Chadron State College Bacterial Genomics Day 22: Chemostats, Candid Photos (totes), and Cowestionably Cow-some Monday Energy
Hiii everyone!!! Happy Monday (says everyone, but who really means it????)…just kidding guys, happy Monday!
I cannot lie, it was pretty hard to get out of bed this morning. We had a super eventful weekend: Saturday was the Fourth of July, and of course, our free day, Sunday, was a day full of spontaneous excursions.
Anyways, welcome to a day in my life as a Bacterial Genomics student at Chadron State College š
I will forever be grateful that our faculty changed lecture to be at 8:30 AM instead of 8 AM because getting to the dining hall at 7 was becoming a struggle.
Anywaysā¦.my friend Catherine and I met downstairs at 7:40 and took our daily trek in the Nebraska sun over to the dining hall.
Good morning world! (Catherine left, me on the right) š I AM SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE CATHERINE WITH ME EVERY MORNINGā¦(She said she loves me!!!!!!!!!!)
Gosh, the sun makes it look like weāre hiking through the Sahara in the middle of the day T-T
The dining hall looked extra glorious from this angle today
Breakfast today consisted of the typical potatoes, eggs, bread and gravy, pink lemonade, and a yogurt bowl, but alsoā¦MUFFINS and BANANA BREAD š¤©
Mmmmmmā¦.breakie (youāre welcome Will)
We also, of course, had to take a selfie of the tuffest breakfast group and our innovative table setupā¦from two tables to one
I was looking at the opposite end of my phone guysā¦gotta make sure the whole crew is accounted for š (From the left end of the table around to the right: Peilin, Syna, Sophia L., Bonnie, TA Max, Mr. Pettit, Wuyan, William, Brian, Nurkhat, Catherine, and then me)
Today was also AP score release day, so I did a little reveal at the breakfast table this morning. Everything was perfectomento š
After breakfast, we all took a hike up to COIL for our first lecture of the day.
Can we appreciate the most amazing lab group ever??? Spa-berry milk on top frfr
Our first lecture of the day was given by Dr. Nyerges, who helped us figure out our experimental workflows, additional research questions, and how we could use our experimental data to answer them.
I love my little corner of the roomā¦shoutout Mr. Pettitās whiteboard art!
The lecture ended, but the morning wasnāt quite over yet. We faced a grueling one and a half hours of Bioinformatics and Galaxyā¦the bane of my existenceā¦
But likeā¦can we appreciate how nice my history looks when everything is green?? (It was definitely all green every time I ran NCBI accession todayā¦totes)
Like every other day, our corner undergoes metamorphosis from three semi-locked in SSP scientists to the SSP snackersā¦except, that pistachio bag was NOT about to openā¦.
āItās invincible until nowā – Chanhwee trying to open the bag of pistachios
So umā¦.I donāt think that thatās Chanhwee who opened my pistachiosā¦what do yāall think?
Now, my fellow readers, comes one of the best parts of the dayā¦LUNCH! Todayās lunch was mushrooms, green beans, and spaghetti and meatballs! Iād rate the meal today as one of the better days š
The yogurt bowl makes its second appearanceā¦can you tell I like the pink lemonade?
Eva my goat combined some pink lemonade, starry, and Mountain Dew to create such a pretty AND tasty ombrĆ© š¤©
Another tuff meal group XD (Left to right: Me, Eva, Syna, Olivia, and Catherine)
The selfie stick makes its second and LAST appearance (Left to right: Bonnie, Niranjana, Emily, Ira, Ella, and me)
Itās my squaddd ššš«¶ (Left to right: Olivia, me, and Catherine)
After I sat down in my seat, we had an unexpected visitor: Tanner stopped by, and in the process, he has been initiated into Spa-berry milk as the honorary fifth member.
Tanner during the very complex interview process š¬š¬š¬
He told a really bad jokeā¦but hey, it made me laugh š
āIf I live in Europe, and Iām musically talented, where do I live? A-Flatā – Tanner Sakamoto
Tanner hiding his face after realizing only I got his joke at first š
Next, we had a wicked cool lecture by the wicked cool TA Max! Moldova seems really cool, if I ever go, I donāt think I will go anywhere within 6 feet of that chicken jellyā¦
After the talk, we were slammed down by the weight of entering the lab to say goodbye to our chemostats ššš
Almost a week and a half of nurturing our little mutant bacteria later, we ended the experiment, cleaned out the chemostat, and today, we said our final goodbyes.
Group Photos!!!
