USMARC: Reflection

Welp, I'm done!

It was an amazing 8 weeks! I regret not posting more during the internship, but there wasn't too much to talk about, after I got into a groove. Most of my posts would've been like, "Today was similar to yesterday, but I helped in a different lab! AND I had cherry yogurt for lunch." Sometimes they would've been like, "OMG GUYS, I PALPATED A COW!!!!," but that is why I kept a journal.

I'd like to post some pages of my journal from particularly interesting days, so I can discuss particularly interesting experiences. Would that be interesting?

Anyway, yes! Done! Home!

A few things happened this month:

Some of the other interns and I went to Lovewell Reservoir! It looked like this:

Just a thunderstorm. Nbd.

I went to Joanna's and spent the 4th with her family!

I went home and saw THIS beautiful piece of Kansas:

Nebraska countered with this:

I've got to stay loyal to KS. Sorry, NE. Nice try.

This happened:

Then this:

I love my car!

I almost committed grand theft auto:

The closest Target was 90 MINUTES from where I lived. 90.  NINETY. MINUTES.

I helped cut hair follicles off of cattle tail hair for a DNA project! The lead scientist made us "hairy" cupcakes as a thank-you:

Get it? HAIRY? Get it?

"Hey, Kaitlin, wanna play with dry ice?"

UMM YES.

I went to the Adams County Fair!

Try ALL the flavors!
(Disclosure: This is not from the fair. It's from a brochure I got for the Hastings Museum.)

This is for Joanna:

Heh.

They let me wear a lab coat!

Dangerous.

Hi, sheep!

I have a few more pictures on my other camera that I'll add later, if I remember. (And by "my other camera," I mean "the camera that isn't my phone.")

The last week was kind of sad. It did NOT seem like I was already on the eighth week of my internship. On Tuesday, we gave short presentations on our research projects and summer experiences.

Dr. C-M introduced me, so I brought up this slide and was like, "Uh...I'm Kaitlin?"

Microsoft Paint illustrations are craaayyy on slide #6.

"What I Did This Summer, by Kaitlin, Grade 15"

My wonderful coworkers attended the presentation (along with other mentors, interns, lab techs, scientists, administration, and the director), and then they held an ice cream social for us!

One of the things that kind of surprised me this summer was how difficult I found it to live up in Nebraska. I have always been super independent (some of my first words were "by myself"), and I had no trouble adjusting to life at college. I'm not sure what was different about this summer - perhaps it was living alone, without a dorm full of other people. Maybe it was the responsibility of laundry and rent and cooking and cleaning. Maybe it was being far enough away that coming home for one night wasn't really feasible, or not really putting down roots for just an 8-week stay. Whatever it was, it was definitely unexpected. I grew to love my internship, lab, and everyone I worked with, while at the same time disliking Nebraska.

By my last week, I was coming around to NE again. I'd gone through the ups of excitement, the downs of unfamiliarity and difficulties, and the ups of routine and familiarity. I'm not entirely sure why it did hit me so hard, but I'm glad I went through this. I hope I'll be able to avoid similar feelings of discontentment when I'm in Ireland this fall!

Overall, this internship was one of the best experiences I've had. I really appreciate the efforts of Dr. C-M, Stacy, and everyone at USMARC. Thank you so much for a wonderful summer!

I learned a TON during my eight weeks, so I'll continue to post pictures and maybe journal entries, as I find time. There are lots of things I'd like to share and make note of. Thanks again to everyone at USMARC. :)

Bye, sheep!