After several days of hectic lab work, today was much calmer and a good chance to relax. My day started at the early hours of 11 AM, when I dragged myself out of bed and began working on my research paper draft. Afterwards, I grabbed pizza with some friends from the only open restaurant at the food court, then returned to the dorm to meet up with the rest of the group for our escape room trip. Our “escape room” consisted of a search around downtown Bloomington for clues, and despite the humid heat, dozens of participants sprinted around the streets vying for the first place prize. Despite my group’s valiant efforts, we ended up in fifth place. Nonetheless, we had a great time solving puzzles, despite the curious looks bypassers gave us as we broke into locked briefcases and ripped out papers. We then walked around downtown Bloomington, drinking smoothies and looking at expensive artwork.
Dinner tonight was quieter than usual since students at the thespian festival recently left, but the food was good as usual, especially the unlimited guacamole at the burrito bowl stand. Some of my friends went to play basketball afterwards, though tonight I had to finish my weekly long-distance run, so I toiled around campus for an hour before coming back to write this blog. SSP has been a great balance between fun and work so far. Today was more of a fun day, but the experience we have gained in the university-level lab has been invaluable as well, and I look forward to trying out new procedures in the lab in the upcoming weeks!
I’m Eric, a sophomore from Massachusetts. I enjoy running and swimming, as well as playing the violin and cooking. In the past, I spent a lot of time engineering and creating biomedical devices, but SSP has been an amazing opportunity to experience the wet lab and collaborate with other talented student researchers!
A pair of deer I met on my run around the IU campus today.
