It's been a long time since I've posted on this lonely blog. The main reason, I deduce, is the fact that I graduated and got a job. Spending eight or nine hours a day at a computer but not being able to touch the internet really makes one not want to touch a computer at all when one gets home. Granted, I spent most of my time at a lab bench, but a quiet evening of absolutely nothing really hit the spot most nights. The other bad excuse that I have is because I was an employee, performing the same (generally redundant) tasks day in and day out, I had nothing legitimate about which to actually blog. Well, my friends, this has all changed. I am now... a graduate student in chemistry.
Taking two years off to "find myself," or really just find boredom in a job, I decided that I was more than delighted to head back to school. I was nervous and unsure, yes, but I was happy at the prospect of re-entering the educational world anew in order to solve problems and learn things. My first day of orientation was Monday. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday taking placement exams, and today I scheduled classes. Training for teachers' assistants starts next week. Classes are two weeks away.
My mind is a flurry of information, and I have so much going on. Things are pretty much crazy here. I moved out of Lancaster nearly two weeks ago, and I have been living with my parents since then. I take the carpool up to University Park with my brother-in-law Mark, who works in IT at the Paterno Library. My apartment will be ready on Saturday, at which time I will be signing a lease and moving to State College for the next... five or six years, theoretically.
I didn't do too well on my placement exams, so instead of taking the graduate level Physical chemistry class, or better yet, not having to take it at all, I will be in undergraduate Thermodynamics this fall. I don't mind that a bit, to be honest--I didn't learn Thermo the first time around, so I should benefit from having the class again. I am also taking a class in Organic Mechanisms, and Mechanistic Bioorganic Chemistry. I am most likely going to be a teacher's assistant for a freshman general chemistry lab, but I put in the request to be a teacher's assistant for organic chemistry. There's the possibility of me getting the organic class, and since there's an organic chemistry with a biological focus that I am particularly excited about working with, it would be an insanely cool option. But I'm trying not to get too hopeful.
I will also be in a seminar class, where we will discuss current topics in biochemistry, do literature reviews, and so forth. It's looking like it's going to be the exact sort of biological/chemical, highly interdisciplinary field that I would love. The supervisor that I want to work for, Dr. Bevilacqua, does a lot of this sort of biology/chemistry work. He works with RNA, and some actual living organisms, unlike other areas of chemistry (as a general statement).
So, in my spare time, you can expect me to be on here semi-regularly, keeping tabs on what is going on in the graduate world. There will doubtlessly be amusing anecdotes, as being a student is infinitely more amusing than being a professional. I'm not sure when my next entry will be, but I'll try to make it closer. there almost has to be something interesting to say in the next few weeks...
~Stephanie