Am I at camp?

Greetings From Kellogg Biological Station
I apologize for not posting for months...life was a bit crazy with everything going on! Hopefully, I'll be able to post more regularly this summer. 
I was here at KBS last week for LeaderShape, a weeklong leadership program with fellow MSU students. I went home for the weekend, unpacked, slept (a lot!), did laundry, repacked, and here I am again. I officially moved in yesterday afternoon. I have a small apartment that I am sharing with my roommate, Allie. She is also a sophomore Zoology student at MSU. 
So what the heck am I doing at KBS? I am an Undergraduate Research Apprentice, which pretty much means that I am taking a course (Ecology and the lab) while also working for a graduate student. I start my work tomorrow; I am going to be working on identification of macroinvertebrae from the Kalamazoo River Oil Spill.
Today was my first day of Ecology. The class is 9-5 with an hour lunch break. I think I'm really going to love this class. It is very hands-on and we spend a lot of time outside. Those are the two things I always wish classes had more of. In high school, my teachers got quite annoyed with my constant asking of, "Can we go outside today?" Unfortunately, the answer was usually no. But this time, it is YES! We went to Kellogg Forest and the Bird Sanctuary today (both quite near to KBS). At Kellogg Forest, we used art supplies and just observed everything that was around us. My professor was also an art major in college and therefore loves art. She also showed us some illustrations she has done for textbooks and they are amazing! After lunch, we had a short lecture and then headed over to the Bird Sanctuary to collect data on different plants. We are hoping to find some sort of relationship between their antioxidant levels and their habitat (sun vs. shade vs. edge). We will finish the experiment on Wednesday.
There are many students here that are working, studying, volunteering, or doing some combination of those. We even have an RA that organizes fun things for us to do. Last night was a bonfire and tonight we played Ultimate Frisbee and Apples to Apples. Tomorrow night is soccer and a welcome dinner; Wednesday is potentially grocery shopping; Thursday is looking like a trip to Climb Kalamazoo for some indoor rock climbing (they have college night twice a week).
KBS is a beautiful place. After unpacking yesterday and then taking a nap, I took a walk around. It was sunny and about 70 degrees. The lake is beautiful (albeit a bit cold) and there are lots of different plants, flowers, and wildlife around.
Sometimes, I feel like I'm at camp with all of the fun activities, new friends, and being outside. However, the food is far superior to any camp food I've ever had. I had oatmeal with dried cherries, golden raisins, and brown sugar for breakfast, along with yogurt and fresh fruit (they also serve eggs, potatoes, breakfast meats, usually waffles or french toast, bagels, and donuts); lunch was a fresh salad bar, lasagna, and yummy chicken noodle soup with wide noodles and garbanzo beans; dinner was grilled chicken (they have a large grill) with lemon, rice pilaf with tomatoes, grilled zucchini, onions, and peppers, and grilled pita with hummus. Oh, and soft serve chocolate ice cream in waffle cones. So delicious! And it tastes so fresh too!
Time to read a little bit of the Hunger Games before going to sleep-breakfast is 7-8am, so even though I don't start until 9am, I have to get up early if I want breakfast.