A camping trip to Devil’s Lake

The SILVIS Lab carries out several activities in order for its members to get to know each other and to know the research they are carrying out. These activities include a lab lunch every Wednesday and fieldtrips and outdoor activities. In the Lab lunch, research work is discussed and analyzed; guests are invited to present their research, and topics useful for research work are also discussed.

In fieldtrips and outdoor activities Lab members’ families are welcome to join. The idea is to have fun and time to chat aside from work and/or research topics. These activities are also carried out to create stronger bonds of friendship and comradeship among Lab members.

In last September we went camping to Devils Lake, a state park located in central Wisconsin, very close to the city of Baraboo. The park is situated along the Ice age Trial and is well known to most of Wisconsinites for its beautiful forests, the lake and the opportunities to carry out several recreation activities.

One of the attendees to this fieldtrip was Patricia Alexandre, a new PhD student at the SILVIS Lab. Patricia comes from the city of Lisbon, Portugal, where she obtained her master’s degree in Forestry and Natural Resources at the Technical University of Lisbon.

Patricia arrived to Madison in late August with her husband Pedro Prata. This is her second visit to the US. During her first time in the country she visited San Francisco and the University of California at Berkeley. She wanted to investigate the PhD programs at that university. However, following recommendations from her former advisor, she applied to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and now she is part of the SILVIS Lab as a PhD student.

Patricia fell in love with Madison because it´s an open-minded and “bike-oriented” city. Since she loves to bike, this city has become one of her favorite cities in this part of the world!

Besides biking, Patricia also loves to dance and she and Pedro have found a place in Madison where they can practice different styles of dancing. Going outdoors is also very important for Patricia, since she loves to walk in the forests and stay in contact with nature. She has had several fieldtrips during her classes, and has also visited the area of the Blue Mounds in Wisconsin.

She enjoyed particularly the Lab’s trip to Devil’s Lake because several people from the SILVIS Lab were there and had a good time knowing each other. She thinks fieldtrips are a great way to integrate people in the Lab, allow people from outside the state to know interesting places and help to build relationships, since families are welcome to participate. She and Pedro feel really comfortable with all the people in the Lab, and she says that her husband feels like he is also part of the Lab.

Besides the companionship in the fieldtrip to Devil’s Lake , Patricia enjoyed the food and the long nice conversations around the fire, as well as listening Pedro to play his guitar. She enjoyed this trip so much she would gladly go to another fieldtrip, but this time to Rock Island!!