Alexandra Allen
Alexandra Allen is a student at Maine Maritime Academy currently completing her research at University of Oklahoma under Dr. Xiaowei Chen.
Orientation Week: The Week Where It All Began
May 31st, 2017
Orientation week. I've been preparing for this week ever since mid-March. Not sure what it was going to be like, I was both nervous and anxious as I boarded my first plane on Sunday morning. Growing up on the East coast, I had never been out west and was excited for the oppurtunity to explore the local geology and to see geological structures that I had only seen and read about before. However, being a marine science major, I did not have a super strong understanding of geophysics and, more specifically, earthquakes before I came to this internship. Of course, I knew that I would be decently prepared because of previous coursework, but I was still nervous about the learning curve that I would have to approach when I got here. So as I boarded that first plane on Sunday, I didn't have huge expectations about what this week would be, other than a week, stuck in the desert, and a far ways away from the nearest body of salt water. So far though, everything has exceded my expectations.