The Station

Upon arriving at the field station you go up two flights of stairs to the dining hall. The dining hall is an open air pavilion that is attached to the kitchen. The meals are served at 6:30 am, noon, and 7:00pm.  Everyone eats there at the same time. Some tables have been claimed by groups and it is considered impolite to sit there without being asked. The food is a lot better than I thought it was going to be.  Breakfast is usually some form of eggs with a bread. Lunch is more elaborate, but I eat my lunch in the field so it is different kinds of sandwiches. I usually have peanut butter and jelly with an apple for lunch.  Dinner is either rice with a meat or vegetables with meat. Sometimes pasta or a soup. From the dining hall you travel down wooden stepping stones, across a bridge and up some stairs to the lab building. The Lab building is where research teams do their lab work. There are classrooms and a reference library as well. The library is the only place with air conditioning and humidity control to preserve the books. My lab is in the corner on the second floor. It has a nice view of the canopy. From the lab the trail is a board walk to the sleeping cabins. The nice professor cabins off to the right away from the non-professor cabins. I am in a non-professor cabin. In my clearing there are five cabins. Mine is in the back corner of the clearing. My porch faces the forest, with the forest being only seven feet  away.  In my cabin there are two bunk beds. I only have one roommate from my team, so we both use the top as an additional shelf. We have six cubby shelves and a bathroom. The water is freezing cold, but at least the shower is clean. It is interesting not being allowed to flush toilet paper, but having to throw it away.  I have two screen walls in my main room that let nice breezes in and help keep everything from smelling moldy. I am very excited to have a nice cabin to live in for the next two months. 

 Trails around the Station

 The Lab

 The Non-Professor Clearing

 My Room

 My Bathroom

 

The Dining Room