Today is July 4th, marking a pivotal day in our nation’s history. It’s also the last day in our cycle of required blogs.
Originally, I was excited to write the final required blog and to have the honor of posting on such a significant day for my country. In all honesty, however, I woke up too sick to speak. After violently attacking half of the GTWN participants, the circulating virus has officially infected me with full force. In hopes of easing my symptoms, I went to buy tea in the morning only to find that all the coffee shops on campus were closed. I couldn’t determine whether this was due to the national holiday or the DC water boiling advisory–which was conveniently instated late last night.
Despite today’s hiccups, we still had lectures and labs. Similar to theories from the Age of Enlightenment, the learning process here is unstoppable. Throughout the lab, my group ignored every disturbance and worked as a team to achieve a common goal—almost identical to the founding fathers, or not. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe the founding fathers manipulated bioinformatics tools to map their genomes against a reference. However, in closer parallel to them, I did spend the day surrounded by a group of extremely supportive colleagues. They are funny, friendly, and always willing to help. Although it may be unprofessional, I sometimes like to call them friends.
In full transparency, I tried to pre-write this blog a few days ago, anticipating my sickness. I wrote about how amazing my family is and how much SSP has made me reflect on that—the lessons here are never-ending… Nevertheless, I’m currently realizing those home-related emotional thoughts might not be appropriate for this blog or this platform as a whole.
Now, in our last study session of the day, I am dedicating some time to write this blog. Like most other participants, I considered including pictures. However, after pasting too many bioinformatics screenshots into my lab notebook today, my ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ keys became weak and fell off.
As I sit here approaching the end of our study session, I remember for the first time all day the traditions and celebrations that always come with the 4th of July. Today will end on a positive note, with fireworks–a sign of hope. Much like the founding fathers, I too hope for a better tomorrow. As my least favorite author once said, “all’s well that ends well.”
–Charlie
P.S. My SSP cohort is full of amazing people. I consider myself lucky to work in a research lab, share a living space, and spend time with each and every one of them. Specifically, I’d like to use this blog to acknowledge several incredible participants who will remain unnamed; this includes my roommate and a few others. These participants are now my friends; they are always willing to listen to my thoughts despite their lack of relevance; they have supported me in ways they may not realize; and they have advised me in manners that I will surely never forget.
