Panda Goes On Vacation

CHEESE CURLS AND SUNSHINE! Such was this past Labor Day weekend. Thank goodness for Labor Day, because I can break out all my white clothing and become the fashion faux pas of the autumn season. SO FANTASTIC!

To celebrate, I went out with my awesome labmates to Daytona Beach, FLORIDA! This was my first time to Florida, and I was definitely kind of disappointed. I don’t know what I was expecting, but Daytona Beach turned out to be a small town redneck feel. If you live in Daytona, I don’t mean to offend you. But the whole town seemed dead, and it was Labor Day weekend! There weren’t even OLD people around. You KNOW it’s bad when you can’t find old people in FLORIDA. It wasn’t like people had many other options. Originally we planned on going to New Orleans, but apparently it was in a state of emergency due to the tropical storm in the Gulf. 

Anyway, we ended up on the beautiful beaches of Daytona. We stayed right on the boardwalk, in the HILTON! It was surprisingly affordable, most likely because the town was deserted except for the six of us. We rented a car and drove the SEVEN hours from Atlanta (no surprise that the two guys got the front seats). I know I’m complaining about the beach, but it was actually beautiful there. We spent all day on the shore and the water was so salty! We tanned and even rented a body board (even though the boys monopolized it, fail). At night, we had dinner at the Oyster Pub and then went bar hopping along the ONE street in Daytona. Actually, I ended up talking to a group of girls that turned out to be really cool. We hung out with them for a little bit, mostly because one of the guys from the lab is obsessed with blonde girls and I had to play awkward third wheel for a minute. All in all, I still had a great time. We bought wine and beer and drank it on the beach at night, and avoided the patrol car driving past.

View of Daytona Beach from the back of our hotel, right on the boardwalk.

The next day, we went crabbing. BAD IDEA. This, of course, is what happens when you have two men in your group who feel like doing outdoorsy things to accentuate their manliness. What was supposed to be fishing and crabbing ended up being lowering a net into the a creek, no crabs, and almost dying in a rented canoe because we got lost and tired of paddling for two hours straight. In other words,

“We are PhD students! We only know how to paddle! KEEP PADDLING!”

And forgot to stop and enjoy the view.

This was later termed the “PLACE OF DANGER”, after listening to a song on The Game CD that was found in our rental car. The sweetest, most innocent exchange student from Peking University was soon corrupted and singing, “Gangsta Boogie” nonstop. 

We arrived in Florida late Friday night, and left on Saturday evening. We had dinner in Jacksonville (NOT at Hooters, despite desperate pleas from the boys), and returned to Atlanta early Sunday morning, but not without stopping at Krispy Kreme (PANDA LOVES TO EAT). 

I am now home and cramming to finish my homework for tomorrow! The past week has been pretty low key. I am still getting my training in for microscopes and such. I still have to interview faculty in the department, and so far I have 3 of 4 signatures on my sheet. Mass transfer is starting to f me in the b and I am not enjoying it very much.

I don’t remember the last time that I posted, but Big K left last Tuesday and now I am alone in my apartment. Alas, I do not have a tendency to walk around naked. HOWEVER, I do sometimes pick my nose in front of the window. So maybe instead of boobs you’ll just see boogers. 

This Saturday is the whitewater rafting trip with the graduate students! Oh, and before I forget…

I GOT PAID!

NSF has not forgotten about me after all. But after paying off all my expenses from August, I only have $400 left to last me the rest of the month in September. Good thing I blew $200 on the trip to Daytona and another $300 on clothing and a guitar while I was online shopping last night. 

As you can see, I am making all the right decisions in graduate school!