Taking a class as Christine

[Christie ann]

Last summer I had the chance to take a week long class in stream and sedimentary geology?ya, I know it sounds thrilling. It was taught by one of the natural history organizations aligned with our bigger national parks. When I signed up for the class, I checked their website concerning diversity acceptance, and yes, they were open to having a student who was identifying as a woman.
I took the camper so getting ready each morning was easier than being in a tent. Shaving was the biggest issue and the 3,4 and 5 o?clock shadow during our day long field trips. You don?t need a lot of makeup on a geology field trip. I took along some lotion, a razor and foundation so I could retouch during the day. My clothes collection is quite small so there was some overlap in presentation.

Each day I wore my trusty hiking skort, a scoop neck top and my favorite pink socks, as well as the basic underpinnings of a woman and my trusty wig. I was introduced as Christie and so was called Christie by everyone all week long. There was one older guy who would misgender me all the time, but everyone else was on board and treated me just fine. The other women would even pull me into the women?s room so we could continue with our conversations when we would have breaks. The instructor was amazing, he was the only one with a class roster and know my male name and he never used it.

I was quite honest with my female classmates ( who accepted me with literal open arms) and told them my desire was to be a woman and not a caricature of a woman. They helped me quite a bit with my daily presentation and knocked some of the masculine edges off my making conversation.

It was an example of gender euphoria being me. Sorry, I don?t do pictures, but I am sure I was quite cute all week!

[Karren H]

That's awesome, Christie! And the subject doesn't sound boring to me! I couldn't imagine doing the field geology that I had enfemme (10 weeks, 5 days a week, 10 hours a day, some saturdays). All the women looked and smelled as bad as the guys (keeps the mosquitos and black flies away) lol

[Christie ann]

That’s what’s great about post grad stuff. You spend time in the van, drive around, the instructor waves his arms around and we talk, measure and map. No samples, it’s a National park. And, back for dinner, talk around the campfire, tell stories, sleep and repeat.

Only this time I was a girl, we did the self segregation really nicely. The guys talked sports and we talked about life.

[bridget thronton]

What a great way to spend a week (perhaps after I retire)

[Emily in the south]

So nice for you Christie! What a interesting and i'm sure exciting way to spend a week.
Also, great fun with your female new friends.
I am certain you looked very cute!

Emily

[Crissy 107]

That does sound great Christie and it is so nice you were accepted by everyone or at least almost everyone

[Connie D50]

Wow sounds like you had a great time. A bonus with your classmate helping you on presentation and conversation. (I bet you were very cute all week :))

[kimdl93]

What a wonderful way to immerse yourself in nature and womanhood.

[GretchenM]

Euphoria. Now there is a great choice of a word. I can only imagine. But it must have been glorious. What is even better is the naturalness of the acceptance. It gives me hope. And you probably learned a lot not only about being in the situation but on the fascinating subject of fluvial geomorphology (the dynamics of stream and river flow). That is a subject I know so well. But that is beside the point. The point is you were Christie and accepted as Christie. Congratulations many times over.

[GJ81]

Sounds like a wonderful experience Christie. It was so cool of the women in the group to include you in their conversations and helping you. It would be so much fun to have a similar experience.

[docrobbysherry]

That sounds so intimidating to me Christie!:eek:

Glad u enjoyed it so much!:)

[Diane P]

Christie, it sounds like you had a wonderful time. Glad to hear the women were so accepting of you and helped smooth out male edges to your presentation. Riding around in a van in a National Park with the instructor pointing out things and not having to take samples sounds like a lot of fun.

[BLUE ORCHID]

That's Awesome Christine,

[Heather76]

Only this time I was a girl, we did the self segregation really nicely. The guys talked sports and we talked about life.
That sounds great. Whenever we get together with my wife's family (she has 3 brothers), the guys sit in the family room watching baseball, football, basketball, or rodeos on TV. The women and my male self sit around the dining room table playing board games and talking about anything but sports. I wish I could do that as Heather; but, I'm happy to do it as my male self.

[alwayshave]

Christine, That is so wonderful. I'm glad the other ladies were accepting.

[Valeria M.]

Sounds wonderful. :battingeyelashes:

[MsEva]

So cool!
I have a masters in Earth Science...so geology caught my eye. Good on you. Not sure if I would ever have the strength to go en femme for a geology study. Kudos on you.