To forget the feeling of bliss when waking up on a Saturday at 10:39 am, and euphoria when realizing there is nothing scheduled for the day, is another level of tragedy. All jokes aside, when I woke up this morning to the chorus of two iPhone alarms, it did not feel like the weekend at all. Perhaps it was because we went on our field trip to IU on Wednesday and I subconsciously treated that like a weekend. I left my dorm at 7:55 this morning and somehow still arrived on time for our 8 am lecture; speed walking is my new form of exercise within the busy days. For the past two weeks, we’ve been wading knee deep through programs on Galaxy, immersing ourselves into the bioinformatics portion of our research project, but we’re nearing another turn. Dr. M gave us a lecture this morning about how in the wet lab next week, we’ll be able to verify whether the mutations we found in our analysis actually cause antibiotic resistance. To be honest, “Moving into week 5” is a phrase I never thought I would hear; time is a funny thing here at SSP, a paradox even. Just four weeks ago, I was one of a couple hundred people at the San Diego Airport, waiting for a delayed flight to meet 30 strangers in West Lafayette, Indiana. Right now, that moment feels like it happened years ago. I feel more connected to the majority of my 23 peers here than many back at home, and as week 6 looms over us from a distance, I’m genuinely terrified of saying goodbye. Fortunately, I don’t have much time to think about that right now because we are in the middle of the busiest portion of the program: writing the scientific paper while simultaneously analyzing our data. We all spent the rest of the day toggling between the two, typing away in silence with earbuds in and snacks on hand. I’ve found comfort in using the second floor of our lab building as a workspace. Something about the desks tucked away in the quiet corner is just so peaceful.
We finished off the day at around 10:30, walking back under the night lights that dot the path. These work days often feel like a full week jammed into 24 hours, yet the weeks pass in the blink of an eye. I can only hope that as time races forward and the end inevitably draws near, we all cherish the moments we still have left together.
About me:
Hi, my name is Audrey An and I’m from San Diego, California. Beyond STEM, my favorite things to do are debate, volleyball, and working out at a nearby gym.
