Exams Are Fun

Exams are awesome. Exams are bubbly. Exams are colorful. Exams are delightful. Exams are exhilarating. Exams are fun. Exams are great. Exam are hilarious. Exam are invigorating. Exams are jubilant. Exams are kind. Exams are lovable. Exams are magnificent. Exams are nonjudgmental. Exams are optimistic. Exams are precious. Exams are queenly. Exams are refreshing. Exams are spectacular. Exams are treasures. Exams are ultimate. Exams are victorious. Exams are wonderful. Exams are xyloid. Exams are yttric. Exams are zany. I LOVE EXAMS!

This is how I feel every time.

Kidding...I really don't. Especially physics - how on earth does that relates to plants and their diseases. This is what I usually ponder on during class when I get bored listening about torque equilibrium and why the box spins when 500 N of force is applied to the top left corner. Cool. Unless there is a plant in that box, I really can't say I'm too interested in the topic. Anyways, I have a physics exam on Thursday and I'm not too excited about it.

I understand all of this. Yup.

Ever wonder why certain majors require certain classes? I'm going to be a well-rounded individual who knows chemistry, biology, physics, gained skills in quantitative reasoning, problem solving, and putting up with bullcrap classes. And the social science, humanities, ethnic studies, and the like classes - super cool to learn about. I took a class about the Yucatec Mayans - SWEET! But when on Earth will I ever apply the knowledge I gained. At least I can say "Ki'imak in wool in wilikech" and know all 54 countries in Africa.

Rocca Albornoz, Spoleto, Italy

Oh well, I don't understand why I'm required to take these classes but oh well...that's a liberal arts college education for you! At least they were all easy A's to boost that GPA :)  Super cool fact: My first semester at Madison my GPA was a 2.75 (don't take 400 and 300 level classes as a freshman - take those as juniors and seniors). I have raised my GPA to 3.13 as of last semester (my fourth). That's a huge increase - most people's gpa's actually go down so I'm happy with that. My GPA within my major courses is a 3.5 and is looking to be at about 3.75 after the semester. Some grad school has to dig that!!

I should probably go study for the physics exam now...BYE!!

All Hallow's Eve

Guess what I'm going to be for All Hallow's Eve!! I'm either going to be Juno (and Brendan will be Pauly Bleaker) or Mother Nature. It all depends if I can find an outfit to be Juno or not. Don't worry - I'll look pregnant by shoving a pillow under my shirt. Or if I'm Mother Nature/Autumn I will dress in earthy tones and stick leaves, pine needles, flowers in my hair on my clothes, etc. Should be fun! I'll be safe :)

The coolest thing is happening in my life right now. All of my plant science classes are overlapping. Over summer I took a field ecology class where I did a research project about a restoration project of Greene Prairie in the UW-Madison Arboretum. Now, I'm taking a Landscape Architecture Class and the this week's topic was prairie and how they are becoming more prominent in people's gardens (as inspiration or using NATIVE species). And as always, PLP 575 is sustainable agriculture. So, already having a broad background in prairies and sustainability, it's really cool to see another class talk about this. They all emphasize each other and build my knowledge about the same topic but it completely different ways.

Greene Prairie, Madison Wisconsin (early fall)

Prairie Gayfeather in a prairie

Coolest prairie plant: Rattlesnake Master *it gets to be taller than me if conditions are right!

For example, using native Wisconsin prairie plants in one's own garden is a very highly sustainable garden. These plants have had thousands of years to adapt to Wisconsin's climate (rain or shine, smothering heat to high humidity to the arctic winters). Therefore, these plants need LESS fertilizer, watering, and don't require mulch to hold the moisture in the ground. Also (this is the coolest part in my opinion) less fungicides and chemical barriers are used to 'mimic' a real prairie. This means that PLANT DISEASES ARE WELCOME!!! :)  Also, burning (a natural occurring phenomenon before the Euro-Yankee settlement) is used to 'mimic' conditions in a real prairie. 

