During our first weekend of SSP, everyone agreed that the week was the slowest one that they have ever experienced. But here we are at the 50% mark of the program, and now all of us are mourning over the fact that it is already 50% over.
At our very first orientation, the faculty mentioned that time will go by in a blink of an eye. Of course, none of us believed it, given that there were 37 days to count down from. But they truly meant it. Here, everything seems to be on 2x speed with no option to slow down. Maybe even faster. That’s just the way SSP is built with fast-paced lecture curricula and laboratory experiments.
Perhaps it may be because we got, as Dr. Hall put it, a “pathetic protein.” And I agree. Our protein is, from the bottom of my heart, the most pathetic enzyme that I have ever seen. When Shelby’s group was talking about a hundred micromoles of enzyme in their stock, my group is talking about solid 5.8 micromoles of enzyme concentration. We only have two more enzyme stocks saved too, so the math isn’t really on our side at all; while everyone has plenty of enzyme to work with, we are so concerned about using as little enzyme as possible to save our dangerously low stock. And by the way, I kindly remind you, we are only 50% into our program! We are about to go into the history of SSP as the second biochemistry group ever to run out of proteins during the project. So I guess our anxiety levels and how fast time goes in the lab are directly correlated.
Thank you for listening to my rant about my protein struggles. Let’s move on.
Perhaps it also may be because we are always counting down towards Farmers Market Thursdays. Every Thursday Purdue opens a Farmers Market that, in my humble opinion, offers better food than the Memorial Union where we usually go for lunch. It also is such a vibrant place with so many shops that are uniting the entire Purdue community, and the marketplace never fails to disappoint me.
But the main reason why time is going so fast – by far – is because of the wonderful community that I am constantly surrounded by. Back in Texas, it is so easy to often catch myself in the middle of unseen competition trying to be the best of the best – here, everyone is genuinely trying to improve and be better versions of themselves. Not only were we crying together at the notorious “Assignment 2” or MOE programs but also smiling at some of the most beautiful moments of our life. From our very first field trip to the zoo to evening parking lot sunsets, we have bonded over our shared memories and waves of laughter. But I am especially thankful for my amazing lab group, Kyra and Sai, for being the best research teammates that I could ever ask for, and my roommate Brian for being one of my closest friends here at SSP since day one. I truly appreciate everyone – and I do mean everyone – for being such supportive and fabulous people. I’m so proud and honored to be part of this community more than anything.
So now, instead of saying there is only 50% of the program left, let us start saying that we still have 50% left. Why worry about the number of days left when we still have so many stories to create today? After all, that’s the mindset that we all share here at Purdue – when we think a problem is a tomorrow problem, all our anxieties will melt away!
Hey y’all! My name is Sehyun, and I’m a rising senior from Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas – a suburb of Dallas. I really love to travel, and as a hobby, you can frequently find me playing the cello. Speaking of, I should really be practicing for my upcoming audition in October, but unfortunately, the cello was too big to carry it with me to SSP. So until I can practice again, it sounds to me like a future problem!
