Winter 2023

Ethan got COVID, I continued to grind my classes, I like public policy, I applied for a couple clubs to continue synthesizing interests, the house tour grind, real lab work in the Fuller lab

Artifacts

I was not excited about having to do more organic chemistry. I hadn't done well on my ochem 237 final, and I was worried about 238 and starting the lab (241). My fears unfortunately came true. I was trying to clean a glass centrifuge tube when I knocked it against the sink and it shattered. I was kind of annoyed but I cleaned it and it was no big deal. I started cleaning more equipment and was shocked to see all of it stained red with my blood! I had cut my thumb bad enough that my poor TA (his first time TAing) had to put a ton of disinfecting cream on it. I got all bandaged up, but breaking a flask the next week did a number on my confidence.

I filled out a couple applications to get more involved with extracurricular things since many of the clubs I joined freshman year had died out and I felt like I didn't have much community on campus. I ended up applying to join the Peer Educator Program and iGEM, a synthetic biology club. I hoped that the Peer Educator program would help me continue thinking about education and stay even more involved with the Honors program. Human Practices is the part of iGEM that deals with history, sociology, policy, and implementation of synthetic biology advances. I wanted to join this subteam because of my interests in econ and biology leading me to consider other possible intersections outside of just healthcare. One commonality between these applications is that I applied on the last day I could because of a listserv email. It's tough because I didn't feel proactive about doing it but at least I was reading those emails to find opportunities.

Big parts of this quarter are basically gaps in my memory where I was so caught up in schoolwork. One thing I definitely remember was starting to watch Masterchef with Ethan. It was just a fun way to destress after tough, rainy weeks, and we both got really into how mean Joe was and the absolute drama between Krissi and everyone else in season 4. Plus the food looked really good while I was eating pasta for the fifth time that week.