Jeg har en gruppe!

Ok..so good news.  I have somehow managed to gather up the cojones to talk to the biology researchers on campus and have found a research group for my thesis! This might be a little less exciting of a post than previous ones, but I'll do my best and have put a few pictures of downtown Oslo at the end so you have something to look forward to.

Last week I went around to various group supervisors and asked what sort of research they were doing and I chatted with a PhD student for an unbiased assessment of them.  I was immediately drawn to the research group run by the professor of my molecular evolution class and the head of the whole ecology and evolution department on campus (Glenn).  The PhD student also told me Glenn is also one of the best to work with because he is very available to help his students.  Before I settled on Glenn's group I was invited to attend their weekly group meeting so I could meet the rest of their group and hear what they were working on.  They put me on the spot and I had to talk about myself, but they were great and I was sold on them. I knew it was a match made in heaven when at the end of the meeting they organized a pub night for the group later in the afternoon.  So it was at the pub, with the beer that my supervisor bought me (and the rest of the group) in hand, I told him I would like to join his group and his response was "Cheers!" 

So what will I be doing for my research you ask?  My experiment looks into the hybridization of Italian and House sparrows.  They are one of the only vertebrates that mate outside their species at times but they do not prefer it.  We want to look into if they prefer not to hybridize due to sexual selection or if there is a genetic barrier involved.  I will be going with a Colombian master student (Maria) in the group (who I really like..luckily) to Northern Italy and the border between Spain and Portugal for 1-2 months in the spring and will be doing mate choice experiments on Spanish, Italian and House sparrows involving their feather coloration.  Then I will be genotyping (looking at the genetic makeup) of the birds to examine patterns of inheritance and to look at the genes related to their plummage color.  I will complete the experiments with Maria but when it comes to writing our thesis' one person will write about the genetic aspect while the other will write about the behavioral aspect but we will both be co-authors on each paper along with of course Glenn and whoever else.  Also, the genotyping we will be doing may be used by another master's student so we might be co-authors of his paper as well.  So after this is all done, I will have at least two published papers.  Pretty cool.  Additionally, I'd been stressed because I was supposed to write a research proposal by Nov. 1st for an introduction to master's class I had to take but Glenn explained to me today he prefers to write them himself....sweet!   So overall things are going really well here.  I have a research group, a Norwegian bank account and Norwegian friends (all biology people as it is a relatively small community). 

Though, I don't want it to sound like everything has been really easy over here because it has certainly been difficult at times. Especially in the beginning, there were many moments when I was completely intimidated and had to stop and make myself take a deep breath and think "you can do this."  Luckily thus far, I have come to find that the things I have found the most challenging have ended up the most rewarding.  

As promised...

PS.  It has been over 1 month and I am still continuing to blog so.....suck it Jiro!

Touristing It: Frogerparken

Now I Feel Like a Biologist

Don't worry, I'm back. After spending a week in Bergen (west coast of Norway) on a biology excursion with my class, I've found that the life of a biology student is very difficult.  We arrived into Bergen and were taken to the grocery store where the teacher told everyone in my class of 20 students to grab whatever we wanted.  We wound up with 3 giant carts of food and 2 carts of beer.  We rolled up to our "cabin" which was really a giant house on the water with a research building next to it and I already began to dread the day I would have to leave (See the "Norwegians Don't Slum it" post for pictures).  Then we proceeded to spend the week going out on boats and grabbing samples from the marine bottom and tide pools out on an island (See the "When you buy raingear the weather looks like this" post for pictures).  After that, we would spend the rest of the day in the lab looking at what we found and trying to identify the species.  We would all eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with each other and after the day was done we would drink in the sauna, go swim in the water to cool off, get back in the sauna and so forth.  Like I said, it was a stressful week.  The best part about it was that I got to know my classmates much better and I really had a great time hanging out with all of them.  They kept hassling me about being American (in good fun) and everyone was really great with all my "how do you say this?" questions. It was a good way to practice some Norwegian, especially since they wouldn't hesitate to tell me if I wasn't saying something exactly right. They even tested me and I had to translate the back of a cough drop bag and they almost rolled over laughing at the words I would fill in for the ones I didn't know.  Turns out "forklift" is not used to describe the nature of eucalyptus cough drops.  I also learned a couple new fun facts while I was there.  1) Norwegians always take their shoes off inside.  When my German friend passed out on the couch, they wanted to draw on him and I told them they couldn't because his shoes were off.  They looked at me confused and I explained in the US when someone passes out at a party, only if their shoes are on, are they fair game.  The Norwegian friend then furrowed his brow and said, "But why would someone have their shoes on in the house?"  Then I gave up.  2) Svalbard exists.  I had no idea what/where it was when a girl in my class told me she is moving to Svalbard next semester to finish the last year and a half of her masters.  Turns out it is an archipelago WAY north halfway between Norway and the North Pole.  It was explained to me that everyone that moves there must by law get a rifle license and carry it with them at all times in case of polar bear attack.      

