Alabama!

Just when people were surprised that I'd moved to Idaho, now I've gone to Alabama.

What am I doing here? Well, it's not for the weather. Earlier this year I applied to over a dozen summer internships across the country and in Germany. Although I was also accepted to work in Germany on fuel cell materials, that program barely paid enough to cover travel expenses. So I accepted the REU program at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), which pays about $3,300 plus room and travel expenses. REU stands for "Research Experience for Undergraduates," where the National Science Foundation funds college students to gain experience doing real research during the summer.

So here I am, working in the Physics department with 13 other undergrads where, after 10 weeks, we will finish a paper and a presentation on our subjects.

I'll put whatever I think may be interesting to others on this site, including pictures and whatever else I feel like writing. A feature, however, will be what I learn about the south whilst I'm here. First up, vocabulary:

Jeetyet: Asking "Did you eat yet?"
Example: "Hey Bobby Sue, jeetyet?" "No Billy Bob, but I'm fixin' to."

And a joke I heard from a local:
"Did you hear about the new law they passed in Alabama?"
"When people get divorced, it doesn't mean they're not cousins any more."

Pictures and more later.