Week 1- Background Reading and Lab Orientation

This internship is going to be different than any job I have ever worked before and so arriving on the first day was a mix of emotions. The feelings of excitement and intimidation both played large roles. However, as I began to meet the other interns and the staff of CMOP, I felt more welcome and relaxed than intimidated. The first day mostly consisted of a large amount of information being laid out at once. It was sort of overwhelming, but that is how most orientations are.

            The first day was quite informational and got me excited for my time here at CMOP. However, the rest of the week has been sort of slow and uneventful because we (the interns) have yet to receive our lab safety training and therefore cannot really do anything related to our projects besides read. This reading has been quite useful though because it gives us background information on our projects and for myself, installed more excitement as I discovered that I will be learning new lab techniques and researching an organism that is not well known yet. Now that I have done an abundance of reading, I cannot wait until our safety training on Monday.

            Over the past few days, my mentor has acquainted me with the lab and some of the procedures I will be performing, such as DNA extraction. Although I have only been able to observe, I have already learned a decent amount and I look forward to learning even more. I also look forward to getting to know the other interns better through various activities. Although I have not been able to attend two of the optional activities already, I plan to go on some of them and I hope many of the other interns do as well so that we can build relationships that may last for a lifetime. We are all a great group of students and I am excited we all get to learn more about science and get to build friendships in the process.