When you buy raingear the weather looks like this

        

It rains ~260 days out of the year in Bergen.  We were advised to prepare for heavy rain.  A rain jacket, pants and knee high rubber boots later, this is is what we got.  Still, I'm not complaining.  

Norwegians Don't Slum It

Pictures of the cabin my classmates and I lived in during our week long biology excursion to Bergen.

Our Cabin

View From Porch

View From Balcony

Living Room

View From Other Balcony

Dining Table

Kitchen

My Room 

Why My Class is Better than Yours

On Wednesday I went on a field excursion with my marine ecology class.  I was a bit nervous about it because I would be spending the whole day with a bunch of Norwegians I don't know and to be honest, I do not know that much about the marine ecology of Norway either.  I had to take an early morning, hour long bus ride south to Drøbak, where I chatted with a French friend.  I got off to find myself next to the beautiful Oslofjord and I thought to myself...this might not be that bad.  We all walked over the the biology station which is actually this cute little cabin right on the fjord, where the teacher had coffee brewing for us.  Fun fact, apparently the town sold the cabin to the school a while back for 1 Nok = 12 cents.  Our professor, who I have really grown to like told us we would be going out on the boat and scraping marine life from the hard bottom and then identifying the species we bring up.  He cautioned us not to to talk to the captain until he had finished his cup of coffee.  We looked out the window at the scruffy, deadliest catch captain who was smoking and drinking a cup of coffee on the boat and all silently agreed that would probably be for the best.  I was the first group to go out on the boat, and it was really neat.  I made friends with some Norwegians and it was a beautiful day out on the fjord.  One Norwegian explained to me that the island out on the fjord where we could see a wall with cannons was an island that the Nazi's took over and sunk one of the Norwegian ships nearby.  There were tons of jellyfish out in the water and I decided against swimming in it this season.  We scraped the bottom of the fjord and pulled up all sorts of sea-stars, gooey things, anemones, barnacles, crabs and what not.  To my dismay, I had to pick them up and put one of each in a bucket.  Then we headed back to the cabin and spent the rest of the day out in the sun looking up the species we found in our books.  I was able to chat it up with some of my classmates and overall it was a really fun day.  Norwegians really don't like Texans.  One guy asked me why one of the most religious states was so judgmental and I told him that we should have just let the south succeed to begin with.  They like Californians.  I think. This bodes well for the week long excursion my class is making to Bergen next week.  At the end, when my professor was telling us a bit about our next trip and to think of food to buy in the grocery store because it was on him... this concerned look came across his face and he said "except for your beer, I'm only buying my own so you will need to bring money for yours."  I laughed and I am really curious to see what living in a cabin in Bergen with my professor and bunch of classmates will be like.  All in all, the day was great.  I mean, how many Americans get to say for their class they went out on a fjord and collected sea-stars?         

Welcome to My Hood: Kringsjå Studentby

So here is my student housing complex.  The last picture is of the train that I inevitably miss barely everyday and have to wait an extra 15-20 min for.  The meat advertisement is just posted as a challenge.  Try to say that 5 times fast.  :)