July 3rd
Today was July 3rd, which here at NMSU meant our effective Independence Day celebration!
Waking up after the hardest pset of the program, we went to breakfast as usual and hurried to our first lecture. With everyone just finishing their observations, we got to image processing. First part of the picture focused on centroiding, but we soon got to aligning our images using DS9. After lunch and a brief nap (or laundry), we sat out on our very first major field trip to El Paso. The plan was to spend a few hours at the mall and then see a Chihuahuas baseball game.
Having missed the first target field trip, the mall was to be our first sight of civilization in over 10 days. Everyone was thrilled, with their shopping lists prepared and already looking for the closest boba tea shop, we discussed our shopping plans on the drive there. The mall was massive compared to my expectations, but after getting drinks and walking around, we realized that we did not actually need most of the stuff we were hoping to buy. The stores had primarily clothing, but we never got to pick anything worthwhile, to wear here at least. Still, it was a blast to talk with the entire group in a relaxed setting and get ice cream, visit build a bear, or mess around with pool floats.
After barely buying anything at the mall, we went to the Chihuahuas game. Not being a baseball fan personally, I got bored of the game pretty quickly and we instead went to wander the stadium in search of snacks and fun places. Despite everything from hotdogs to cucumber skewers being sold at a 3x markup, it was a wonderfully busy atmosphere and we got some baseball cards, burgers and even some free merch. While some people were working on problem sets even at the game, we got to sit on the grass and enjoy trying to understand baseball. The day concluded with probably the most incredible firework demonstration I’ve ever seen and it truly felt like July 4th, even if a day early.
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