Things have been quite hectic over the past week or so! I'm finding myself lapsing into particularly bad habits: staying up late, buying lots of junk food, leaving clothes on the floor, and ignoring mail and voicemails. It's not terrible yet, but I need to come out of this weekend on top of things.
I started my first rotation last week, and it's been going somewhat well. I dissected a mouse heart and isolated RNA from it. I then made cDNA from the RNA using an RT-reaction. I'm actually happy to start with something I'm already somewhat used to, not because it's "too" easy, but because it's a great way for me to get oriented in the lab. If I were starting with something I absolutely had no experience with, it would be harder for me to judge what parts of the protocol are "the way it's done," and what parts are "the way this lab does it."
I also had my first exam this week, on Wednesday. The second year grad students sort of scared us shitless about how difficult the exam would be, so I studied my ass off. It's yet another sign that I've been replaced with a pod person: I can't remember the last time I legitimately studied for a science exam. Oh, sure, in college, I'd spend maybe 10 minutes briefly looking over my messy notes, and then another hour flipping through the different chapters of the book, which of course I hadn't read. But I'd never read over my clean, re-written notes, re-read sections of the book which I'd already read, or memorized ... anything.
Sitting down to take the test, I was surprised to see that there wasn't anything on it that I hadn't heard of or thought about. That's different than finding the test easy; it required plenty of thinking, and I was definitely unsure of some of my answers. But there were no questions where I felt panicked or lost. A lot of the questions did involve using memorized material: draw structures of certain carbohydrates, draw these nucleotides/sides, write out this peptide sequence. But a lot of them also required that I just have an understanding of enzyme kinetics or lipid function.
After the test, about seven of us went out to the Sunset Cantina for drinks and bar food. It was an absolute blast (until I got home at about 8:45pm and learned that Steve Jobs had died--damn).
The next day, we still had class, and somehow, our professor had already graded all the exams. He was pleased with how we did, and no one failed. Apparently, a 75% is about an A-, which reflects the fact that 1) his tests are difficult, and 2) biochemistry is pretty damn complicated. I mean, I guess it doesn't matter that much to me in terms of just this test because, uh, I got 100%. I wonder if I can keep this up; I also got 100% and 105% on my first two molecular biology assignments.
Seriously. Pod person. Not shitting you.
This weekend is Yom Kippur and Columbus Day. I'll observe Yom Kippur by fasting, but I'll probably clean my room and work on the intro bio PowerPoint. I know that's not what I'm supposed to do, but honestly, it's an important holiday to me, and I don't really have a problem with repenting by doing work and chores. I will also be studying for our molecular biology exam that's Thursday evening. I feel less cool about this exam. Perhaps it's because I tend to text during class? Shhhh.
I'm so jealous of how much you and your program-mates go out together. My classmates need to learn a thing or two from your group about how grad students can have fun and still be awesome in their program.
ReplyDeleteAlso, memorizing! Oh god, I haven't done as much of that in my life as I did first year of this program. I'm glad that as the program's gone on the classes have become more and more application, because if I had had to do much more than that straight 2 years of pure memorization my brain would have become mush!