News from a Nitwit Neuroscientist: One week in the desert

Hey everyone!

Tomorrow marks my first week in my new home in Reno, Nevada. I've decided to try keeping a blog to stay in touch with everyone back home and monitor my slow transition into a real 'Murican. I figure by the time I graduate from the University of Nevada I'll probably be banned from re-entering Canada due to a massive gun-collection and a closet full of star-spangled everything.

Some views of home; lush garden, rolling hills and fields.

And of course, my beloved Ginger!

So, let's start with the basics. Why am I here in the "biggest little city in the world"? Officially, I've been accepted to the Cognitive and Brain Sciences program to pursue graduate studies. If everything goes well, in approximately 4 years I will have a doctorate and know a lot of very specific sciencey words and acronyms to prove it. (Just to clarify, this is the PhD kind of doctor not the 'does this look infected to you?' kind of doctor. Please, don't ask me what to do if you're sick. My advice is to drink tea and flat ginger-ale and eat soda crackers.) Sometime last year when grad school applications were due, I went online and read a bunch of neuroscience journal articles, trying to figure out exactly what kind of work I wanted to do. I was lucky enough to stumble upon the work of Dr. Jeffrey Hutsler, my new PhD supervisor and an expert in autism research. Hopefully, with him as my guide, I will spend the next few years examining how brain cells (neurons) in the human cortex grow and how that growth is affected in autism. In order for the brain to function normally a very large number of cells need to stretch out long processes and make connections with other cells - this is how we form the synapses that make the brain work, allowing cells to 'talk' to each other. Obviously this is a very simplified description, but basically what I want to learn about is why in the autistic brain these cells don't make the normal connections.

The UNR campus. No desert here! I even found some friendly Canadian residents at the campus pond.

But all of this school work is in the future still - since I arrived in Reno my life has been filled with all the monotonous tasks that go along with moving to a new place. After arriving at my lovely, totally unfurnished apartment I slept for several days on a foam pad on the floor, subsisting on frozen pizza and salami. Thankfully, my new bed arrived before my first Reno hangover occurred. Because being hungover on the ground is a pain no one should have to endure. Now at the end of a week the apartment looks far more welcoming! All I need is my kitchen supplies and a nice couch and I'll be able to entertain in style.

Mostly though, this week has been an introduction to Reno itself. After a brief stop-over in Dallas, Texas (complete with several y'alls and honeys from the local airport staff) I was thrilled to be placed in a window seat for the last leg of my journey. As we approached Reno and began our descent through thick, low-hanging grey clouds the thrills somewhat dissipated. Finally we broke through the clouds and my first impression was a wide expanse of....brown, somewhat cracked earth broken up here and there by scraggly silvery-green tufts. We taxied up the runway towards the airport and passed a fleet of snub-nosed steel grey US airforce planes and that was it. My first impression of Reno - barren earth and a strong military presence.

My first view of Reno. Glorious.

Flying over.... Utah? Looks pretty dry down there

Rancho San Rafaelo park. Look at the duck family!

Since that first day I've formed a more favourable impression, but Reno is still an oddity to me. The motto 'biggest little city' seems very apt the more I explore, halfway between a city and a small town, a friendly local feeling mixed with a pseudo-Vegas party vibe that draws in those tourists who can't make it all the way to Las Vegas. Surrounded by a mountains, the land around Reno is definitely a desert climate, complete with tumbleweeds and incredibly quick lizards. The campus looks and feels like a traditional university complete with lush grass, wide tree-planted avenues and a very well maintained football field (in harsh contrast to the decrepit tennis fields).

The UNR football stadium, home of the Wolf Pack.

Damn sunbathers, doesn't he know tanning causes cancer?

A panorama from the top of the hill in Rancho San Rafaelo

But a five minute walk from campus everything becomes undeniably seedy; boarded up old motels, bath houses, pawn shops and soon you're walking past gaudy wedding chapels and casinos feeling like you're trapped in a 1970s B cop movie. During the day-time a lot of the main strip seems a little run down and all the lightbulbs on the casinos make it seem like the downtown is made up of nothing but Honest Ed's warehouses. But then! Night-time comes, the lights go on and the people come out and it's clear that this isn't a lesser, seedier Las Vegas. Reno isn't about the glitz, Reno isn't a destination town where the only locals are casino staff. Reno is the opposite, filled with locals who genuinely love their city for it's party atmosphere, it's rough edges, it's proximity to the wilderness. It's a place that people are happy to think of as home, and I think with a bit of time so will I.