is orientation.
Finally! Hooray!
I am looking forward to free breakfast and lunch and happy hour.
And then, one of the girls in my incoming class is going to perform (sing+guitar) at a cafe, so we are carpooling there and then hanging out, which should be fun? But I might not go. Because my friend from high school invited me to sushi with some of her friends… I don’t know. Either way, tomorrow will be a good day. Unless for some reason it isn’t. But I’ll let you know.
So, I really only made this tumblr to share pictures of my apartment (see first post), but now that I have followers (haha) and a lot more than pictures to share, I think maybe I will post at least a few more times here.
First, I am sure you are wondering if my roommate still thinks I am “on the spectrum.” Thankfully, I am now sure that she does not. We talked a lot yesterday and spent some time together in the Study Room this morning. It’s okay if she doesn’t think I’m normal. I just need her to know that I can carry out a normal conversation about things that aren’t neuroscience.
But now on to neuroscience: today I had my first meeting with my rotation advisor. For my first quarter here, he will be my boss. I was very nervous about the meeting. I have been to his office twice before, but I got lost both times (and once, I was even with a current student!), so I left extra early. The problem is, the office is less than 10 minutes away from my apartment! So, I went to ask the “Central Cashier” about how to pay my $1.44 electricity bill, and then walked to the building. I was still about 15 minutes early, so I was going to take my time, but then I guess I looked really lost and this man asked if I needed help. So I asked him if I was using the correct elevator (at the back of the building, where I had never been before), and he said yes, he would take me to the office. Awk though, because I got there 10 minutes early, and the doctor wasn’t there yet! I am all about being right on time or max 5 minutes early, so I awkwardly left the building to buy a bottle of water, and then walked back up, pretending I my arrival was just miraculously well-timed.
Anyway, I was at the lab for almost 3 hours! By the time I left, I was starving and quite exhausted, but also very excited. I chose my project for the quarter, and it seems really neat. There is disorder called Williams-Beuren Syndrome (WBS), which occurs when a huge chunk of a person’s DNA is missing. Basically, this leads to facial deformation, hypersocial behavior, mental retardation, and other physical disabilities. The lab is not particularly interested in this disorder, but they are analyzing the exomes (like genomes but with exons only, no introns) of a family in Egypt that has three children with mental retardation, epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorder, and they found that one of the genes potentially causing their disorder is within the chunk of DNA that is missing in people with WBS. I will, I hope, be researching more about this gene, which could lead to really important information about WBS!
Cool. So, now I’m less nervous about graduate school. Phew!
My roommate is 28. I already sort of knew, but it still threw me off when she told me. It makes me feel very young. I wonder if I make her feel old. I don’t know. I don’t imagine she has a lot of 21-year-old friends. But anyway, I am pretty sure she must think I am on the autism spectrum or am otherwise severely socially impaired, because I spent the entire day cleaning and organizing my room yesterday. I ate very little and left my room only a few times. Also, she happened to be gone every time I was on the phone, so she probably thinks I have no friends.
Anyway, she and her boyfriend are nice, so I hope I can get to know them better in the next few days. I might have to start working this week (or at least reading a ton), so it would be nice to spend time with her before things get crazy and I am never around.
I tried reading Book 3 of The Hunger Games last night, but fell asleep and slept soundly until 5:30am. Couldn’t fall back asleep, so I decided to go rollerblading around campus. I rolled around for about 30 minutes until I accidentally turned down a steep hill and ran into a tree. The tree and I are both fine, but soon after, I decided to put shoes on. Explored the campus for a while, then went to the fitness center in my building. Took a shower, ate breakfast and made coffee.. And now I’m upstairs in the Study Room, using the internet! Hooray.
Don’t know what I’m going to do with my day. I want to finish The Hunger Games, so I guess I will do that. After I walk to CVS to buy things that I forgot… like my toothbrush -____- (Didn’t realize it until I had already showered last night. But don’t worry, I used mouthwash, does that count?).
Oh! And so excited to make breakfast smoothies again! Except, I think they are going to have to be lunch smoothies, because the blender is loud and my roommate sleeps in…. Oh well. Still delicious.
But I still like the location, price, and newness of it all. Cool.
