Sunday, July 14, 2024
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I’m going to begin by saying that in all honesty I probably should have enjoyed my time in D.C. this past week than I did. Most of the week, I admittedly spent very tired and filled with doing random chores like going to the store. Despite this, as every week here has been, it was still filled with memorable experiences that I am grateful to have gained.
Workwise, I’ve realized that there are barely any days left that I am in the office working even though I have 3 more weeks left. As a result, I spent a lot of time working hard on my project hoping to make as much progress as possible. However, I continue to face challenges to make the progress I’d like because my devices hardly work, and I’ve made countless samples. With these challenges though, I have learned something better than whatever progress I hoped to make this summer. I’ve learned a lot more about what it means to work in research and science, and that it takes a persistent mind that isn’t deterred by failure. I realized this in talking with my mentor and seeing how impressive it is that despite each set of failed devices we make, instead of frustration she sits down and thinks of how we can reapproach this to make it work. This has given me a better perspective on these challenges and shown me that the real joy in research comes from the hard work to obtain the results you hope for. Not to mention that there’s nothing wrong with getting results you don’t hope for either, because then there’s still something to understand and learn from. Anyway, that’s my rant on work. Otherwise, I got to meet with a representative from a grant funding company that was really interested in our project, so that was pretty cool too.
As for activities outside work, there were a few highlights from the week. We started the week off with the new season of The Bachelorette, which I don’t really recommend watching but it was fun to watch it with a group of interns. Thankfully, we had some good movies lined up for the rest of the week with Cars 2 and Forest Gump. Thursday night, we ended up meeting Jaden’s brother while he was visiting and enjoyed a game night with him. Then Saturday night was spent as another game night, I was forced against my will to play Just Dance and had to expose my terrible dancing. The only consolation to having to play Just Dance was that there was buffalo chicken dip.
Sunday was spent at the beach, which automatically made it one of my favorite days here. I am a major beach advocate, so it was a great time going there with the other interns. Even better was watching Jaden attempt to eat a sandwich made on a full loaf of French bread, it was honestly impressive he even made it halfway on the sandwich. Otherwise, the day was spent playing classics in the water like monkey in the middle and jackpot, and then spike ball. It all made for a great end to the week and has me shocked that this internship is nearly over, I’m struggling to believe I’ve actually been here for 7 weeks.
Kaden Gammon