michelle rivers - my adventure blog

I was able to see quite a bit of this beautiful country! Need to return for more of the Swiss alps (Zermatt area). View of Lake Zurich. This summer, I finally made it to Switzerland! For years, my mom and I have promised our former foreign exchange students we would come visit them.  In June, I met my mom in Zurich (she was "on the way" home from a vacation to South Africa) where we were greeted by Silvia, one of our former students and friends.  We went up to the top of a hill in Zurich, overlooking the lake and city.  Turned out this was just the beginning of our adventures with her - Silvia was an excellent tour guide, and she found some spectacular places to take us hiking and exploring. We also met her sweet boyfriend Iwan , who loved telling us the history behind a lot of the architecture and churches we drove by. They even cooked us a traditional Swiss meal called Raclette , which we devoured in their home in front of their HUGE aquarium. Toward the end of

   In a week, I start my second year of grad school already!  This year flew by, as expected.  I had some ups and downs getting used to the rhythm of completing assignments again, but generally I really love being academically challenged.  I have quite a bit of freedom as far as when and where I want to work and what I want to research, which keeps me passionate and motivated.  Even though I came into grad school with some research experience, there were many days this year when I felt incredibly stupid,  but I've been trying to view that as a good thing - much more to learn!  And I do feel I've learned quite a bit this year... about conducting ethical research, statistics, time management, and work-life balance.  Right now I am in the midst of writing up my first year project for publication, which investigated the factors that contribute to students' judgments of upcoming exam performance.       While I miss California terribly, I am really enjoying the seasons here.