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September 17-19, 2004: CISM Graduate Student Retreat - Round Two!

CISM held the second graduate retreat this year at the same location as the previous year. Although the weather was not as nice this year (thanks to Hurricane Ivan), we managed to make use of the retreat facility to bond and have fun. Some of the fun things we did were playing Pictionary (check out some Picasso's below!), hot tub volleyball, Under the Great UMbrella, Will it fit through the green glass door?, and just hanging out around the campfire. When we did get a chance to get out of the retreat area, we visited an old shipyard now turned into museum and also some of the beaches in the area. Yong Gang and Christina stepped into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time so that was pretty exciting.

We took a tour of an old shipyard...

...and tried our hand at drilling

Christina appreciates the work of an artist at Cape Ann

The whole gang: (back row, left to right) Salvador, Jeff, Brian, Yong Gang, and Tim (front row, left to right) Christina, Elly, Katie, Sarah, and Alexa

All too appropriate?

Elly, Katie, Christina, and Alexa on the beach at Rockport

Yong Gang takes his first steps in the Atlantic...

...and gives his enthusiatic approval

Don't fall in, Sarah!

Another historic occassion as Christina enjoys the frigid Atlantic ocean

Yes, we did do some work: Genene Fisher talks about working on space weather policy

But if we can't make it in Space Physics, I'm certain some of us will find our artistic abilities in high demand

Mike takes his turn at pictionary

More proof that we have some incredible artists among the numbers of CISM grad students

Campfire: What will fit under the Great Umbrella? Umm, I'll tell you later

Best friends

September 12-14, 2003: CISM Graduate Student Retreat

CISM held the first graduate retreat this year at the Essex Conference Center, which is about 1-hr north of Boston in the secluded woods of Cape Ann.

During this weekend, students had a chance to learn in more details about the way CISM is structured, space weather "problems" that CISM students are trying to solve, as well as work ethics and the ethic problems that scientists encounter. When we weren't official "working", the director, Dr. Hughes, and the students spent some time getting to know each other while hanging out at the hot tub, eating SUPER DELICIOUS meals at the dining area, going to the beach, playing Trivial Pursuit, or just snooping around the Essex Conference property.

Inside joke for Tim Guild, David Foster, and those who played Trivial Pursuit: In 1976, who was elected to get a bowl of "raspberry red, lemon yellow, and orange orange"?

This the left side of my room, where I slept.

My Bathroom

Doh! We managed to break something within 15 minutes of our arrival.

While checking out Jae Yong's room, someone found a small cubby door.

As we roamed around the property we found a rope to swing on. Elly gave it a try and did so gracefully.

I gave it a try too, and almost spun myself to dizziness. Thank goodness I remembered to stick my leg out to decrease my angular momentum.

Dining Area, where a lovely sign greated us during our first day there.

This is the living room area, where we spent a bit time discussing ethics and what we want CISM to do for us.

Next to the living room is the conference area, overlooked by Earth.

The front of Essex Conference. ...We're on our way to the beach!

In getting to the beach, we had to cut across Castle Hill on the Crane Estate. Atop the hill is the Great House.

View from the long lawn of the other side of the Great House.

This lawn leads to (more or less) Crane Beach. ...This is probably the longest lawn I have ever laid eyes on.

An interesting statue that I saw while walking on the long lawn.

A wedding flower arrangement in front of the Great House.

Many of these stone carvings surround the Great House.

More interesting statues. A bunch of these lined the edge of the long lawn.

This is one of the first buildings I saw on my way up to the Great House. Not sure if anyone ever lived in there.

This is one of the views I saw on our way to Crane Beach...

Once we got to the beach, the first thing we did was to see how cold the water was. Here's a picture of Paul checking out the initially "icy cold" water.

A bunch of CISM grad students. (left to right) Paul, Tim, David, Jae Yong, Elly, Josh, Nisha, Christina

Elly, Paul, and Tim.

Plum Island, north of Crane Beach

Lots of people on Crane Beach

Some kids building a sand castle.

The view we got as some of us walked over to the longer beach from Crane Beach.

The longer beach. From where I was standing, the right side of the beach stretched out for another couple miles.

The bottomless pit of snacks we often got our hands on whenever we wanted.

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Last Updated August 2005