First week down...

Well it's official. I've  made it a full week out in the wild on my own. Congratulation Emma, you made it without killing anyone, some close calls but you've pulled through. This blog is going to be a little long because it's going to a flashback of the week that i've been here, also a lot of pictures because I don't want to be "that person" on facebook that does nothing but post pictures everyday of them seeming like they are having a good time (does a white girl even enjoy the starbucks if she doesn't post about it on instagram?)  But not too long because it seems like my bedroom doesn't have a three prong plug.

 I loving learning new things. I am down to try anything once. However I don't really like learning new things about myself, epically if I am not too found of that new trait I discover. Like the fact that I get sea sick. Awesome. How did I find out about this new trait you might ask? Well let me tell you.... So Bigelow has this research boat that they go out on and collect samples at different depth of the ocean. They have this super heavy machinery that they put out in the ocean. Well the program mentor figured it would be a FAN-TASTIC idea to have all the intern go out and collect samples so they have an idea on what field work is like. I was perfectly fine out in the shallow calm water near the bay, in fact I was enjoying the cool spray of the ocean and collecting samples. In fact I was even fine when the captain sped up and it started getting choppy out in the ocean. It wasn't until we stopped out in the middle of the ocean the sweating started. I was in the cabin trying to be helpful to Daven (pictured above looking like a captain who just lost someone at sea) and Anna (not pictured...maybe lost at sea?) When all of a sudden I was on a terrible rollercoaster that I couldn't get off. While I held onto the counter top I was also trying to hold on to the tuna fish sandwich I had eaten 30 minutes before the boat ride. But that wasn't the worst part. Both Daven and Anna started feeling sick too. Poor Anna was trying to operate this really expensive machinery while getting yelled at by the captain. While Daven was only what I can imagine was praying for dear life as he bowed his head on the counter top. I luckily was able to hold my lunch down but I knew if anyone was to as much make a gagging noise that I would of been forced to share what I had for lunch, breakfast and dinner the night before with everyone on the boat. We got out of there and I was fine as soon as the boat started moving again. I found something new and intresting about myself...I can NEVER work on a boat.

The week went by and I gladly stayed on LAND to do the rest of my research for the week. To keep it brief, this week I was experimenting with different media and agar plating techniques. The parasite I will be using for the rest of the time here is usually grown in a liquid media. It was my job to see if I couldn't make the liquid media into a solid agar plate. Plating cells is much easier to pick a single colony with the same DNA then trying to do that with a liquid media. I got paid to play around in the lab to keep me busy until my other stuff arrives. Also I got to wear those bad ass goggles they gave me. I guess I'm #distractedlysexy in the lab (if you want to know, there was this very sexist noble prize winner who doesn't think it's a good idea for men and women to work together in a lab because women will fall in love and cry when criticized.. you can read more about it here http://mashable.com/2015/06/11/female-scientists-responses-tim-hunt-distractinglysexy/#:eyJzIjoiZiIsImkiOiJfNjV1bG84YXA0d3BnZmhqeSJ9  

THE WEEKEND couldn't come fast enough. Friday was a really casual night expect I got to see three of my lovely roomates full moons as they went streaking in the rain. That was very entertaining, i stayed inside because again about it being cold and the upper half of my body. Saturday came along and we hit the beach. It was a very pretty beach but tons of flies and if you steep in this moss looking stuff you'll smell like dog poo the whole ride home (not that i'm speaking from experience or anything). Also my feet are pretty soft so it was a struggle getting around considering it seems to be the burying ground for every crab shell in the state. But it was fun and the sun was out. (yes I was wearing sunscreen). We got home, showered off that dog poo smell i have seemed to pick up from some unknown reason and decided to go to the local movie theater. HEY REU STUDENT!! BRING CASH WITH YOU EVERYWHERE!!! It seems to be in this small of a town that the only place that accepts credit cards it the local shop and that is about it. No one as credit cards, just a heads up.We went to see Jurasic World. Which I thought was a good movie. Chris Prat can have my babies anytime he wants. Dear Chris Prat if you are reading this... I like your face and we should have babies forever and forever. Love Emma Cold. The Mckee house (other REU house) invited us over after the movie to hang out. It was at this point that my headache was at the high point and was screaming to go home. It also wasn't helping that the Mckee house is very nice in comparison to mine. I started to fall asleep on their couch because it was literally the softest thing that i had sat on all week long. So some advile and some sleep later I felt better.

But the DREAMING is driving me a little nuts. I have a tendency to have really weird dreams when i sleep in different environment or not in my own bed. Many of you may not know this but I dream a lot and remember a lot of my dreams. Don't know why...just always have. I also wake up a lot during the night. Maybe 4-5 times a night just to check on the time or readjust. When I dream and I wake up then fall back asleep I will usually dream about something else. But last night I couldn't shake my dream. When I would fall back asleep I would have the same dream just in a different scene. It was very weird. It was about the boy that i was seeing right before I left. To give you a background on this guy...He basically stopped talking to me a week and a half before I took off. didn't really explain anything to me, just stopped talking to me. But it's okay he did the exact same thing to me 2 years ago when we first dated. Except this time felt different. It is really hard for me to get attached to a boy, you can't get hurt if your not attached right? After the disaster in March of where I got a little attached to this boy i was seeing and he ripped away from me, i really tried hard to not get attached to this one, because i knew i was leaving for Maine. But i still care about him, he is still my friend and I want the best for him. I have given up completely on him responding to anything i have said to him. But last night I had this awful dream about him being on drugs and not going where he wanted to in life. In my dream he was destroying his life and there was nothing i could do about it. I kept waking up and falling asleep and it was the same dream over and over again. I was so much in distressed when i woke up i had to fight back tears as I talked to my mom on the phone about the dream. Right now i'm trying to secretly find out if he is okay because he made it pretty clear he wanted knowing to do with me before i left. He seems to be doing alright, but still the dream got to me. It didn't help today when my parents apparently yelled at a stranger who they thought was my old fling (the march disaster) who they thought looked like him. It's still painful to hear his name because the memories flood back in. The way he looks, the way he smiles, smells, memories, laugh...everything floods in and i'm like the hoover dam trying to hold everything back. It was a rough week but a good weekend with a someone rough ending.

Anyway I'm trying hard not to make this my personal journal, i'll try to keep it more general and not so heart felt. well because i let it slipped i was writing this to my roomates and now they seem to have taken a personal intrest to see if i mention them or  not....hector.....
GOODNIGHT to the pond... and to the mosquito who tried to eat me tonight, go to hell.