"Just doing what 'old folks' do", i.e., re-examine our lives, what we did right, what we did wrong (I will turn 68 in a couple of days). Decadal anniversaries and sometimes the passing of school friends can trigger these spells. Last September was the 50th anniversary of my initiation into formal Geology education when I began my Senior year of high school (1971-1972).
During the latter part of my Junior year, I was given the choice of taking Physics or Geology during my Senior year. From fellow classmates, I had heard that the Physics teacher was creepy, while the Geology teacher was merely eccentric (which is sort of normal). Besides, after having been interested in being outdoors, panning gold, looking for rubies and sapphires near Franklin, NC, and reading all I could on volcanoes and dinosaurs - for years - I knew Geology had to be easier than Physics.
As luck would have it, I was unable to totally escape Physics once in college. In order to earn my Bachelor of Science degree, I passed three Physics courses, despite struggling with Math components. [BTW, I didn't struggle as much with Geophysics in grad school, as I understood the purpose of the Non-Seismic and Seismic "versions" of Geophysics. And I had a good professor.]
Late this spring will mark the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation and the fall will mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of my college experience and Physical Geology class. (Where did the time go?)
My undergrad years (1972 - 1976) included field trips to the five Georgia Geo-Provinces, Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, and Cumberland Plateau. Also, there were field trips into South Carolina to visit the Carolina Slate Belt (at Lake Murray), into North Carolina to visit Pegmatites near Spruce Pine, and into Tennessee to visit the Ocoee Supergroup rocks along the Ocoee River Gorge.
Though the Georgia Southern Geology Department was small, that was an advantage, as only having four professors avoided ego-clashes that seem to happen with larger departments. I chose Georgia Southern as it was "far enough away" (about 210 miles) from my parents for the sake of independence, but not too far away. And once I started socializing with beer and "other things", it provided a safety margin, as my Dad was practical enough to not drive that far unless he knew I was there for the weekend. Weekend Geology field trips also provided a measure of cover against surprise parental visits.
This was in contrast to the "girl next door", who went to the University of Georgia, only about 60 miles from home. She made a habit of coming home virtually every weekend and some weekdays (while her parents were paying for a dorm room). It finally became exasperating to her Dad, who told her that "she needed to stay some weekends in Athens for some of the college experience" and to develop that sense of independence.
This was in contrast to the "girl next door", who went to the University of Georgia, only about 60 miles from home. She made a habit of coming home virtually every weekend and some weekdays (while her parents were paying for a dorm room). It finally became exasperating to her Dad, who told her that "she needed to stay some weekends in Athens for some of the college experience" and to develop that sense of independence.
Another benefit was the "suggested subsidiary courses" to enhance the Geology experience. For me, these included Technical Drafting (two courses), Black & White film photography (two courses), and Elementary Land Surveying (to help with our map-making skills).
By the time I got a part-time job as a Land Survey Assistant (late-2014 to early-2015), all that I had learned was "old school", but those skills definitely helped me with my Geology fieldwork for classes and my Master's Thesis fieldwork.
Part 2 will follow in a day or two.
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