Winter 2010:

Stacy Aguilera

This is my second quarter at Hopkins, having spent part of last spring at the Station studying with the Stanford at Sea program. I’m planning on returning this summer to complete my honors thesis work on limpets and am so glad to be coming back to live in Monterey. Everyday I wake up and look out my window to see the ocean and am so happy to be able to live where I do. Not only does the scenery constantly amuse and  relax me with its playful otters and sprawled out seals, but the activities such as Farmers Markets and hiking trails makes me feel  part of the lovely community of the Monterey peninsula. One quarter isn’t enough to do everything you can in this area! There is diving, surfing, kayaking, and many fun places to visit along Cannery Row. But one of the best things about my time at Hopkins is of course the classes. At Hopkins I finally get to sit and talk with faculty and  really get to know them well as the classes are so small. Asking questions and proposing hypothetical questions is much easier than on campus, and the professors really get to understand what you’re interested in and try to focus the class on that.

I loved exploring the nearby areas, such as Monastery Beach, where one day after class I saw this gorgeous rainbow!

Most of the classes are hands on and there is nothing like holding a Humboldt squid eye or looking at a polychaete’s setae under a microscope, or bending over a large intertidal rock to count abalones. Every time I ask myself why I worked so hard in high school, I realize the answer is in Hopkins. The people, the classes, and the area are unlike anything I have ever experienced and I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to enjoy it.

Top left: Monterey is a great place to go diving! Middle: Monterey has a wide array of things to do and places to see! The Fishermen’s Wharf always has great free clam chowder samples! Right: Just another day at class, dissecting a Humboldt squid.

Lauren Bell

I moved to Hopkins because I aspired to be just like Ed Ricketts – one of the first holistic ecologists, and the model for the character of "Doc" in Cannery Row. And, frankly, the environment here has facilitated every aspect of that desire: it’s given me easy access to a living cioppino of intertidal invertebrates, an easygoing rapport with my professors, and a non-teleological life theory. And a moustache.

Krista Doersch

Keep your friends close and your anemones closer.

Tinya Hoang

I'm a Biology coterm student, and this is my sixth quarter at Hopkins. Hopkins always has me coming back for more. I love being able to clamber and crouch over the rocks in the intertidal and let my curiosity take over. I feel as though I am discovering the world for the first time, with each trip to the shore revealing something new and unexpected. Whether its holding a beautifully colored nudibranch in my hands or feeling the textures of the red algae between my fingers, interacting with the natural world first hand sparks within me that most innate of human desires to ask questions about the world around us. That’s what makes Hopkins most exciting to me. And what’s great is that everyone here is just as enthusiastic and passionate. The professors are eager to share their knowledge with students, and not only do they encourage students to ask questions but they also give them the opportunity to go and find out the answers themselves. At Hopkins, students can easily get involved in research in one of the labs just by talking to one of the professors. Because of its sense of community, Hopkins provides a unique environment for doing research where there is dialogue and an exchange of ideas from different perspectives. In fact, the most valuable things that I have learned at Stanford as a Biology student have come from my research experiences here. And what’s even better is that I get to live and study in beautiful Monterey! You can't beat the views, especially on those sunny days when the water is calm and blue, the seals are out soaking in the sun and all you hear is the sound of the waves.