Genre Piece 3 - draft 1

Friday, April 15, 2011
42^o 46’ 29” N 77^o 49’ 42” W
Fall Brook Falls

Today is my first day out in the field, collecting rocks! 

My best friend Megan is a Geology major at Geneseo, and she convinced me to come along on a field trip.  Megan and a bunch of her “rock lover” friends are going to Fall Brook to look for fossils and rocks and stuff.  She gave me this notebook, a hard hat, a rock hammer (which looks a lot like a regular hammer, but shiny-er and the pointed end is a little longer), and a backpack to hold my “finds”.  I think she’s trying to convert me…

I’m a Communication major at Geneseo, not a Geology major.  I’ve never even really been the outdoors-y type.  I met Megan through my suitemate, who is a Physics major.  Apparently, the science majors don’t get out much – it seems like they just hang around the science building and eat M and Ms and talk about string theory and lab assignments.  And then drink all night at Kelly’s.  Kelly’s, I can relate to.  Labs, I cannot.  Anyhow, Megan is the most wonderful human being I have ever been around – she gives the best hugs, and is crazy smart, but doesn’t act like it.  She’s just down to earth.  She started shaving her head last year when she broke her leg and it was too hard to wash her hair with the cast.  Now she keeps it up and it makes her that much more awesome.  So one night (which may or may not have been after an extended evening at Kelly’s…) Megan convinced me to go out on a rock hunt field trip with her and some other rock nerds.  And here we are today.  We had to wait for warmer weather because Fall Brook is kind of a canyon and the sun doesn’t always reach the bottom. 

I don’t really know what to expect for this whole rock collecting experience.  I’m trying to hide my fears… but what if I make a total fool out of myself?  Obviously I know absolutely nothing about rocks.  What if I pick out stupid rocks?  I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a stupid rock and a good rock.  I’ll just have to wait and see what everyone else is doing.