Several summers ago I attended a math-ecology camp.  I consider it one of the best points in my life so far.  The courses were exciting and challenging, the professors supportive and entertaining, the other students were wonderful, and the research station we stayed at was on a beautiful lake.  I’ve kept in touch with many of the people I got to know in the program and jumped at the chance to stay near the research station for a few days this summer.  Even better, I stayed with one of my favorite people from the program.

Many of the evenings my first summer at the research station were spent down at the dock with the other students, sometimes talking over some of the things we’d struggled with during class, but more often just being silly.  Those were definitely some of my favorite times.  I spent just one evening on the dock this summer, reminiscing.  Memories are slippery things, but the place and time of day (as well as the hoards of hungry mosquitoes) brought that first summer back for me.