Chapter 4: Spherical!!

This semester, Thursdays are my BUSY DAY! Just because of the way my schedule worked out, my first class begins at 8:30 am and my last class ends at 8:15 pm. But, it’s okay because, a, I love the classes and, b, the rest of my week is not busy at all. Since I’ve already written about my French class, which is Tuesdays and Thursdays, I thought this week I’d focus on the Earth Science class.

Since Champlain requires its students to take one Lab Science course, I thought Earth Science in Montreal would be a good chance to get that Lab done. I’d heard that it was a fun class and, well, my sources were right. Some of the content is review for me, but the experiences are certainly one of a kind!

The first Thursday, we couldn’t do a lab because it was the first day, but the week after that and this past Thursday have been very fun AND educational. (Go edutainment.) For our first Lab, which takes place after the Lecture, we hiked on up to Mount Royal (sound familiar…?) to do some tree identification. We were up there for a few hours, talking trees, leaves, and squirrel population. I saw a strange caterpillar covered in long white hair, but I didn’t lean in too close to look because he (she?) was about a foot from the biggest spider I’ve seen in Montreal thus far. (Blegh.) We took some new routes that day and we discovered a picturesque little path that leads to a nice park (the one we were TRYING to find the Sunday before). Carter, Roman, and I (half the class!) got lost temporarily because we fell behind while identifying a tree, and we ended up walking to the big, metal, light-up cross they have up there rather than the parking lot. Jules came running to find us, though, so no harm done.



On our next Lab adventure, we adventurous six went to the Biodome! The ‘dome is a spiffy place because even though a lot of it is geared toward children, there’s still a lot of information to be had about wildlife.



They have a tropical forest, a temperate forest, an arctic climate, and the Atlantic Ocean. There was also a temporary ‘Madagascar’ exhibit with a trio of ever-grooming lemurs. There was a very formidable anaconda in one tank as well as some four-foot sturgeon in the ocean exhibit. In fact, most of the fish there were, well, quite large, to say the least, and as my friend Keith put it, ‘Where are these guys when I go fishing?’.



For next week, it looks like we’re taking a break from our schedule of outings to do some pH and acidification experiments. But, that’s fine with me, since in a couple weeks we’re going to the BioSphere.