Pacific Bacterial Genomics July 9th: The Real WET Lab

I woke up this morning at exactly 7:03 AM. Not ideal. It was field trip day which meant the bus was leaving at 8:30. Breakfast opened at 7:30. And if I wanted food before the basketball camp descended like a plague of protein-hungry locusts, I needed to be early.

So naturally, instead of showering or securing sustenance, I went on my morning walk.

Ever since coming to Oregon, I’ve unlocked a deeply unnecessary love for the outdoors. Unlike Texas, where stepping outside feels like walking into a convection oven, Oregon is gentle. I find a new bug, tree, or vaguely cursed mushroom every day. I think I can now identify at least 6 trees and 2 unidentifiable moving objects that may or may not have been sentient. It’s fine.

Anyway, I made it back to breakfast just in time to watch the last of the berries vanish. I scored three singular berries. I ate them one by one like they were communion wafers and not the ghost of a fruit salad.

At 8:30, we pulled out of the dorm parking lot and headed toward Silver Falls State Park. The drive was beautiful.  Soft forests, winding roads, occasional cows, but none of us appreciated it because we were too busy playing Among Us with zero bars of service. I won my first imposter game solely because everyone else disconnected. Just me, alone, victorious.

Maybe it was nature’s way of telling us to touch grass  

And touched grass we did  

We began what was described as a “scenic hike” but quickly devolved into THE Oregon trail. The first few feet were all steep decline. We ducked behind South Falls, through a cave, and it was unreal. Straight out of a desktop wallpaper. Everyone was in awe. Then we kept walking. And walking. 

Then… line-leader Chris took a turn.

Wrong turn.

We went back up the way we came. The incline was evil. Our calves were crying. The trees were judging. Then we realized: we were still going the wrong way. So down again. This would not be Chris’s final freestyle route.

We kept walking. We discussed bug bites. Half the group was terrified of insects. The other half were the insects. Eventually, we reached Lower South Falls. It was stunning, close enough to touch the water. We did dumb things. You’ll see the photos. (No context. No regrets.)

Then came North Falls.

All the TAs were there (Suspicious) People started climbing down toward the pool at the bottom, with water glistening with that suspicious blue tint that screams “bacteria” Someone joked about Photobacterium. Someone else said leeches. I thought of Dr. Gyorgyi’s aseptic technique lecture and immediately considered bathing in hand sanitizer.

And yet, I followed Lachlan into the wilderness. 

At first, it was fine. Stable logs. Big rocks. A clear(ish) path. Then the terrain shifted. The dirt got loose. Like untrustworthy. I stepped forward and the earth straight up slid out from under me. Every footstep felt like a gamble.

Rocks were rolling. People were grabbing at tree roots like life lines. I thought about giving up and becoming one with the moss.

Then came a stream. We problem-solved our way across without getting wet, only to immediately take our shoes off and dive in anyway.

The water was freezing and the rocks were smooth in the most traitorous way. Then we made it to the other side.

And jumped in.

That water was arctic. The cold hit my body like a scream and total nervous system reboot. Instant regret. Immediate thrill. I swam out gasping. Then did it again. (Because why suffer once when you can suffer twice?)

Meanwhile, Alina just casually stayed in the water, inching closer to the waterfall like she was in a music video and not a bacterial stew of rocks, runoff, and possible leeches. I don’t know what part of her brain overrides survival instinct, but I respect it deeply.

Getting out was worse. Soaking wet, shivering, and now faced with the very incline we had joyfully skidded down 15 minutes earlier only now we had to climb it back up. The soil was even looser. The rocks were even slipperier.

We clawed our way up, slipping every few seconds. My hands were covered in mud. My heart was pounding. We’d dodge rocks like it was a battlefield. There was a moment I thought If I fall right now, this blog will be a eulogy.

But no regrets. 

Then we walked. Five more miles. Briskly. Past five more waterfalls I could no longer emotionally process. All I wanted was Chipotle. I got my Chipotle. I devoured it in under 5 minutes 

On the way back, I blacked out (read: fell asleep with my head at a 90° angle against the bus window). We made a pit stop at the mall, where I attempted to get In-N-Out but got completely sidetracked on a 15-minute quest to find hand sanitizer. Thanks Dr. Gyorgyi. I now carry Purell like it’s emotional support.

Once we finally got back to campus, Ms. Evans came through with divine intervention: two hours of extended boundaries, no mandatory dinner. We scattered. Forest Grove Farmers Market was happening but I didn’t buy anything even though, in hindsight, I should’ve gotten berries to avenge the morning berry famine.

Instead, me, Arnav, Rameen, Aarjav, Cyrus, and Jon went out for sushi and somehow scored a private room. I attempted chopsticks. I succeeded… for five minutes. Just long enough to get a full hit of wasabi straight to the bloodstream. Immediate ego death. After that, I caved and grabbed a fork.

(Ik I did us all dirty)

Then we locked in.

Night agenda:

1. Solve the mystery of our mutant vial. One of our samples had a mutated metabolic pathway and mysteriously outcompeted the others with or without antibiotics. We’re not sure if it’s a resistance co-factor, random mutation, or divine intervention, but I’m running JBrowse and visualizing genes until it makes sense.
2. Design our poster figures. BioRender time. We divided sections and are attempting to make aesthetic graphics. I have no aesthetic sense. I’m trying.

Thirty minutes in… we got distracted. Campus kitty pulled up. Again. At this point, he knows our study hall schedule and arrives precisely to sabotage our productivity. It works. Every time.

I will miss him.

I will also miss my working legs if I don’t stretch tomorrow.

The whole day was chaotic, exhausting, and incredibly fun  which honestly makes it the most accurate snapshot of SSP so far.

It’s not just the PCR purification or the lectures or the “trying-to-get-galaxy-to-work-before-studyhall-ends”. It’s the side quests. The bugs. The dumb inside jokes. The way everyone’s a little sleep-deprived, a little chaotic, and somehow still showing up for the work, and for each other.

I didn’t expect to feel this alive.

And I definitely didn’t expect to climb a vertical mudslide with soaking-wet shoes and still call it the best day of the program.

This whole experience is like that. It breaks you, rebuilds you, and hands you a pipette and a hiking map and says go figure it out.

And somehow everyone does 

Sivaank Pothukoochi