Week 4 (July 4 - July 20)
Ames Meets Dryden For the Second Time?????? or Something Like that
WEEK 4
July 14 - July 20
BY NELLYMAR PUIG
Monday, July 14,1997
Bright and early the Astrobiology Academy made its formal registration at the International Conference of Environmental Systems (ICES) held at Harvey's in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. After the realization of a few of their forgotten pieces of clothing and lost student ID's, everybody got badged and started on a day fulled of exciting lectures. The place was filled with interesting and worth meeting people. Melissa, Kathy and Joe had the opportunity to talk to some Russian scientists about their interests in doing an internship in their country for next summer. Melissa impressed them with her well spoken Russian. The Russian party was very supportive and as of now they are writing their proposal (Good Luck Guys!). At lunch time a few of us went to eat at the Garden Buffet, an all you can eat buffet. The trips to the bar were countless and so were the piles of used plates afterwards at the table. Melissa declared Kathy, "The Queen of Dessert" and she didn't let us down!!! "I need another stomach!" that was Kathy's reply after eating all of her desserts. In the evening the group headed to the reception. Free food and drinks and a chance to meet and talk to people while doing some networking on our group project as well as our own personal future goals. So personal, that Christen got herself a handsome, good looking fiancé. If only she knew where he is right now?! The casino was the next stop where Jeff, Kathy, Kevin, Hank and Pat suffered their up's and down's trying to gain back the lost money from the night before. At the end, some of them came out winning some money.
Tuesday, July 15,1997
Back to ICES for our final lectures since we had to check out by noon. The group was so amazed by the stories of the Garden Buffet from the day before that everybody went to lunch there this day to check out the bar. Doug and Robert Zimmerman also went with us in this massive eating! When it was time to head back to Stanford everybody had different ideas of when and how to get back. After a lot of discussion and deciding whether to go home or stay to play a little longer in the casino, three different departure trips were established. Back at the French House and with some free time on our hands, the movie "Men in Black" seemed like the best way to spend the evening. BAD CALL!!! The movie did not meet everyone's expectations except for Hank's! Back in the house, Melissa kept saying "That was a really bad movie, really bad!"
Wednesday, July 16,1997
Group Project Day! We spent the day making phone calls, sending e-mails and doing some research on sleep studies and sea weed. By the end of the day frustration was in the air when neither the phone calls nor the e-mails were answered. Don managed to overcome this feeling of helplessness as he described his future car "The Don Van". It will have seats that turn around, dimming lights and nice music at the sound of a clap on. Later, Kathy went on to expain to us her feelings towards eating: "I like to chew, I just can't swallow all the time".
Thursday, July 17, 1997
The morning was very busy as we tried to get everything done by noon so we could meet with the Dryden Academy at Stanford for a tour. Not everybody chose to go, but those who went enjoyed a long and interesting tour of the Aeronautical Lab at Stanford. Airplanes, helicopters and satellite models at their best. The Dryden Academy along with Doug, Don, Kim and Nellymar went to have dinner and enjoy the city of San Francisco. The rest of our Academy stayed home and caught up with their personal stuff. San Francisco was great and everyone had a chance to get to know each other better. So much better that Kim and Joe (Dryden) went their own separate way and seems like they lost their way back for they were 25 minutes late for the agreed meeting and departure time. The group was worried that something bad had happened to them and in the attempt to find out where they were Dominick said "Anyone looked in the van?". But that wasn't necessary for they showed up a while later. Meanwhile back at Stanford, Melissa's bike was stolen along with its 20 minutes old bike lock. The cops picked them up and drove them to the police station where Melissa luckly identified her stolen bike.
Friday, July 18,1997
The Dryden and the Ames Academies had a busy day filled with an underground tour planned by Melissa (Thank you Melissa!) and educational lectures. Doug's lecture on the Space Exploration Initiative was the most appealing to us as he explained that "You can get nine women pregnant, but you can't have a baby in one month!". The evening was spent over at Doug's for a nice BBQ meal and the usual singing in the hot tub. Everybody enjoyed themselves and had a great time.
Saturday, July 19,1997
Packed and ready for camping. Even Nellymar was excited about this trip that promised to be great fun. Once in the camping area at Sunset Beach, the group headed to the beach to take a looked at the Pacific Ocean. Pat, Jeff, Kyle (Dryden) and Kathy made new friends as they played beach volleyball while the others watched them get smashed by this unbeatable team. Kevin took care of dinner by making Veggie Burritos, (Thank you Kevin!) and the rest prepared the campfire. The traditional card games began as well as Dominick's story telling. Eric proved once again he is always up for a dare as he stuffed 12 mashmallows in his mouth and clearly said "Chubby Bunny". Nobody got bored as there were many things to do: play cards, story telling, recite poems, walk on the beach, get lost for a while, eat s'mores and even listen to the strawberries grow!! The sleeping arrangements were a little weird since some of us could not find our sleeping backs or a place to sleep. The rain refreshed those who were sleeping under the stars.
Sunday, July 20,1997
After a long day, everybody got up and packed. We were ready to go home and take a shower. We said goodbye to the Dryden Academy and we're looking forward to see them again in two weeks. Back at Stanford, the group had a productive meeting regarding our group project. It was decided that our group project will be the Sleep Study. People did their laundry and a bunch of us went to church at Stanford. Andrea decided to make new friends and she visited a different but very friendly church. By the end of the evening an outline on the group project was made and everybody headed for their beds early to get some rest and be ready for another busy and fun week in the Astrobiology Academy.