Hi guys! I’m Viktoriia and today is my birthday! This special moment for me started at 9am at the lecture, which was about rotation matrices and basics of multivariable calculus. All the students drew a big “poster” on a whiteboard to congrat me while I entered the classroom. Emotions were uncountable! Continuing with the lecture, the topics were not difficult but they were not easy either. Sometimes I was getting lost but other students were willing to give me a hand with no hesitation. Also, I almost forgot to say that it was not a usual birthday but a turning point in my adulthood – 18 years old!
Fortunately, this Saturday matched my celebration and all the students together with TAs went downtown FOR THE FIRST TIME during the program. Firstly, we decided to go to CVS to buy some stuff in the dorms for ourselves. Being a Ukrainian in the US sometimes brings challenges in my life. For example, 600!!! q tips in one box will remain in my memory forever (as well as in memory of my Brazilian roommate Isa) However, this was far from the end of our exciting trip. Cafes, Chinese food shops and interesting antique stores did not hide from our attention as well. Second place I tended to visit was a coffee shop where I decided to celebrate my birthday with a cup of coffee and (continuing our rubric of huge stuff) a gigantic cookie. Spoiler: It was delicious. Third place I went to was a big antique store where I and my other friends hang out just for entertainment.
At the end of the day, everyone was focused on the second Problem Set which should be finished by June 24. In addition to this, three groups of young researchers (including our team) had an opportunity to go on with our asteroids’ observations. And everything would have seemed successful but the frustrating clouds did not allow any of us to get some great photos. But, despite these issues, we spent time finishing our Problem Set. At 11:45pm, I headed back to my dorm full of emotions and excitement getting ready for a peaceful Sunday:)
-Viktoriia
