Science, smchience...

At 5:30PM on Saturday the 16th of August I was perched on a rock, chin resting on my knees, watching the setting sun colour the sky pink, then red, then dusky blue. I had Frenchman's Cap on the western horizon, the King William range a little to the south and Mt Gell to the north. I could feel the last warmth in the sun on my face and could hear the carrying on of 8 school kids playing in what was left of the winter snow. To me, this was a blissful moment, an accumulation of my passions falling into one single experience. I was in nature, completely aware of how lucky I am to love and live this life and I was sharing that with others who might one day develop their own connection to the raw and true natural world, just as I have.

There was a small part of me that wasn't present in that moment because in that same moment, under different circumstances I would have been wearing a silly hat and a long robe at my graduation. I will instead receive the very important A4 piece of paper via Australia Post in the next few weeks.

While I don't attach a lot of worth to the ceremony surrounding things like graduations, I could see the value of my degree in that moment. Science has shown me how to not only love nature but to know it. It has given me the tools to write and talk about detailed natural processes in a way that resonates with people who wouldn't normally be interested in or able to understand them. My science degree has helped me in my guiding career, makes me feel closer to my Dad, given me endless exposure to amazingly passionate people who are my role models and mentors and continues to be a blessing as I study nursing.

So while I may bitch and moan about the size of my HECS debt and how I will never work in science because I hate data analysis, blah blah blah, this blog hopefully shows you and may serve as a reminder to me in the future that my science degree has been instrumental in putting me where I am today and for that I can only be grateful.

Dee x.