It’s hard to believe that I’ve finished two years of my university degree already; it feels like it was just yesterday that I was moving into residence at Grenfell campus to begin my university career full of eager anticipation and excitement!

This past semester felt a lot like that in most regards as this was my first semester at the main campus here in St. John’s. Again, I was full of anticipation and excitement, feeling like I was starting anew once again, but this time the transition didn’t hit me near as hard! Sure it took some time to get acclimated with a new campus and a new environment, but having already gone through this once, I had a better idea of who I was and that really helped!

This was by all accounts also my most challenging semester academically as I pushed myself to take an additional course beyond a full course load. My program is really intensive and doesn’t really allow any room for electives, but I was interested in taking a course in economics, so that’s what I did! All in all, I think I handled it pretty well. I’m certainly a much better student than the one who started this journey nearly two years ago that’s for sure!

Also, coming to the main campus I saw my class sizes triple which took a little getting used to, but I’ve met so many like-minded people in the physics department and gotten a chance to speak to a number of the professors about the research that they do.

In fact, I received an NSERC undergraduate research award for this summer and am currently doing work with Dr. Poduska investigating the spectroscopic properties of archaeological materials. I certainly couldn’t ask for a better summer job and a better opportunity than the one that’s been granted to me!

In addition, I’m taking two courses this spring semester and am learning to live off campus for the first time so I guess the adjustments never really end. It’s a steep learning curve, but I love to push my limits and see just how far I can go! Things surely won’t be slowing down anytime soon, but that’s what makes for the most interesting ride!