It’s finally over! All of our hard work is finally paying off. Our manuscript is done! Our poster is printed! Now all we have left is to present! It's been a long 8 weeks. I learned patience, time management, and that I don’t really like working on bats! This program hasn’t changed my opinion about research at all. I still love it and it is what I want to do for the rest of my life. The program has given me a little taste of what my career will be like and what direction I would like to go. Soundscape ecology is super cool but I think I would like to focus on creatures I can hear. I did really like the aspect of our project though where we looked at how forest management affects bat densities. I would love to continue to look at how management/human activities affects animal behavior.

The thing I am going to miss most are the friends I have made. It is so bittersweet knowing that the program is coming to an end. I am excited to go home and get ready for my semester abroad in Ireland! But I’m sad to see all of these wonderful people that I have grown so close to leave. Thankfully technology makes it pretty easy to keep in touch but life just won't be the same without Jenny’s haikus.

Some highlights from the week include:

• Garret and his girlfriend (Sophie) getting engaged! The whole group went to White Rock to cliff jump and have fun and while we were there Garret popped the question! I filmed the whole thing and I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry.

• Getting our research done. Mia and I were scrambling at the end because we still had so much data to go through. It felt like no matter what we did we never got closer to finishing our data analysis. Tuesday evening, we finally got through everything and were able to draw a conclusion (just in time)!

It's been a long 8 weeks but I am glad that I took the leap and entered the program. It has taught me so much in such a short period of time and I am grateful for the people who have entered my life because of it.