By the end of four weeks, I finally feel a little more comfortable in my lab. Even though everyone was incredibly welcoming and inclusive since the first day, it took me a while personally to be able to relax and offer help when I have nothing to do. I have essentially gone through the whole process of how we collect data in lab including everything from dissection to confocal imaging. My mentor, Anna, was not here this week because she went home for the holiday. As a result, in addition to working on my project, I was able to learn a little more about what everyone else in the lab is doing. Even though Anna and I work with the central nervous system, investigating the spinal cord and cerebellum, most of the lab is involved in the enteric nervous system, investigating small intestine and colon tissue. I was able to observe, learn more about and even dissect some gut tissue from our mice (it's not as gross as you think, or at least it wasn't to me).
The biggest adjustment I had to make in a relatively hands-on lab like this was handling the mice. Although I'm not allowed to handle living mice or go into the Mouse House, as we call it, because I'm not yet 18 years old, I can handle the mice after they have been euthanized. Often times, a lab member would bring the mice up from the Mouse House alive, and euthanize and dissect in a timely manner on a wet lab bench, so they could have the freshest tissue to work with. I have been able to observe the euthanasian process and it truly made me realize the application and importance of just science and biology in general. This may sound dumb, but because everything I've learned so far about science has been from a textbook or lecture in class, I never associated my learning with something real. Yes, I've done dissections at Peddie before but that was with frozen tissue, I didn't see the animal go from alive to no longer alive, and as a result, it didn't seem real to me. Only when I saw a living being die for science in front of my eyes, did I understand the application of biology and the reality of what I've been learning, and I think that's an incredibly important realization and one of the biggest takeaways I will probably get from working in this lab.
Anyways, in addition to casual life-changing epiphanies, outside of the lab, I've slowly become accustomed to living alone. I consider myself to be quite independent, but living alone is nothing like boarding. In the dorm at Peddie, the people living around you are your friends, and you feel comfortable walking into their rooms, napping in their beds, etc. That is not the case living alone, in a foreign city, with no friends, at the age of 16. While I was used to doing my own laundry, cleaning my room and staying organized in the dorm at Peddie, I'm not sure I was quite ready for cooking my own meals, public transportation, and getting a table for one at restaurants for dinner. Nevertheless, I survived and advanced, as we Peddie kids do, and am gradually spending more time outside, exploring the downtown area, and not being afraid to sit alone at cafes (as long as I have my headphones).
I am almost halfway to the end, and am excited for more life-changing epiphanies while a mouse is being killed less than 2 feet away from me and awkward table for ones at nice restaurants where I can't pull out my computer!
PS if you read all of this, and you're not Dr. Peretz, you're a true friend.
And here are some pictures of food because California.
The biggest adjustment I had to make in a relatively hands-on lab like this was handling the mice. Although I'm not allowed to handle living mice or go into the Mouse House, as we call it, because I'm not yet 18 years old, I can handle the mice after they have been euthanized. Often times, a lab member would bring the mice up from the Mouse House alive, and euthanize and dissect in a timely manner on a wet lab bench, so they could have the freshest tissue to work with. I have been able to observe the euthanasian process and it truly made me realize the application and importance of just science and biology in general. This may sound dumb, but because everything I've learned so far about science has been from a textbook or lecture in class, I never associated my learning with something real. Yes, I've done dissections at Peddie before but that was with frozen tissue, I didn't see the animal go from alive to no longer alive, and as a result, it didn't seem real to me. Only when I saw a living being die for science in front of my eyes, did I understand the application of biology and the reality of what I've been learning, and I think that's an incredibly important realization and one of the biggest takeaways I will probably get from working in this lab.
Anyways, in addition to casual life-changing epiphanies, outside of the lab, I've slowly become accustomed to living alone. I consider myself to be quite independent, but living alone is nothing like boarding. In the dorm at Peddie, the people living around you are your friends, and you feel comfortable walking into their rooms, napping in their beds, etc. That is not the case living alone, in a foreign city, with no friends, at the age of 16. While I was used to doing my own laundry, cleaning my room and staying organized in the dorm at Peddie, I'm not sure I was quite ready for cooking my own meals, public transportation, and getting a table for one at restaurants for dinner. Nevertheless, I survived and advanced, as we Peddie kids do, and am gradually spending more time outside, exploring the downtown area, and not being afraid to sit alone at cafes (as long as I have my headphones).
I am almost halfway to the end, and am excited for more life-changing epiphanies while a mouse is being killed less than 2 feet away from me and awkward table for ones at nice restaurants where I can't pull out my computer!
PS if you read all of this, and you're not Dr. Peretz, you're a true friend.
And here are some pictures of food because California.
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