Fourth lesson: the circle of life happens everywhere, and it never gets easier. Up on the mountain where I work there is a bald eagle nest every summer. This summer there were two eggs we watched throughout early May, and they hatched just 5 & 4 days ago! However, this year, it didn't take long for the hawks to notice the nest either. The eagles were, sadly, eaten yesterday. I don't know what was harder, happening to have tourists looking at the nest at the time the hawks took action, or having to explain to people where the baby eaglets went that they had heard so many wonderful things about :/

So the second lesson I learned (quickly) here is that: the food sucks. Harsh, I know, but true. There are about two restaurants that the locals recommend, and plenty that they don't. Not only are there no good places to eat out, but it is very hard to get fresh food here to buy in the grocery store. I feel like I'm still living in my college apartment. But my housemate makes excellent chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
The third lesson I learned: tourists... easy to spot, hard to handle. Almost every local in Juneau wears one specific brand of rain boots, a rain jacket, and jeans. That's it. So anybody not wearing this is automatically labeled a tourist. Also, I work on the top of a mountain in a nature center, so I deal with tourists everyday. The main thing I've realized is that when people are on vacation, they all somehow forget to read.  Even though there are signs everywhere saying that our trails are closed because of snow coverage, everyday I get tons and tons of questions about which trails are open. And then, when I tell them that none are, I get tons and tons of complaints. So anybody about to go on vacation, pay attention!

So I've been in Juneau for a little more than a week now, and I've already learned some key lessons for survival in this little city (and by little I mean tiny - it is the same population as my undergrad university...). The more experiences I have, the more I'll discover, and the more I'll post about them! So here goes. The very first lesson I learned here is: always wear/bring a raincoat. But usually always just wear one. It can start raining at any time in the day, even if the sun is shining (which it usually isn't). I should be used to quick weather changes, having lived in New England for almost 20 years. However, I've never experienced rain as determined as the rain in Alaska. I don't think I've spent one day here so far where it hasn't started raining at some point. Another good thing to wear - rain boots.  All of this makes it easy for wardrobe choices, but that's hard for a city-girl.