Spa-berry milk celebrated our last day with our chemostats š„¹š„²(Left to right me, Peilin, and Aidan)
Group 12 with our honorary member my goat Chanhwee (Left to right Chanhwee, me, Peilin, and Aidan)
The beloved and also not beloved chemostat š„¹šš«š«
Last pic with the chemostat T-T
When Groups 11 and 12 combine, we make Group 23 š«¶š«¶š«¶(PSSTTTT Chanhwee is standing on a chair) (In the back, Chanhwee, Aidan, and William; In the front, me, Peilin, and Bonnie)
After one last nostalgic look back at our chemostat, we returned to the classroom to sit in on a Belonging Series lecture from Dr. Sengupta! It was about career competencies!
The lecture ran a little overtime, and Sophia L. and I had an important meeting with the office assistant of the CSC music department, so we booked it across campus all the way past Edna before dinner!!
I donāt have any photos, but itās okayā¦dinner pics will serve, I promise!
Todayās dinner was chicken alfredo and tortellini!! It was actually so good š that made my day.
Shoutout to Eva again for the awesome drink combo
My amazing dinner table! Thank goodness for Brianās long arms (Left to right: Brian, me, Eva, Paul, Dr. Nyerges, Natalie, and Collin)
Brian showing off his pineapple grape lettuce saladā¦can you sense the pride and joy on his face?
You just had to be at our dinner table.
The talent show is creeping up on us, so we talked about rewriting lyrics to a song with a creative Bac-gen twist:
āOn the first day of christmas my chemostat gave to me, growth in my negative controlsā
ALSOā¦everything is legal in jersey (if you know, you know – hereās a hintā¦A dot Ham)
We returned to COIL with half an hour to spare, so we had some fun ššš
As Enzo would say, āHoly freaking tuff guysā (support women in STEM!!)
The guys trying to do the āEdna walkā from The Invinciblesā (Left to right: William, Eric, and Josh)
Woahhhā¦is it just me, or does Chanhwee (on the left totes) kinda look like Aidan?!?!
We watched our weekly video from last week!! I donāt have pics, but you should definitely check it out!
Itās time for š„š„š„
OPEN CLASSROOM and guess where we all migrated? Onto the bleachers/gigantic wooden stairs/in-between space! (??)
I helped finish writing the introduction for our paper (gosh, I canāt believe weāre actually writing the paper now) and then I started my blog š I hope I finish on time
Hereās some of the gang (I give up on namesā¦youāll see why)
Now do you understand?
Halfway through Open Classroom, Spa-berry milk was called to have a āhalf-wayā check in with the amazing Dr. Nyerges! I think we got side-tracked at least 4 times š
OKAY! Back to the blog! I needed more photosā¦I donāt think anyone will ever surpass the extraordinary Enzo Simon š
Omg shoutout to Iraās mom for sending the bestie bracelets!! I will cherish it forever ā¾ļø
Look at our progress chart! Isnāt it just āMoo-rvelousā??
Open classroom ended, and we all headed back to the dorms! Once again, Olivia and I found ourselves having to hike up the jeans so they wouldnāt get wetā¦I donāt think I was very successfulā¦
Note to all you future Chadron SSPers!! Wear long baggy jeans at your own riskā¦donāt say I didnāt warn you!
Nighttime walks forever and ever and ever š
Chadron is actually such a good place to just watch stars and planets! Venus has been lighting up the sky a lot! I look up at night and it makes me feel a little closer to home when I think about how my friends and family are probably also out stargazing š
More pics of course!
When we reached Edna Hall, I booked it to my room, took a shower, and sped back down to the āpianoā lobby.
Lately, Iāve found myself becoming more of a night owl who needs her social time before bed. Today, I sat down on the couch and worked on my blog with Stray Kids and Olivia Rodrigo blasting in my ear.
These were šÆ candid photosā¦Brianās laugh was not staged at all šāāļø
Enzo and Evaā¦two āEāsā in a podā¦see what I did there?
If it was bad, blame it on the sleep deprivationā¦itās been a long dayā¦you should know thatā¦youāve made it this far
ONE LAST PIC!! I promise itās the last!
Well guys, itās definitely been a pleasure to take you with me as I navigate another Monday here at SSP CSC. It wasnāt exactly Mount Rushmore, but I think after writing and documenting the daily activities almost as precisely as I do for lab notebook write-ups, Iāve come to appreciate the simple little moments!
Shoutout to everyone whoās made my day that much better! I canāt believe that we have less than two more weeks together! It makes me nostalgic already but always remember PACE! Positive Attitude Changes Everything!
Happy last two weeks guys!
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Sophia Z.
Hi everyone! My name is Sophia, and Iām from the Land of Enchantment: New Mexico! Iām currently most interested in Molecular and Cellular Biology along with genomics. Outside of school, I play the piano, crochet, read, do puzzles, listen to music, and spend time with family, friends, and pets.
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