I'm finally here! And why?

I have been admittedly horrible at keeping family and friends updated on my life. So in hopes of fixing this as quickly as possible, I have started this blog. Feel free to check up on me here, or send me an email.

To get this blog started, let me take a minute or two to run through where I am now and why. I just graduated from Carleton College in June with a B.A. in math and physics. Both are great fields of study, but I've always been more interested in their applications. Plus someday, maybe not for a while, but someday I'll need a job. Preferably a reliable one. For me this points to materials science and engineering.

Three weeks ago I arrived in Norway as a Fulbright grantee for materials science research and studies. Many of my friends are only familiar with Fulbright English teaching assistantships, so let me clarify: I am not teaching English, as fun and rewarding as that would be (no sarcasm intended). Instead I will be taking classes and doing research in the Materials Science Department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). I found a sweet research group in the department that happily agreed to take me under their wing for a year. Since Fulbright is paying my bills, who wouldn't want a free research assistant? The general focus of the research group is silicon crystallization for solar cell materials. Given the chance, it would be stupid for me not to study energy technologies right now, and solar holds the most potential for promising advances (yeah I said it). So after trudging through a marsh of an application, jumping through several flaming hoops to accept the grant, and wandering through a hazy maze of immigration procedures, I am finally ready to go here in Trondheim.

Background information: check.