Look at me, I'm in Long Island

So I figured I'd follow the crowd and blog about my trip that I'm currently on. I'm at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories in Long Island, NY. Long Island itself isn't very pretty (at least the little I've seen of it), but the lab campus is amazing. The weather is awesome, lower 80's...not missing Arkansas August weather at all. I'm rooming with this guy from Holland. We had kind of an awkward meeting because we didn't run into each other moving in yesterday and then he was asleep when I got back to the room last night. So we met after we had already slept in the same room for a night. He came out of the bathroom from his shower and I was brushing my teeth and we were like "Hi." Quite funny. Oh, and his name is Sake, pronounced "Shocka." It was hard for me not to laugh when he told me his name. Probably my favorite part of the meeting so far is when people give presentations when English is obviously not their native language nor are they fluent, and then people just as bad at English try to ask them questions. They totally just don't understand each other at all and it ends up being like 5 minutes of back and forth with no real resolution because neither side ultimately understands. Oh and hearing the Japanese people talk makes me laugh too because they pronounce their "l" as "r." For example, nucleoplasm ends up being "nucreoprasm." It's all I can do to not LOL all over the place. Anyway, maybe I'll post again before I leave. Goodbye.
::Wes (I decided to try the cool little thing Blake does at the end of his posts...hope you don't mind, my red brother)

Life is changing

So I feel like my life is changing a lot right now. A good 15 or so of my friends have moved away within the last year or will be leaving very shortly. I guess that's what I get for going to grad school at the same place I did my undergrad instead of being the one to leave everyone else. I definitely don't regret it though. I'm positive that God's Will was for me to stay at Arkansas. I got to make some incredible relationships that I otherwise would've missed out on. This fall will be my first semester without having to take a class (although I still have one class left to take in the Spring). My friends are getting "real jobs" and driving "grown up cars." I am so thankful for the friends that I still have here and the new people God is placing in my life (especially a certain lady-friend). I am looking forward to getting involved in a new community group and forging new relationships and community. With this transition, it has made me realize how much stock I put in my friends. At times I think I fall into putting my identity in people I respect and love, but this is a good chance to (yes I know it's cliche) work on putting my identity in Christ. I'm excited to see what and who this next part of my life will bring. I usually am resistant to change in my life, but I definitely think it can be a positive and healthy thing.