Our First Week Coming to an End

This morning, I woke up to the annoyingly loud noise of dorm doors slamming shut. It was already 7:30 AM which is the latest I have woken up while in the dorms. I was surprised I had not woken up at the sound of my alarm but as I later found out I had actually never turned it on. Thankfully, even though the sound of the loud dorm doors has never woken me up before, they woke me up this time. After the rush to get ready, I ate some breakfast and walked to the Biological Sciences building for the beginning of class.

In lecture throughout the day, we discussed antibiotic resistance (ABR). Because this a course on infectious diseases, we have really focused on antibiotics and resistance against them. Most of our labs have also been focused on ABR. An overview of all of the labs we have covered so far led to a discussion of the scientific paper that will be due early next week. The paper will encompass a description of all our labs, the procedure, and our results. I have never written a paper in this format so I am looking forward to tomorrow when we will discuss the paper in further detail.

Agarose gel electrophoresis we used in lab

After lecture, we moved to the lab to continue with our experiments on ABR. Our first lab was using Gel electrophoresis to help us learn more about the product we got from yesterday’s PCR lab. Our gel results would tell us if our sample contained DNA and verify that we amplified the right gene. 

As part of another experiment, we were able to test if the water from Lake Michigan was safe to swim in. We did this by filtering some of the lake water for coliforms. We incubated our filter along with some unfiltered water in order to have something to compare our results to. I am excited to hear more about our results tomorrow.

Te'amo Boba Bar

After class, I went to get some Boba tea with Maria and Cecilia. Cecilia and I have been craving Boba for the past couple of days so we decided to finally get some today. Although the Boba was a letdown for us, we still enjoyed getting to know each other better. We spent the time talking about our taste in music and the differences between our schools and cities. After finishing our not so good Boba, we all headed to our dorms but decided to meet up again later that night go to one of the RA events.

Cecilia struggling to put on her face mask

After getting some work done, I headed downstairs around 10:30 PM for some “relaxation time”. It was an RA event where we got to take a break from our studies and spend some time with friends in a relaxed environment. The event was held in a study room on the second floor of the dorm building that is usually reserved for quiet study. It felt good to take over the room and instead of studying putting on face masks, doing crafts, and listening and singing along to early 2000s classics. 

As our first week in Chicago comes to an end, I am reminded of just how lucky I am to have been chosen to be a part of the ILC. In just the first few days of class, I have learned so much about Biology and could really see myself pursuing it as a major in college. Also, a big highlight of my experience so far has been getting to meet some really cool people and experiencing college life. The first week has brought great memories and challenges, I can’t wait to make the most out of what the next two weeks will bring!