So I have to be honest. I’ve been sitting with this blank page staring me in the face for the last hour now. I’ve fiddled with my phone, looked around on my iPad, put some music on... I’m just not exactly sure what new and exciting stuff to report to you today. We’ll just travel through my day together and we’ll see what pops up. Deal?
Today I most certainly did not wake up before my alarm. It’s funny, not sure I’ve actually ever heard that alarm on my phone. Took me a minute to realize it was coming from my room and not outside. After figuring that out, went through the normal routine, however this time discovering I must have had a little mosquito friend in my room last night... You may have to remind me to stop itching here and there. Lexy and I took off to the university around 8. Today’s weather was much more mild than it’s been, the walk was just beautiful with the clouds rolling in. Every time we walk through the city I swear I notice something new. It may be a new little shop, or a beautifully sculpted statue. We even were treated to a little show in the park of an adorable old man warming up by punching a tree. I think he was having a Rocky moment. We visited the bar, then walked over to our office.
Typical morning routine, abuse their super quick internet for picture uploading and such. I uploaded a whole bunch of my Italy pictures to Costco and ordered them so Drew could see me. He gave me the inspiration after we had Skyped yesterday. He received my post card and asked which one I lived in! (The postcard was an assortment of buildings in Viterbo) So I figured he’d like to see where I’ve been in a more tangible form, he gets a bit distracted with things on the computer. 
So, pictures uploaded, internet fully abused, 9:30 rolls around, we go up to the lab. Claire was there! We knew she would be, however she’s been here for a few days and we haven’t seen her yet. Claire is Paula’s research student, she’s just starting out with the project as well. However even Claire’s awesomeness was not enough to keep Lexy and I from our samples. We were able to complete five more core samples. Today I got to use the microscope to pull out the leaf fragments. I decided after the second one that we need to change the labels on the vials from “Leaves” to “Leaf.” So hard to find anything in those! I’ve discussed the process we use for cleaning these samples. We’ve soaked the 5cm of sediment in the sodium metaphosphate and now we are rinsing them through a sieve. Then what’s left in the sieve goes under the microscope to look for those terrestrial plant matter bits. We ran into a small road block today. You see, in Italy water is a bit more scares. I’m not sure why but you can’t drink the tap water. We’ve been using deionized water to clean our samples, and we’ve gone through three jugs. Apparently the university doesn’t make that water, they order it. Tomorrow we won’t be cleaning samples until we find out how we are going to get more water or if it’s alright to just use tap water. If the lady at the carbon dating lab says tap water is ok, we’ll be back to sieving in no time.
I feel very fortunate to be working with Scott. I’ve never worked on any other real research project, but Lexy has pointed out time and time again about how nice he is. If there is a little bump in the road, Scott just looks at it and rolls with the punches. I’m probably just being spoiled, it seems like his approach is the right way to go. I couldn’t imagine working with someone who was micromanaging everything. They’d go crazy, but I’d probably beat them there! It’s also been interesting talking to Scott about what we do, teaching in the schools. He teaches freshman level classes and he was explaining some issues he’s noticed with them, the lack of being able to use a text book, the inability to study, and worse off, their writing. I work in our school system every day, so it all just seems common sense to me, so it always astounds me how little people outside know about what happens. Every teacher has their horror stories about what happens in their classrooms, the fights, the joint rollings, the cell phone problems, the kids that refuse to do what you ask. These are just normal things to many of us. As teachers, teaching is actually such a small percentage of our job. It was interesting to see Scott’s reaction to what we deal with in the classroom, and it was also enlightening to hear what he saw in his students. If I can find ways to help my students access their text, or maybe find ways to help them understand how to listen to a lecture or study, that’s going to help them in the long run. They are certainly not all college bound, but some are. And let’s face it, those critical thinking skills needed to figure this stuff out are beneficial to them all.
Anyways, after our small sieving session, Lexy and I split for a while. I went to the Ipercoop (supermarcato) cause I like having breakfast made of something other than those delicious cornettos filled with delicious sugary crema filling... (Ok, total lie, I’d eat those everyday, but then I’m on a sugar high and still hungry.) Also got a can of Pringles, sour cream and something... Some evil person got me hooked on those... After that, wandered home, again enjoying the beautiful not-hot day. Lexy had been in contact with one of the USAC students, and got us an invite to go to a bar and partake in their favorite bar’s aperitivo. This is a pretty cool thing that the Italians do. Basically free food! You go to a bar, order a drink. Any drink. A caffe, water, an alcoholic drink. Then you can eat the food they put out for free! This particular bar had a wide assortment of pasta and vegetable dishes; the USAC students said it was the best in Viterbo. Nothing like free food for the price of just a glass of wine!
We all hung out for about two hours, then a few of us decided to get some gelato. Tonight’s flavors were Nutella and Ricotta Cannella. Wonderful as always. With our gelato in hand we wondered up to the Piazza San Lorenzo. This is where the Palazzo dei Papi is. I need to get more info on it for you, and some pictures. All I know is this is where the word “covenant” came from, and where the current method of picking out a pope started. I believe they had hidden the pope here once, but I’m sketch on the details. Again, I’ll get back to you. This is about one block from my apartment, so I feel silly for never going! Such a beautiful place. I’ll certainly get some pictures up here soon.
After the small tour we came home, and now here I sit. Tomorrow we are working with Paula in the lab, it will be nice to see yet another aspect of this project. That also means I’ll have new info for you then!!
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