A prairie in someone's home garden. See sustainability can be beautiful!

Powdery Mildew on Burr Oak *the white is mycelium (vegetative/asexual material) that gives rise to the small black chasmothecia (sexual structures) that release ascospores which will infect a new plant in the next growing season.

It's really fun to see how different areas of focus still have a common base and how they overlap. They all have the same goal but go about it very differently. Landscape architects are trying to make the most aesthetically pleasing landscape while being sustainable (Green/native landscaping). Plant pathologists are trying to keep the landscape beautiful by preventing disease (while leaving some susceptibility or terrible terrible terrible things happen - we don't want a super-race!) and studying the patterns of disease spread. Ecologists are trying to restore the land back to its original form, which in itself is sustainable because that's how Earth designed herself to be. Botanists are trying to figure out how one plants 4 to 6 inches tall can survive in almost complete shade whilst the plant next to it is over 4 feet tall needs complete sun and how these plants work together so well to create a sustainable environment. I could go into more details but I won't bore you with my plant-geeky-ness :)  

A little Earthy inspiration...enjoy! Bye!!

 

 

Adopt the pace of Nature: Her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Forget not that Earth delights to feel your bare feet and Wind longs to play with your hair. -Kahlil Gibran

Promotion

Last week was hectic to say the least. My online classes each had about 6 hours of lectures to listen to. Usually it's only 2.5 - 3.5 per class. So that was fun. I learned all about Landscape Architecture as a profession - so glad I'm pursuing that as a career :)  Rainforests are way cooler than I originally thought. There are montanes, igapo, terra firme, and varzea. Some of the trees are up to 500 years old! WHAT?! Another cool fact: some plants (called epiphytes or epiphyles) don't even have roots. They grow on leaves of other trees; the rainforest is so humid that there is enough air moisture for this to occur. This relationship is called antagonism because one species benefits and the other is set back. Cool stuff, I know.

Anyways, over the weekend I went to Shorewood (a suburb of MKE) with Brendan to visit his family. We went to the sectional cross country meet hosted in Shorewood. Both the guys and girls teams won the meet and advanced to state. Brendan will never let me hear the end of that, I'm sure of it. After the race, his mom made us dinner - even a vegetarian one for me :)   We then went to see 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' at the Oriental. It was a pretty good movie - would recommend it! On Saturday, we walked his dog Cally to the lakefront and relaxed on the beach while she played in the icy water. His mom brought us back after the Badger game so we would have time to study. It was a great time.

Class listings for next semester came out yesterday. Guess who has her schedule all planned? ME!! Now I just have to wait a month to enroll - hopefully they don't fill up on me! If all goes as planned, my classes will be the following:
Botany 305 - Plant Anatomy Systematics
Phytopathology 375 - Organic and Urban Agriculture
Physics 104 - Second Semester Introductory Physics
Phytopatholgy 299 - Capstone project with Dr. Hudelson (FIELD research)
Atmospheric and Oceanic Science 100 - Weather and Climate (maybe?)
Geography 344 - something with rainforests (backup plan)

Now - the main point of this post: I got a raise at work!!!! I'll now be making $12 an hour as a purchasing assistant. Also, my boss got promoted to Central Purchasing of UW-Madison - I'm really excited for her. She started out as a student worker and is now the boss of CALS who is the boss of BioChemistry who is the boss of my new boss who is the boss of me. She definitely went up the ladder. To be honest, I will miss Carla a lot. She is the best boss I've ever had; I can only hope my bosses in the future will be as good as her. BYE!!!

Oh - and 74 more days until Guatemala!!!EEEEEEEEK!

Passport, Vaccines, Itinerary, OH MY!

