An unexpected surprise..

I was sitting in my entomology lab this afternoon, playing with microscopes and gazing, amazed, into the incredible faces of all sorts of creepy crawlies that surround us every day when I realized just how incredible and intricate and fascinating bugs really are. They have all sorts of sophisticated biological and physiological functions that help them to just SURVIVE. And in such a tiny body. It doesn't even seem possible, but it is and that's just AWESOME.

If you told me freshman year that I'd graduate from Drake with a degree in magazine journalism and English and have an environmental science class top my list of best classes, I would have raised an eyebrow.

But here I am anyway wishing, for the first time since coming to Drake, that a class didn't have to end. It's remarkable, really.

I've never had a class where I walked away after every session feeling like I learned something cool. EVERY SESSION. I love learning so I love that feeling. It's awesome. I didn't get that all the time in journalism. Probably because I've had so much of it for so long, but still. Challenging a different part of my brain was, well, wonderful. It was a much-needed break and change of pace from what I've been doing.

And we got to go outside on Thursdays! Granted, this semester it seemed that any time you didn't know what day it was you could look outside and, if it was raining, know that it was Thursday. So we didn't go out EVERY Thursday. But when we did, it was beyond awesome. We all piled into a big van and went on field trips to awesome places I never ever knew about and caught stuff. I love going outside. I wish more classes were outside classes.

The professor didn't hurt, either. Keith Summerville is definitely at the top of the "If they teach it, take it" list. The whole list will be published here, I assure you, in May. He's seriously the best. THE best. There have been some good professors and some great professors but he's really top shelf.

I think the thing that struck me is that he, an environmental science professor, took an interest in me as a student and a person even though I have NO background in his field. Not that that's grounds to shun me or whatever, but I've never really had a professor outside of my major care like that... ever.

And, obviously, he cares about all his other students, too. He advises most of them and is always, well, ADVISING them. He points them and leads them and guides them and helps as much as he possibly can. It's fantastic.

It's been an awesome experience, though completely unexpected. But loved it and I'll be sad when it's over... which will be much too soon.