So it begins...

So. Let me explain this awkward pose...just before walking out the door, mom took a snapshot of me carrying all my luggage for the next 2 1/2 months. We laughed cause I look like the most ridiculous tourist ever! haha. (the camera isn't mine, we switched it so she could take the picture with mine). I felt really awkward, but it was really funny.
I'm officially a Californian for the next ten weeks. Last Wednesday I drove from Montana to Idaho Falls to stay with my sister Linsy, her husband Jamie, and their three week old little girl, Ivy. We spent the entire evening laughing and taking funny pictures with the new camera I got (the camera is a Canon Rebel T2i, one of Canons new SLR models). I've always wondered how people could take those pictures at night in the city when there is a person or a couple in focus and everything behind them is streaked (car lights, etc.). I found out that my camera can do it! So we got out flashlights and started writing our names and drawing funny pictures in the dark. I love my new camera. 
The next morning, after our little photo shoot, I said goodbye to my sister, and drove with her husband Jamie into Rexburg to meet up with two of my biology professors, and three other students who were all coming down to California with me. After a thirteen hour drive, and a lot of talk of biology haha, we finally arrived in Davis California.  Davis is a city the size of Idaho Falls that sits about 20 min outside of Sacramento in Northern Cali.
The apartment we are moving into still has four interns living inside it. So, I spent the first three nights sleeping on our tiny living room floor amongst all our luggage. I had a hard time sleeping since the temperature here is much warmer than Montana or Idaho. The first full day we spent walking around the Davis Campus to get familiar. First of all, the campus is enormous! Second, there are a lot of granola people here...everyone wants to save the trees. I'll be an interesting fit being a conservative Mormon from Rexburg mormonville, where everyone drives a giant disel truck and hunts. This is certainly not the style in Davis and Sacramento (Davis more).
The second day we got to actually see the labs we will all be working in. One intern (Greg) will be working with mitochondria and bacteria in a molecular biology lab. The second intern (Kyle) will be working with the brain stems of humans, and stem cell research.  Kyles lab works in conjunction with Shriners hospital, which is very cool. The third intern is Chavis, and then there is me. Chavis and I will be working in the same lab. We are also connected to Shriners hospital to some degree, while still under the title of a UC Davis laboratory. Part of our project is to participate in animal operations (rats, mice, and ferrets) to extract parts of their live brain and track cell divisions. This includes lazer imaging, cultures, time laps films, etc. After seeing some of the equipment that we will be using, its good they don't expect me to know it all off the bat. I've never worked with most of it, and most of the technique is new to me. Hopefully I can live up to the expectation. 
Today is day three. I'm the only one up, and our Church doesn't start until about 1:00 pm. So...everyone is still asleep from the long stressful day yesterday. We will all be starting our research on Tuesday.

This is Linsy and hers and Jamie's new baby girl, Ivy. She's way cute.

The Sullenger Family.

I like this one.