81 MORE DAYS UNTIL GUATEMALA!!
Do I have your attention yet? :)

For Plant Pathology 575 "Tropical Agriculture and Sustainability", the class is going on a short study-abroad trip to Guatemala. So far in the class, we've been discussing tropical agriculture and how it is similar/different to midwest agriculture. Up here all we do in conventional agricultural that literally deteriorates the soil so the farmers have to add insanely high amounts of fertilizer just to make the crops grow. When the rain comes, most of the fertilizer leaves the fields as run-off and pollutes river, our drinking water tables, ocean, everything.  UNLESS the farm is organic...then there is no chemical fertilizer sprayed. So far, growing organically is the only somewhat sustainable agricultural practice that occurs in the Midwest. Depressing I know. Here's an example of conventional farming.

23 combines cutting down a monoculture of corn in the Midwest

  In Guatemala, most of the agricultural in subsistence or small scale farming. Most of the crops grown are for the household and that's it. Small scale farming will provide food for the family and a little extra to sell for money. What's even better is that they grow crops sustainably in what is called a milpa. Most milpas are corn, beans, and cucurbits (squashes). No nitrogen fertilizer is needed because the beans are legumes which put nitrogen back in the soil that the corn takes up. The squash balance out other minerals and vitamins crucial for plant production. Anyways, the crops all have slightly lower yields compared to "conventional farming in the midwest." But think, what if there is a terrible drought like this summer and the corn fails? In Guatemala in the milpas, there is still squash and beans to harvest even if there is little or no corn to eat. Milpas give people comfort knowing that even if one crop fails, there will still be yield of another crop. Here is an example of a milpa in Guatemala.

There are beans growing up the corn stalks. The corn in grown in a savanna where there are trees. Here, there is no deforestation to make a huge field like what was done in the Midwest. Sustainability and Tree Hugging!

 So, when I go to Guatemala, I will be studying milpas. The class will be comparing Midwest agriculture to Guatemalan agriculture and see if there is a middle point that could be tried in the USA. Who knows, we may even have something to teach the Guatemalans! :) I'll be in Guatemala for 11 days. I'm leaving from Chicago O'Hare International Airport at 6:00a. I will be leaving Madison at midnight to get to Chicago on time (3 hour bus ride) and check in and all that jazz. I don't think I'll be fazed...just way too excited to get to Guatemala!

81 more days <3    I'm going to go find some diseased trees for class. Bye!!

Skype Date

I have a Skype date with Anna tomorrow!! She left for home August 28th. My friends and I took the bus with her to Chicago O'Hare and stayed with her until she had to go through security. I didn't realize how close we got until we had to say goodbye.  

"If I thought you would forget me, I would never have let you leave" 
"There is an ocean between our cities, but not our hearts"

Anyways...I have a Skype date with her tomorrow at 10a my time (4p her time)!!! It will be the first time we talked in 3 or 4 weeks!! I'm so excited to talk to her again...we need our balcony time :)

Kiley and I were talking about going to Shaftesbury, England next summer to visit Anna. All three of us will be graduating this spring and we want to see each other one more time before we all go off on our crazy, winding, oh-so-fun roads that will always intersect somewhere down the road.

Also....85 more days until Guatemala!!!!! (Still not excited). bye!!

No Class Friday

I love my schedule. My weekends start Thursday mornings at 9:40 and ends Monday as 2:25p :D  How many seniors at UW-Madison can say that? Just because I don't have to walk my butt to class doesn't mean I don't have crap to do. My two online classes take up most of my Thursdays and Fridays :(

Rainforests and Coral Reefs started this week - LOVE IT! I'm the only phytopathology student in the class so it's very interesting to see other people's viewpoints on these exciting topics. One guy is a poli sci major; him and I do not agree on many topics except that deforestation is rapidly killing Earth. So basically, this class is right up my alley because I'm a phytopathologist and I need plants for my career so deforestation is an issue I'm passionate about.

Tomorrow = relaxing day :)  I'm staying at my place - without roommates - to do whatever I please! And I'm not doing the cleaning either!    BYE!!!

So Many Emails!

