Today, 6/25/24, has been oddly unique for a Tuesday at least for me and maybe for all of us. Today was the first weekday I skipped breakfast at SSP. While this may seem completely unsurprising to my friends and family at home, I for once listened to my dad’s constant lectures to eat breakfast until this morning when I opted to sleep in. However, it seemed that many of us here at Genomics Purdue needed those extra minutes of sleep today.
It might’ve been that PLA problem set last night or the tiredness pouring in from Monday, but this morning was particularly sleepy for me and some of the other guys. According to some of my friends, I was totally out of it; I might need to try a coffee sometime. Today was also the first time that we saw a Purdue train car rolling down the street as we left the lab for lunch. We were able to get the train conductor to give us a couple honks when it was passing by. Today, towards the end of class, Dr. Lamanna led a silent conga-like line with us. It was very interesting to say the least but also funny and fun in its own way. Our long line was quietly snaking through the tables, each of us matching the steps of the person in front, with the ultimate goal of processing the information we just read from a few scientific abstracts. Looking back, it was a good break from the complicated readings and a teaching style that I’ll probably never forget. Today, we also got to practice gel electrophoresis with Dr. Carter by pipetting DNA into the gel and observing the bands that form. It was really cool to see everyone’s bluish lines in the gel. My bands may have not formed… but at least I know what to do better in the real deal. So again, today was unique in many ways despite its simplistic schedule. It was lots of fun, and I’m excited to see what the upcoming days of SSP have to offer, especially tomorrow for our first field trip! (Gareth)
