As my second quarter begins, I’m vowing to be more prolific in my blog posting this time around, giving my friends frequent updates.

I’m now entering the second phase of my project, where my data has gone from fresh out of the telescope to being ready for statistical analysis. The paper writing has already begun, and I have my first plot as of this Monday. It’s exciting.  I’m taking two courses, Electromagnetic Radiation and Stellar Structure & Evolution… both of these look phenomenally useful, and phenomenally work-intensive. It’ll be a challenging time, but I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve know been in Columbus for nearly 3 weeks and begun to establish myself. I cannot understate the intellectual vitality of the OSU department of astronomy. It’s simply energizing to be surrounded by several dozen people - graduate students, post docs, and faculty - who are all very active in their fields. Fields spanning virtually all of astrophysics, from planets to quasars to galaxy morphology to cosmology. Other than that, my office is pleasent, my classmates and roommates are wonderfully friendly and intelligent people.

Classes are good and useful… I’m finding David Weinberg and Paul Martini’s styles very refreshing, not just due to the inherent quality of their lectures, but the fact I was overdue for a change. I learnt virtually nothing in my last year at McGill, and I was beginning to forget what it felt like. My project on stellar luminosity in the galactic bulge will begin in earnest on October 1st, I’m currently merely getting a handle of the photometry software I’ll be using (mostly IRAF).