Potsdam, NY is not a very exciting place. There, I said it. This is especially true when you spend the entire day doing lab safety training, personality testing, and other somewhat lame orientation activities. Take home message: don’t be afraid to get naked when you spill chemicals all over yourself and have to use the emergency shower. Needless to say, after our second long day at Clarkson, a few of us were ready for a bit of excitement in our lives. We decided to explore a bit more of the Clarkson campus and go on a run through their extensive trail system. We were warned there would be mud, but we didn’t really think this through. We were much more interested in finding the large swamp in the woods. Well we did find the swamp. And the bonus sunset and lack of bugs was really the icing on the cake. But we also picked up lots of mud along the way. We returned home to pull off our disgustingly wet and muddy sneakers, considering how on earth we would be able to pack them in our suitcases in the morning. Luckily there was an extra trashbag in the bathroom… What were we thinking? I’m not so sure, but we all agreed that the wet sneakers in the suitcase were totally worth the adventure. Hopefully many more adventures to come in China!

Betty