End Of June

So. I am sorry that it has been so long since I have written. Finding time to write is not difficult, but focusing long enough to do so, is. Currently I am sitting in one of the lounges where I work. Specifically, the D&M lounge, watching the first X-Men movie with my friends Oscar and James. Oscar is one of the summer help, who go around picking up trash on the tundra, painting, and doing general maintenance type of things. James is an MWD Engineer who is a little more bored than Alan and I, and who generally hangs out with all day. We all watch movies or TV together in the evenings. At first it is a “I am bored thing.” Then it becomes a “you’re my coworker, I also see you about 20 times a day, and I am just used to being around you” thing. Once again, I marvel about how meeting all these random people is really an interesting thing. They are maybe not who I would first hang out with in college, but since we have been up here I have found a ton of cool, original human beings who are just generally nice. But I am getting ahead of myself. I haven’t told you about my time off!
To be succinct, it was awesome. I got to sleep in, relax, have fun with the other interns, and enjoy being not quite a resident, yet not quite a tourist, in a strange city. I did a lot of walking around Anchorage, and went to see 2 movies (Get Smart and The Happening) with my fellow interns Amanda, Kirsten, and Robin. The guys went camping together for 3 or 4 days, so they were not involved in the fun action. On Saturday (the summer solstice), Amanda, Kirsten, and I drove down to Seward and went camping overnight. Summer solstice is a huge thing up here, because it is the longest day of the year (more of a big deal in the lower part than in Prudhoe Bay, as it has 24 hours of daylight anyway), and so a ton of people were also camping. Amanda’s engineering mentor was also in Seward with her 3 good friends, so they all came to our campsite and hung out with us for awhile. On Tuesday we went to Wittier (again) and kayaked for 6 hours in Prince William Sound. I found out that bald eagles are everywhere in Alaska (we saw 5!), sea kayaking is awesome, I really need to build up my upper body muscles, and a Sound is actually a really big bay with a ton of coves within it. Prince William Sound has over 4000 miles of coastline in it alone!! Oh, we also drove within 8 feet of a baby black bear….without a mama for some reason. It was absolutely adorable, but I restrained the urge to jump out of the moving vehicle and hug it. I would have to say, though, that my favorite thing about my week off was being outside, around trees, and able to run!!!! The average temperature in Anchorage right now is between 55 and 65 degrees in the afternoon. Absolutely perfect, for a lovely jog among the semi-vicious mosquitoes. Finally, I got to meet my FSM, Franklin Medina. He is a really energetic sweet guy from South America with a wife, little girl, and twins about to come any minute. We touched base about everything I was confused about, and he explained what I was really going to do with my engineering project this summer.
Since I flew back on Thursday, I have mainly been trying to work on my project and keep from getting bored. It is difficult to motivate myself to run, as we have 4 elliptical machines and only one treadmill at my specific camp. Some camps are nicer than others, and the one in Endicott (which you can look up on the internet) has a 1/16 mile track, basketball/volleyball court, and a plethora of weight equipment. Ours just has the basics, but for me, no matter how bored I get, the basics will be enough. To motivate myself to run, I have created a schedule and have decided to stick to it, no matter where I am at. I ran 3 miles miles today. 1 at 8:27, 1.5 at 8:19, and the last ½ at 8:00. Pretty fun, very tiring.
Finally, before I go, and I promise my next messages won’t be this long, the animals and flowers are showing up here. All over the tundra we are getting tiny yellow, lavender, and white flowers. Also, the caribou, red foxes, and musk ox are wandering Prudhoe Bay. There is a really large one that hangs our right next to our building that they call the Roadboo, as it wanders around near and in the road all the time. They have nothing to fear from us, because we can’t even honk a car horn at them, so they get pretty close sometimes. The bear should be here soon, because they come up for calving season. Yum, lunch.
I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. I love and miss you guys.