Day one.

(Nemo: "First day of school! First day of school!" "Five more minutes..." "Not you, Dad, me!"--yeah, I can quote that ENTIRE movie thanks to Baby.)

First day of internship! First day of internship!
After searching all over Cambridge, I finally located the Lamont Library, where the M2 shuttle picks me up. I took the shuttle to the Longwood Medical Plaza, where I successfully located Children's Hospital Boston and the building where my research lab is housed. It's a beautiful building, tall and clean and professional, and my lab is well equipped, bright, and modern. We have a window that looks out over all of Boston. My professor, Diana, met me at the elevator and I was relieved to find that she is extremely approachable and nice (as well as intelligent, of course!). I met Dana, our lab technician, who is kind and happy as well. We talked for a while about the research (it's a tough learning curve--molecular biology, embryology, stem cells, and histopathology!--, but hopefully I'll master it!) and I met the doctor in charge of our lab, David. I'm afraid I didn't sound too intelligent when he asked me to describe myself, but hopefully I'll be able to shine as soon as I get a handle on things. My lab colleagues were happy to learn that I'm familiar with DNA isolation and PCR, and I was able to perform both processes with my own reagents later in the afternoon. Hopefully my PCR works out...or I'll feel bad. My first time should go well! My hands were a little nervous as I was pipetting because Dana was watching to make sure I did things right, but I hope I got everything under control.

The day was good, but long! I worked from 12 to 5, and it seemed like forever. Usually, I'll work 9 to 5 (tomorrow's my first full day!), so I'd better prepare myself. :-) I'm sure I'll get used to the schedule. It might help if I ate something, too. I pretty much survive on Starbucks' tall-nonfat-no-whip-vanilla-bean-frappuccinos and the occasional piece of fruit or protein here, but today I bought a delicious little cinnamon-sugar-and-jelly-doughnut-flavored cupcake (weird, I know, but good!) from a cute little bakery near my apartment I'm sure I'll come to frequent. See, at BYU I can survive on Lean Cuisine, granola bars, and frozen peas because that's really all I buy (and all I see), but here my apartment is surrounded by a myriad of different food places, and I want to try them all! There's an Indian place right on my corner that looks especially good. I might have to eat out on my own, as I have no friends yet, but I'm not scared to do it! I think my best source for potential friends is my ward. I'll be working all day, and my roommates are nice, but not really here often (and neither am I), but I go to church on Sundays and tonight I even went to FHE. I didn't want to go, but I promised myself I wouldn't have to talk to anyone, sucked it up, and went. And I even talked to two people. Surprise.

Cambridge is pretty. My bedroom is cute and clean. I'm all right here.