megan's Alaska Adventures

     So far so good. I was able to get a negative COVID test result, so I got to attend my Chemistry class. It took a second to work through the format of all my online classes but this week was only introduction assignments. All except Chemistry of course, we started right off with the first chapter of information and a nice easy 176 question homework assignment. I caught up with all my work over the weekend so hopefully this week won't be so bad.      There are still a few things I need get more used to around campus. I have to figure out the bus system so I can get to some of my classes. I also want to go to the gym at some point but needless to say, running long distances on a treadmill doesn't exactly motivate me since they don't have a track.      All in all there is not much to talk about. I have a few plans for next week, but I'll save it for the next blog!

     So here I am! I'm in freaking Alaska! By myself! The campus is nice, I was able to do some mild exploring while we were here in Anchorage. Unfortunately, all of my classes are at least a 10 minute walk away but I gotta get my steps somehow, right? An already interesting thing I discovered is the amount of times bears and moose are spotted on campus. I spoke to a police officer who said they recieve about 3-4 calls a day regarding wildlife, so maybe I'll be posting some pictures of moose walking across campus sometime (once I figure out how to post pictures on here).     Moving in was relatively easy, since I didn't bring a lot of stuff with me, unfortunately the day itself did not go as planned. I was supposed to wake up and run a half-marathon with my mom, as part of the Achorage RunFest. We had been training all summer and it would have been my first half-marathon (her 16th). Just my luck though, I came down with a cold the previous day and could not run it. Then whe

      The first thing I did when we were descending on the airplane and I saw Alaska is I turned to my mom and said, "I can't believe I did this." So far I've had a day of traveling by plane to Anchorage, and then a day of traveling by train to Denali and every once and a while it will sink in that I'll be staying here for 4 months. I'm looking forward to a cool trip with my family in Denali, Kenai, and Anchorage and it's given me some ideas about my goals for the semester.     Academically, my goals are always the same: maintain good grades in my classes and maybe even learn a thing or two. However, I think it is going to be my time outside of the classroom that will make this semester a really cool experience. I hope to take advantage of where I am and explore Alaska throughout the semester. I've already talked through some ideas with my dad about certain trips I can take. The only thing that makes me nervous is my motivation to actually plan these t

       So my flight is tomorrow! Currently I'm frantically finishing my packing and making sure everything is ready for tomorrow. Luckily, I have parents that are as excited as I am about Alaska, so we've got a 10 day trip before the semester starts where I can adjust a little to the environment before I move in. I've met up with a few of my friends before I leave since I won't get to see any of them until December. I was very excited to share all my plans with them and I feel like I have the story down to a science.       I wanted to study abroad for a whole year, but as a Biology major, it would've been difficult to get enough credits, so when my brother mentioned National Student Exchange I was quick to research if it was a good option for me. Obviously it worked out! I chose Alaska because first, I wanted something as different as possible from where I currently live, just for the fun of it. I also love that there are a lot of National Parks in the state, since