(Ro)tatertot

Flashback to my interview at WashU: Andrew Richards (who is no longer an MSTP guy but a PhD guy) was telling us interviewees about the possibility of a summer rotation in a lab or two and that about half of the MSTPers take it their first year. Back then, there was NO chance that I was going to do any such thing. Why the hell would anyone want to sacrifice their last summer before 7-9ish years of schooling began in order to sit another 2 months at a lab bench? No thank you. I’d rather work my relaxing undergraduate jobs, go out every night with my friends, etc. I wanted to milk my last summer for all its worth.

Well, I write this from my new apartment in StL. My rotation starts on Monday. Why the change of heart? Well, over the months between my interview and my graduation things were changing:

-I wasn’t enjoying my old apartment as much. Tensions between the 3 girls I lived with were rising constantly and it made living alone in StL much more attractive

-My undergraduate research project had been dragging on and on for months. It was supposed to be published over a year before I graduated, but it wasn’t yet. This was a real morale killer at the lab.

-Honestly, I was beginning to become partied out. I lived it up quite a bit my final semester and my wallet/liver were feeling it. They didn’t need to spend an extra 2 months doing the same.

-I realized how stressful it might be to learn a new city while learning about a billion other new things in my first semester as a med student.

-Early stipend = money to buy books and stuff.

So, here I am. Excited? You bet. Regret leaving my home early? Not at all. Plus, my apartment turned out to be pretty sweet. That certainly didn’t hurt the situation at all.

-R

Life in St. Louis

So, I've been living in St. Louis for about 2 weeks now, so I thought that it was time for a post.

I decided to buy a condo, and I found a great one-bedroom in the DeBaliviere area, which is just North of Forest Park, right by the metro stop. It was a bit overwhelming and stressful to buy a condo, but I think that a large part of that was that I found a condo and purchased in less than a month. But everything is really coming together, and I am really glad that I did it.

I started my rotation about 2 weeks ago and it has been going very well. I've really enjoyed the people in the lab and my PI, which I think can really make or break a lab. My project is starting to get going, which is also exciting. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some results before the end of my rotation.

I've also been hanging out with a lot of other new MSTPs and some other MS1s, who have been really nice and really fun to hang out with. We've been exploring the CWE and we've found some pretty fun places. We also spent an afternoon in Forest Park, which is just amazing. I keep hearing about other fun stuff that goes on in St. Louis during the summer, like Jazz in the Botanical Gardens and concerts by the arch, and the best part is that most of it is FREE!

I'm really excited for the rest of the summer as well as the beginning of the school year!