Three weeks down...Four more to go!

These three weeks have gone by so quickly, making me realize my time in the lab is running out, summer is almost over, and worst of all senior year is right around the corner! Working in the lab has been so unpredictable that I laugh whenever I think about my experience. There are days I am in the lab shadowing an employee and is very excited when they assign me something simple that I am able to handle to limit their amount of work, while there are other days I am in the lunch room meeting new employees and conversating with them as if I've known them for more than five minutes. Within these few weeks I have been told what an amazing opportunity that was given to me and I am really starting to appreciate it knowing how competitive this program is.

Just last Friday, I was able to attend a Tuberculosis and HIV conference at MIT. I was one of the only two high schools students to attend. Let me tell you, so many unknown information was thrown at me and I was just blown away. I know nothing is ever impossible to learn but I believe everything I was told last week will take me years to understand! I lost count of the amount of people who presented but every person presented for about 20 minutes. It was cool knowing so many people were learning different information and running different test for the same topic. That made me excited to know I don't have to follow what others are doing but investigate whatever interest me, knowing whatever I find out in the future will be useful to everyone.

Since the lab is so independent and I can't go off and do my own experiments, many of the employees have been very considerate about expanding my learning during my stay. I have had many conversation about my future, been taken to the library to read one of my employees two favorite scientific books, been quizzed about what I was taught about TB, and given books to do some studying. I would say I have come across one problem, because I haven't taken bioliogy in high school yet and my high school doesn't use textbooks, trying to learn and understand all of these new facts through different textbooks has been a struggle. I guess I shouldn't complain because I enjoy a nice challenge and this is a preview of how college is going to be. There are many things I am going to be completly confused about, but I have to me smart and ask for help whenever I need it.

I will say I haven't reached the climax of my summer yet but I am enjoying it so far. There's many more to learn and experience and many more blogs for me to post! :)