126 emails sent to 11 potential graduate study advisers, 12 letters of recommendation sent, 3 personal statements written, 2 letters of objective composed, 3 applications complete, and 2 supplementary applications done. What else can they possibly need? Oh, how about official transcripts from every university I attended for undergraduate study? Now I get to sit here until mid February to hear if I am accepted to graduate school. Yay.

I only applied to 3 graduate schools - most people apply to at least 6. I applied to North Carolina State University (NCSU) and if I'm accepted I will be working with Dr. Christina Cowger. She researches crop sustainability and how we can have high yielding crops that need less fertilizer, less water, and less pesticides/fungicides. The best part, it's field research - I won't be a lab rat! 

Raleigh, NC

I also applied to University of Hawai'i - Manoa (UH-Manoa) where I will be working with Dr. Janice Uchida. We will be studying the international movement of Puccinia psidii which is a rust fungus of the plant family Myrtaceae (eucalyptus, guava, and other native Hawai'i and Brazil plant species). So far, Puccinia psidii is found only in Hawai'i and Brazil but there has been a possible sighting in California and Florida. So, I will be tracking this fungus and diagnosing plants that have this rust. I will be developing a biological control agent (using another fungus or bacteria) to suppress or eliminate the rust. 

Manoa, HI

UW-Madison is my back up plan and I would be working with Dr. McManus studying epidemiology of Wisconsin fruit pathogens.

Which one do I want to go to? All three graduate schools cost about the same (45-48k a year) so my choice will be weighing heavily on which university can provide me the most funding. I applied for fellowships, teacher assistant positions, and research assistantships at all three universities. If I got accepted to all three and the cost was the same...I think I'd be leaning towards NCSU. But then I think, I could be studying in Hawai'i for 2-3 years so why wouldn't I go there!! My goal is to get a doctorate in Phytopathology. I will likely attend another university for my Ph.D. thesis (likely NCSU or Cornell).

I took this picture on my way to PLP 575 (Tropical Agriculture and Sustainability) AKA: BEST CLASS EVER!!!

 89 DAYS UNTIL I GO TO GUATEMALA!!! WOOOOO!!! (I'm not excited at all)

Volcano in Antigua, Gautemala

Madison Life

Hey everyone! Since I'm barely back in the big town of Elkhart, I thought I'd start a blog to keep everyone updated. I'll try to post a few times a week and include some pictures as I go. Hopefully ya'll enjoy :)

Madison has been treating me well! I'm studying Plant Pathology which is diseases of plants. Basically, I'm studying to become a plant doctor. I have had an internship for the past two summers at West Madison Agricultural Research Station: Display Gardens where I have gained crucial hands-on experience in the field (as compared to lab experience). I do not wish to be a lab rat for the rest of my life; I want to play with plants! I've also been working part-time at the Biochemistry Department as a Purchasing Assistant for the past two years. My boss graduated from Madison and understands the immense pressure put on college students. She lets me pick my hours or skip a day if I have a midterm to study for; I'm eternally grateful for that! If only the real world jobs were like that!

Disease: (American) Hawthorn Rust
Causative Agent: Gymnosporangium globosum
*Rusts are caused by fungi, have up to 5 different types of spores. This is a picture of the aecium which produces aeciospores which will later infect juniper/red cedars in the fall. In the spring these spores turn into galls (marble sized spiky things) that will produce basidiospores which will then go to infect the hawthorn. Theses spores germinate on the top part of the leaf and create the aecium on the bottom which you see in this picture. Confused yet? :)

I live in an apartment with three other girls, Kiley, Karen, and Kathryn. We are two blocks away from Camp Randall - perfect for game day celebrations! I met my roommates freshman year where we all lived in GreenHouse. All of us are in "hard" sciences - Kiley: Chemistry, Karen: Biological Aspects of Conservation with a certificate in Environmental Studies, and Kathryn: Animal Science (vet school). Someone is always studying in our place! And that's what I probably should be doing now so I'll say goodbye for now! Yay for physics...yuck!

 With Love,

Megan Hope