Week One, Starting Week Two

So, I haven’t had much time to update, but I thought I’d give the reader’s digest version of my first week in Athens to those of you who actually read this thing.

1) My roommate is a very nice Ecology grad student. We both love animals, corny science jokes, and Thai food, so we’re off to a good start. She’s good enough to put up with me. I hope she can make it through the summer. Haha.

2) My supervisor and my labmates are really great. By Tuesday of last week, I was already downstairs in the NMR room–my super was showing me the basics and discussing possible projects. I knew what I’d be working on by Wednesday. It’s great to work with people that are direct, motivated, and nice enough to show me how to do techniques that I haven’t done before (I have done a lot of chemistry, but I haven’t had much experience with protein/DNA systems and gels and electrophoresis, etc., so I’m having to learn those also.) It thrills me, though, because hopefully I’ll catch on by the end of the summer and be able to leave Athens with a few more skills. Gotta have skills, you know? The more techniques I know, the better off I’ll be.
 
3) UGA bureaucracy is insane. People here do not do their jobs. For serious. I don’t feel like ranting about it anymore, but just know that it sucks. Very bad. 

4) I am tired. It be bedtime.

Funny

Funny event of the day:

PH meter: *BEEP* (shuts off)

Me (the genius): “I think it went idle…”

Labmate: “Uh…you might want to press any key to have the menu come back up. “

Me (the genius): “Where is that?”

Labmate: *incredulous stare*

Me (the genius): *realizes what just occurred* “Shit.”

Labmate: *continued stare*

Other labmate nearby: “Did she just ask where the any key was?” *laughs*

Labmate: *stare, stare*

Me (the genius): *sighs* *will never live it down*

Letter To Katie

My dearest Yank,

I am doing well. I finished a grueling semester(GRUELING) and came out with three A’s and only one B– Calc. III. I attended our Science Dept. Honors Picnic right after finishing and my biochem prof actually came over to the chem table to brag on how well I had done in his class. Figuring I’m not much for basking in the light of my own achievements, I was blushing up a storm. But it did feel good to know that all of my long, lonely (studying took up much of my Jeremy time), incredibly stressful nights actually counted for something in the end (biochem and pchem are our school’s two hardest classes). I was really happy to hear him say he was proud of me, too, since he is actually part of the biology dept.(though he did well with teaching the chemistry in biochem) and is notorious for ripping chem majors a new one just because he can.

The first few weeks of class, when he would ask a question, I would purposely answer incorrectly so that we could move on with discussion and he would point out why that my answer was incorrect for the benefit of the class. Then, we ran into each other in Wal-Mart about half-way through the course and he asked me who I was. I told him and he started laughing–evidently they talk about me in their faculty meetings (my advisor likes to brag about his cherubs–Tonya and myself), and my biochem prof had been trying to figure out which one of his students was Savannah. Never did he imagine that it would be the idiot in the front row answering incorrectly. Haha. We had a good laugh about it and ever since then we have maintained a steady email correspondence  regarding my projects, etc. I was glad to have made him a friend, especially since he did his Ph.D./postdoc work on proteins similar to the ones I am working on this summer. It is always nice to have another source of wisdom, so to speak.

I am staying here in Athens in a little suburb called Five Points. I advertised on Craigslist and got a response within a day. My roommate is a really nice girl–er, woman. Her name is Cynthia and she is an third-year Ecology grad student (the Ecology building is right next door, so we’ll be able to ride the bus together). Jeremy and I went to look at many other places to stay and hers was the only one that “felt” right. She’s really reasonable and seems to take her studies seriously, unlike some of the other would-be housemates. I arrived here Sunday and she has gone to a conference in South Carolina until Thursday. It has been a bit lonely with her gone, but her menagerie of animals has kept me company–Lucy and Sierra, dogs; Rosie and Abraham, cats. The neighborhood is nice and quiet; also, it’s only a few miles from where I work.

Speaking of which, I am currently typing this from the third floor of the oh-so-exclusive Davison Biological Sciences Complex – Center for Genetics and Biochemistry. Haha. It is a nice building (much nicer than Chevron, in my opinion) with lots of nice labs, windows, and sunlight (a rare commodity). I will post some pictures on facebook soon so that you can see what I mean. The building is built in a set of three circles to maximize window usage–http://www.bmb.uga.edu/home/facilities/index.htm.

Also, my advisor here at UGA (sidenote: I was incredibly amused at your using “UG” as it is well known here in the South as “UGA” pronounced “yoo-jee-aay”, you’re such a funny gal!!), Dr. Urbauer, is in charge of the two NMR instruments here, so we have first priority and he plans to train me to use them. He also took me over to the Complex Carbohydrates Research Center yesterday to show me the NMR instruments housed there (he works with those, also)– http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/ . We had our first lesson this morning for about three hours. He showed me how to use the computer program to set up different shims, experiments, etc., and also how to tune the probe. It was great to have that kind of hands-on experience and attention. Much different from last summer! It’s only the second day and already I am learning! I spent most of yesterday reading, but did take some time to clean the HPLC with a labmate. I have not yet decided on a project, though he has given me three different project options, all of which sound really interesting. I’ll get experience harvesting proteins from bacteria, working gels, etc., as well as the NMR experience. I am thrilled to have a chance to learn such useful skills, not to mention they will probably come in handy later.

I am very excited to be working with Dr. Urbauer–he is passionate about his projects, and also understands the restrictions of the short time span in which I will be working–having such realistic parameters understood makes this “work” so much easier. He is definitely a big-picture person like myself. I really enjoyed working at Pitt last summer, but mostly due to people like yourself, Eric, Stephane, Chris, and Sruti. Last summer was definitely a learning experience (both good and bad), but hopefully this summer will prove to be much more productive.

I miss you a lot. I am happy that you have found someone to stay with in Madison! That is always a relief, I know. I hope that you enjoy your summer and that you take some time to relax. You will have to keep me updated on your graduate experiences so that I can live vicariously through you!! I am looking forward to my senior project this next year. And maybe visiting some friends (nod, nod, wink, wink).

Perhaps I will call you sometime when I’m not reading about proteases or calmodulin or INEPT. I know you’d like that. Haha.

I will be in touch,

Your Belle

Alive?

I am still alive. Just back and forth. And not much has happened to me lately, so I haven’t felt justified in posting. But things will be happening soon! I am going to enjoy my last bit of time “off” before I start work in Athens next Monday. I’m sure I’ll have lots to post about then. We move my stuff this weekend. I’m both excited and apprehensive. But I’m sure I’ll get to make some new friends.

Jeremy’s been wonderful to keep me around this past month. I’m glad I’ll be closer to home this summer. 

More soon.