I've had a good time this summer; it's felt so long but like no time has passed at all! I had my first real grown-up job this summer working as an (unpaid) intern in Florida at an ME office. Despite the weather (I am not built for South Florida summers), I enjoyed it! I'm glad I got the opportunity to see what the job actually looks like; there's nothing like first-hand experience to determine if something is for you or not. I worked in a county lab, and it was interesting to learn how the tox lab and medical examiner system were organized and what kind of roles there are. I learned a lot from my coworkers, and they were all very friendly and happy to answer any questions I had about specific procedures, instruments, or practices in the lab. The chief toxicologist had me go through case files from previous years to investigate the alpha-PiHP cases they had, which was really interesting; apparently the county I was working in seems to get way more cases than anywhere else, at least to our limited knowledge since there's not a lot of information out there. Doing all the research about a-PiHP and other drugs like it actually inspired me to make the "Science Center" section of this website! Distilling all the information I was learning down into a basic outline of the drugs' form and function was fun, and once I'm done writing it up it'll be the first page I'll put up. I also spent a few weeks near the end of my internship working with the lab manager to troubleshoot the QTOF; apparently it has a serious drug problem (ha) and keeps spitting out false positive results for certain drugs. We worked hard on that thing and did just about everything short of opening it up and cleaning it out, but we couldn't fix it by the time I had to head back north. Despite the headache (and several hours of making and remaking samples and mobile phase) I learned a lot about the software and hardware, which is super cool because I'd never even seen one before and don't know of any other lab that has one since they're so expensive and have a pretty steep learning curve compared to other instruments. One thing I do I regret is not exploring more and taking advantage of my proximity to the city and the beach, but at the same time, it really was not the season for outdoor activity so I think I can forgive myself for that.
I'm back in Richmond now, and my classes start tomorrow. I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous! I'm going to be taking a few 600-level courses and I'm excited for them but the syllabi are intimidating and I really want to make a good impression (and I have to do well in them if I want to go to grad school here next year)! I'm looking forward to the semester though, and I'm excited to get back into learning; all my classes sound interesting and exciting, even if some of the work doesn't. I have to set up a meeting with a professor about (hopefully) doing research this semester, even though I have no idea if it's possible at this point; my emails to the research head went unanswered over the summer, and I found out last week in an advising email that she no longer works here (oops). I'm trying to stay optimistic though, especially considering the professor emailed me as I was writing the last paragraph to ask if I'm still interested. That's got to be a good sign, right?
I still have so much to do, but I know I have enough time to do it; it's just a matter of making a list and tackling it! Senior year, here I come!
