Sunday, August 5, 2018
By:
"There is no talent here, this is hard work. It is an obsession." - CM
This week has been the most rewarding week of the program thus far, due to the fact that I have worked my tail off these last couple of weeks. I presented my poster at the intern session and have never felt such a relief. I was confident in my knowledge of the topic and figured if anyone knew more than me about superconducting resonators used in MKID's, then they had just been here longer than me. Everyone at the session was extremely friendly and eager to learn about their fellow intern's projects. With certain people, I carried conversations on various topics: moving to Antarctica for CMB research, graduate school advice, my hometown of Austin, and of course other internship projects. These interns really know their stuff!
At the dorms, we shared a last weekend in DC together. A few of us headed out to an EDM concert to see Yellowclaw, Boogie T, and other various artists; I have never had so much fun in my entire life! Towards the beginning of the concert, the music was just, "Eh, this is not TOO bad..." But as we marched our way forward through the trenches of people, the music became louder and I could feel the vibrations of the bass on my body. At the same time, I was experiencing a wave of relaxation from being done with posters, being done with most research, and beginning the final stages of this internship. I was able to let go of any worries of final projects that day and just have a great time with my friends. A word of advice: if you plan on attending one of these concerts, do NOT wear pants (tank tops and shorts are advised, along with a bottle of water handy).
Now as I am heading into our last week in DC for the summer, I am reliving all of the fantastic memories that have been made with such great people. I wish I could give everyone their own spiel about what I have enjoyed most about them being here, but unfortunately, time and blog space are limited! I am leaving this week's blog post at this and I look forward to what the last week has in store for me at NASA and in DC. My mentors are both out of town, so I must prepare extensivley for final presentations at ACP! Also, I promise I will not wear a white tee to presentations this Friday (as tempting as it is...).
Daniel Morales