One final down, four to go! Though this morning’s was one of my easiest of the bunch – Evolution of Behavior. One of my favorite classes ever, so no need to really study, plus I only needed a 65% on the final for an A…heh. Wish I could say that about Physics. One of the amazing professors I do research for (it’s a joint research project) teaches that class, and after I turned in my exam he was whispering some questions about how the project is going. Which led to this exchange:

Prof W: Have you read this book? *motions to an ancient looking book he was reading during the final called Rodent Reproduction*
Me: …Uh, no.
Prof W: Oh, well it looks like they don’t mention anything about [part of our research] here either, so [etc etc more research talk blog readers don’t care about]

…This is what I simultaneously love and fear about academia. I love how there was even a remote enough chance in his mind that a lowly undergraduate like myself just happened to peruse some forty year tome on rodent reproduction, of all topics, that he would actually ask me. Okay, I have been trying to find some literature on our research, so maybe he thought I may have seen that book, but still. I get this all the time from professors, especially the “Have you read the paper by SoandSo on Obscure Research Topic?” Even if I have, by some stroke of luck, I usually can’t remember the names of the authors. I consider it a success if I remember the key points from the paper at all!

Though I know realistically it’s not expected of me to know all this stuff as an undergrad. Prof D, my main professor and official “boss,” even said that he really enjoys working with me (I’m his first long-term undergraduate researcher) because he doesn’t expect me to really know anything. So when I don’t, he’s pretty relaxed about it and helps me out, but when I do, he’s pleasantly surprised. I think I give myself too hard of a time because I’m constantly comparing myself to grad students instead of other undergrads.

As fabulously awesome as I may be, I still have a long way to go before I develop that professor-worthy memory. I know it’ll probably happen without me even noticing it. When I was doing field work with Prof W a couple of summers ago, I was amazed at how he knew the common name, scientific name, and natural history of basically every fricking plant and animal out in the desert. I didn’t even realize dung beetles were in Arizona; I thought they were some exotic insect out in Africa or Asia or something (sheltered Indiana girl!). I asked him how in the world he knew all the stuff, and he just laughed sort of sheepishly. “You don’t try to remember it – you just pick it up after a while.” At the time I thought this sounded insane, but now that I can recognize exactly what bird singing is waking me up in the morning, I know it’s happening.

Oh, and the chickadees need to simmer the fuck down in the morning. I wish there was a “fee bee fee hey no one’s trying to take your territory and Jen’s trying to sleep” call.