University of Wisconsin-River Falls Cell Biology Day 29: Cough Drop Gate
Hello cruel world. It is Leah. welcome to blog 29
I am in a very healthy and sweet era of my life. So, each morning at 7:30am, I’ve been taking walks to soak up some vitamin D. The mornings in riverfalls are slow and peaceful, and usually you’ll see some morning dew on the grass (1). It’s officially the last week of SSP, and that means it’s crunch time. At 8:30am my team and I (2) put on the last finishing touches on our research poster over our knockout yeast gene. Our group was super lucky to not have any failures during the experimental process. I think this is due to the care that everyone took when following procedure and taking our time.
(1) Morning walks!
(2) Left to right: Leah (me), Ashwin, Waris, Amanda (TA)
I finally caught the junebug that has been spreading through the SSP cell bio cohort. I am currently losing my voice. I think almost everyone has gotten sick at least once. This broke my two year streak of no-sickness! But Mr. S, our site director, is basically our pharmacist. He always has cough drops or ibuprofen on hand. While we were waiting for other groups to finish up their posters, I began to draw caricatures of everyone in the cohort (3). It was a bittersweet moment for me, knowing that after 60+ hours a week of being together, it’s finally ending. Being together for so long forces you to get close, quickly. It feels like I’ve known these people for years 😣.
(3) My personal favorites were Jeffrey & Abhi’s caricatures
The drawings were a hit! Jeffrey helped me out with a couple (peep demonic Uno). I spent most of the morning drawing and messing around with friends since we got done early. But when the clock struck 12pm, we headed to lunch. Usually it’s mid, but after a long morning of lab, it highkey hits. Despite that, we all still miss food from home. Lunch (4) is where we have some of the most memorable moments, like dying of laughter from inside jokes and abhi falling flat onto the floor. We all like to joke around, a lot. We have many nicknames for each other. Shwinny, WarisGPT/Warussy, Lakumskibidi, Dahvid, Petah, Leah Pig, etc. Even some of the Drs. get involved, and they will do some of our hand motions and participate in jokes.
(4) Counterclockwise (starting with me): Leah, Juno, Jeffrey, David, Henri, Sai, Gabby, Peter, Ian, Abhi.
We’ve recently discovered a new place to hang out after lunch–the creative commons. There are a bunch of cool chairs and swings to sit on, making it a nice third space for students. I went with Abhi, Uno, Peter, Jeffrey, Ian, Gabby, and Henri. Henri was feeling a little cute, so he decided to close his eyes and sleep–as he should, since he’s just a baby (5).
(5) Henri being cute.
Together, we discuss our lab experiments and life in general. We have been timemaxxing our time together. After that, we went to the lab to finish up some work on canvas. Today was the last day of lab, EVER. I’ve been coughing almost all day, so I popped my TENTH cough drop (6). Special Thanks to Ian for putting me on the method.
(6) Cough drops from the community.
Around 2:30 we went to get ice cream, courtesy of SSP (7). I had the flavor Berry Curd Bliss. The ice cream is lowkey cheap for such a large portion. Then we headed up stairs for lecture. Today’s topic was about how to present posters. After Dr. B presented (8), TA Isaac did a presentation over his research.
(7) Yum.
(8) Dr. B presenting.
Afterwards, at 4:30, it was time for dinner. We have assigned seating, but the groups are usually always pretty fun to sit with (9). I usually have chicken and veg.
(9) Left to right: Oyin, Saharsh, Maureen, Pat, Yesha, Elena, Dr. A, Sai, Henri.
After filling our bellies, we made the trek back to the dorms to change into more comfy clothes, then scitech for our dorm meeting. Mr. S went over what the last week will look like and some reminders (10). We also had a motivational speech. We now know how to handle hard better. Afterwards, we wrote thank you cards to SSP supporters (11).
(10) Dorm meeting.
(11) Writing thank you cards.
By this point, it was around 7pm and we spent the rest of the time working. I worked on this blog and my friends worked on their manuscripts (12).
(12) Left to right: Abhi, me, Ian.
By 9pm, we headed back, for a night of pool (13). I’m really bad and haven’t won a single 1v1 round in all of SSP. I love to watch though! David is really bad but today he locked in and sunk three balls in a row. Pat even came down to join us! Leo got hit in the face while playing badminton. Looks pretty tough IMO. Sorry Leo for clipping you. Leo is also pretty good at the pool.
(13) Left to right: Marcel (other organization’s camper) and David playing pool.
Well, this was my day. I turned in at around 10pm. Thanks for reading!
Leah is a rising senior who hopes to aid in the development of renewable energy in the future. Outside of doing research in the lab, she enjoys junk journaling and taking walks.
