Hello all...

Welcome to spring--to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope the new season brings up every one's spirits. I know it's been a pretty crazy winter where I am, and spring has been long awaited.

Wow, a whole quarter has passed. Finals just got over! Woo! Life's been crazy. Driving in the snow was fun. NOT. It's beautiful and I've taken some great pictures, but driving to campus just hasn't been a lot of fun. I kind of got stuck at the university for two days too... I stayed with a couple friends, but I hated to impose.

Classes were intense--organic chemistry, o-chem lab, physics with calculus, and physics with calc lab. I worked my rear off and didn't have much time to do anything fun. I didn't get to do near as much photography either. Time passes so swiftly; it's rather frightening. I want to live life to the full, yet I get stuck doing work I don't care for all the time it seems. I'm having trouble balancing school with what's really important in life--the relationships and people God places in my life. Friends, family, and growing closer to my Heavenly Father need to be more important. I just wish I knew where God was taking me in all this.

Big news: I declared my major! I will be aiming for a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. I've declared in this, but there is a chance that I may drop down to a BA in Chemistry and a minor in Physics. I started out this school year hating physics but after this last quarter, I really enjoy what we've been studying. One of the many things was about what heat and temperature really are and how temperature relates directly to the how fast molecules [of air/water/whatever it may be] move and collide with each other. What happens when we touch something that is hot, is a transfer of energy. Let's say you touch the hot stove-top while cooking. The "hot" sensation you feel that ultimately burns your hand has to do with the transfer of energy from the stove-top to your hand. The molecules of metal in the stove-top are vibrating really quickly. When your hand touches them, the molecules in your hand actually collide with the fast-moving metal molecules. When something moving really fast hits something moving really slow, they collide and bounce of one another. The one that was going really slow tends to be sped up as a result of the two things colliding and rebounding off one another while the thing that was moving fast tends to slow down. That just has to do with probability. So, the fast moving particles you might think of as transferring their speed (their thermal energy) from the hot metal to your (relatively speaking) cold hand. The molecules in your hand move faster and your brain perceives this as being "hot." This heat transfer (through direct contact) is that of conduction. There is also radiation (like feeling the sun on your skin) and convection (like hot air rising). Pretty cool, I must say. So there's your science lesson for the day.

Well, I'm off for a week and then it's back I go for another quarter. It's still going to be hectic. The last of the Organic chemistry sequence ending with a standardized test that covers the whole year's information (Ahhh!), Electricity and Magnetism and its lab course (that should be interesting), and Linear Algebra 204. Fun times. I hope to post some photos soon and will be around most of the week if anyone feels like talking. I hope all is well. Let me know.

As always, thank you for your support. You guys really encourage me. Have a good one.

Hannah



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