Stars, Stem Cells and Zoom-induced Deafness

As the clock strikes 11:15 pm, my eyes are closing and my mind begins to wander. I am trying as hard as I can to focus, but today’s lecture was ridiculously hard, and my brain cells are practically begging for a break. Of course, being the kind and empathetic soul that I am, I allow my eyes and mind to rest. Deep down, I know I should be processing these pesky sample images with my team, The Pasta-roids, but instead, I find myself dreaming…

Ahhhh … Virtual SSP has been an incredible experience … It has completely surpassed my expectations … It’s been absolutely PERFECT!!!!…

But before I can dream any more about perfect, blissful SSP, the horrific thought of upcoming PSets jerks me out of my sleepy state (rude, I know). I frantically ask my team some questions to try and catch up on the work…

Me: Huh… are we supposed to count those ten stars?

Jack: What did you just say?

Me: Are we supposed to count those ten stars?

Jack: WHAT?

Me:  ARE…WE…SUPPOSED…TO…COUNT…THOSE…TEN…STARS??

Jack: *laughing hysterically* Count those… stem cells?

Ryan: I heard farads… so I have no idea what you guys are talking about!

An SSPer looking in confusion at Kavya's (the blogger for today) question.

Real photo of my team member trying to discern what I was saying (Sorry, Ryan)

Okay…. so maybe the SSP experience hasn’t always been as perfect as my dreams made it out to be! Virtual SSP can be a little frustrating at times.

Okay fine, very frustrating.

But it’s still awesome.

For one thing, I bet the offline SSPers never got to travel around the world together! But here at CUB 2021, we frequently adventure to different corners of the globe. With just the click of a button, we’ve already been to several exotic locations, like Indonesia, Denmark, Alaska and Paris!! 

Three SSPers photoshopped onto an image from Denmark that they encountered during a game of GeoGuessr!

Our recent trip to Denmark! (We may have only been able to travel through the online geography game, GeoGuessr, but we’ll just choose to ignore that.)

Then again, the offline SSPers got to physically be in the same corner of the globe, at the same time, all together….

OH! HA! I bet the offline SSPers NEVER got to relax and wind-down in a five-star, luxury spa like we did! 

At home, DIY skincare session (courtesy of our professional manicurist Molly)

Then again, I’m sure the fresh, clean air at Boulder, Colorado was skincare enough for them…

As you can see, this exercise is proving to be rather futile. It seems like I’ll never be certain of how my online SSP experience compares to an in-the-flesh, offline one. However, I am certain that either way, I have these 35 other science-obsessed, pasta-loving SSPers to guide me, support me and answer all my questions (well… only if they can hear me right!) 

-Kavya

ABOUT ME

Hi! I’m Kavya, a rising senior from India. When I’m not crying over PSets, you’ll find me crying over the lack of data from our asteroid observations (aren’t weather problems the worst?). Apart from all that crying jazz, I love to sing, play the piano, make videos, and think about dogs. I’ve been loving SSP, and I can’t wait to make more memories with my wonderful fellow participants and faculty!