In which I learn about termites.

The miracle of education is that, at some point or another, something you learn in one class will pop up in another one. While I feel like my education thus far has been fairly cohesive, it wasn't until this semester that my classes started merging left right and center.

Take today, for example. In my insects class, we discussed termites as a part of our overall study of orders of insects. (Termites are 'isoptera', if you were wondering.) The next class I went to was soil science, where we discussed termites as a part of soil ecology. So for 125 minutes of my day, I learned all about termites. I was amazed at how complex their lives/role in the world really are! Just one of the many underappreciated concepts I've come across during my stint in higher education.

Which gets me to thinking. Because I realized (not today with the termites, but not all that long ago either) that I legitimately love to learn. I drink up all these strange facts and uncommon bits of knowledge like a sponge! And then relay them ruthlessly to whoever will listen, but that's not really the point. My love of learning is probably connected to my love of reading, because science and life and all that jazz is kind of like a never-ending novel (a dream come true!), where there are twists and turns in the plot and its all like one big murder mystery where you really don't know what to expect at the end. And I hope that when I get to vet school I still love to learn and piece things together on my way to the end of the book. The joy of it all - of a career in science, at least - is that the end never really comes, and you're always going to be on your toes.

The Ferret Room

Naming a blog is a lot like hard-boiling eggs or drawing: a lot harder than it seems! Most blogs out there are named after their content, which gives the reader some idea of what they might find browsing through. I created this blog initially because I want to write about my experiences in veterinary school when I start at the end of August. But I realized that over the past few years, I've considered blogging about a lot of aspects of my life: cooking, riding, school, hopes and dreams and aspirations. Being accepted into veterinary school and moving 1,000 miles from home seems like a good time to start!

So, what's in a name? Where I work, we have a colony of ferrets who live in "The Ferret Room". Over the three years of my employment, I've found that the ferret room is where I get a lot of my thinking done. And so maybe this blog can be a place to reflect on my life, "the ferret room" of cyberspace. Let's hope I can keep it up!