I have now spent a little more than a week in Berkeley starting my one year research stay at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (Picture). Here I will primarily be working with Rauri Bowie on the role of habitat change in Eastern Africa as a driver of genetic versus morphological structure in forest birds.
I spent the first few days settling in at the house I share with two other graduate students, finding may way around town and buying a bed and a bike - what else do you need!? This week I started my training in the genetics laboratory, one of the major competences that I aim to acquire during the PhD.
Besides being one of the only universities with designated parking spots for Nobel laureates, there are several cool features around the university campus. One of the very famous features in the Valley Life Sciences Building is a giant mounted T-rex fossil - one of the few in the world.