University of Wisconsin-River Falls Cell Biology Day 20: This Perfect (Sun)Day!
Hello World!
Saanvi here to report on day 20 of UWRF Cell Bio SSP blog posts!
My day began kind of oddly. Being Sunday, it meant that we essentially had a free day (YAY!). Therefore, I decided to sleep in until 9AM. It was very much needed after the hustle and bustle of this past week. Now, my wondrous phone decided to freeze and play my alarm for 5 minutes straight, which definitely didn’t get on my nerves. Regardless, once I finished playing tech support, I pulled myself out of bed and got ready to go downstairs to the basement.
The dining hall here at UWRF took a small vacation this weekend. Unfortunately, they didn’t tell us where they were going, but ultimately, we were on our own for grub. Now, Mr. S & Ms. P, being the GOATs, decided to make sure our tummies were filled. As such, for breakfast, if you eat it at 10:40am, we had a very large spread of bacon (both turkey & pork), some casseroles, an assortment of fruits, and some cereals. But the best part was that our site director decided to trust us with making pancakes! Such a wonderful idea!
Caption: Our amazing spread of breakfast items
But before you ask, the basement is fine, no one got burnt, and the pancakes were delicious. We had previously made the pancake batter the previous evening, and all we had to do now was separate it to make blueberry, cinnamon, and normal pancakes. With the power of friendship, we were able to cook a total of 95 pancakes! With nothing burning!
Caption: (From left to right) Making pancakes with the help of some Astrophysics participants, Amanda,Saanvi (me), Leo, and Precious!
After breakfast, TA Nat took a handful of us to go to the tennis courts to play a mix of both tennis & pickleball (bleh!). My roommate, Evelyn, decided to learn how to play tennis, and (un)fortunately for me, I was to be her coach. After getting her forehand down, she proceeded to hit some killer shots at me, asserting her dominance on the tennis courts. Beside us, a couple participants and our TA Nat played some pickleball.
Caption: Gabby & Jim having a tennis rally under the clear Wisconsin sky
As time went on, it became unbearably hot and that prompted our swift return to the safe haven of our dorms with the AC on full blast.
At 12:30ish, I decided to stop by the lab to take a look at my lab group’s bacterial transformation. HALLEJUH! If you had asked me before I had come to SSP that I would be so happy by seeing 2 dots on a petri dish, I would’ve laughed in your face. But here we are. After speaking with our academic advisors, we decided to let those 2 teeny-tiny dots grow a bit longer, so we decided to return at 6:30PM to do our colony selection.
Caption: Our group’s transformed PML104 with exactly 2 colonies that we feel very maternal over.
At about 1pm, my friends and I left to go get Dairy Queen for lunch. Kai decided to forgo lunch all together and got an ice cream cone, while Maureen & I decided to go for the whole experience and got ourselves some food & topped it off with a blizzard for her, and an ice cream cone for me. We then took a nice little stroll around downtown River Falls.
Caption: (from left to right) Maureen, me, and Kai on our way into town
We stopped at a brand new shop that had opened, and had a great time looking through the clothes & trinkets there. While we were there, Evelyn decided to join in on the fun as well. After thoroughly ‘Oooo”ing & “ahhh”ing, we made our way out and back to the dorms to grab our swimsuits to head to the pool.
Caption: (from left to right) Evelyn, Maureen, me, & Kai at the shop
There we met up with a couple other participants, and began the treacherous walk to the pool. While at the pool, we had a great time playing Marco Polo, and everyone’s personal favorite, Saving Mr. President. With the President being our resident favorite David, and the ‘attacker’ being none other than Maureen.
Caption: Us hanging out at the pool and having a great time! (picture credits to Sai)
After spending an hour there, we began the equally dangerous, bug-filled walk back to the safety of May Hall, and began getting ready for dinner. I hope that while reading this, readers, you kept in mind that the dining hall had been closed. So what did we eat for dinner? WRAPS & PIZZA! Our wonderful site director decided to have a food truck come and cater food for us. Although the wait was a bit long, it was very well worth it after taking one bite of that tandoori chicken wrap. I might have truly ascended.
Caption: The wonderful food from the PizzaKarma Food Truck that came to feed us for dinner.
After eating, my lab group & I made our way to the lab to complete our colony selection, which took no more than 20 minutes. Our open classroom started at 7:30PM today, as the food truck took a bit longer than usual. During this time, I cranked out some preparation for our experiments in the upcoming week, and spent the rest of my time locking in & locking out of some other work to finish. And my super (not) sweet roommate decided to draw me, very badly might I add. She literally only got my hair right (maybe my height too).
Caption: Evelyn being very proud (& a little smug) of her highly inaccurate drawing of me.
Since it was a Sunday, it was activity night, meaning that a group of participants are responsible for planning an activity. The group responsible today gave us two amazing options: ultimate frisbee or DNA keychain/bracelet making. I decided to play some ultimate frisbee as I still had some energy left in me. The game was super fun, even though the ground we played on was a tad-bit slippery.
Caption: Playing Ultimate Volleyball after our study session at UWRF.
As the night came to an end, I seeked shelter and relaxation in my dorm. Today has been a day filled with fun, laughter, friends, and some good food.
Now, we begin our 4th week of SSP, and these past weeks have passed by so fast. It felt like only yesterday when we were still trying to remember everyone’s names, and all of a sudden, we are already creating the introductions to our manuscripts. Yet, this community is something I will never forget. The friends we made on our bus ride from the airport to the dorms, the debriefs after difficult lectures, and the struggle with bacterial transformations. Through all the highs and lows, we have created a bond, one that will stay even as we return to our own parts of the world and our normal lives. In just 2 short weeks, this program will be over, and that knowledge is bitter-sweet. But as the reality of leaving gets closer and the impending doom of creating a poster presentation approaches, we still aren’t done making memories just yet. We still have 14 days to analyze data, mess up lab procedures, eat way too much junk food, and complain about the Wisconsin humidity together.
Tomorrow morning, the alarms will go off again (hopefully properly this time), the dining hall will be back from its mysterious vacation, and we’ll be right back to our crazy hectic routine. But for tonight, I’m grateful for 95 pancakes, two tiny bacterial colonies, a very terrible drawing of myself, and the absolute best community of friends & faculty that I ever could have asked for!
And this is Saanvi, coming to you from Cell Biology UWRF, signing off!
Hello! I’m Saanvi V. and I’m from Frisco, Texas. I enjoy health-sciences research with a special interest in cardiovascular disease. Outside of science, I enjoy dancing, and I love to relax with a good fantasy book.
