Day in the Life of an Intern

Since my job is 95 percent of my life right now, I've decided to write about it.

6:45am--wake up. Though I could sleep until 7:10, I've figured out that I'm more tired if I just get up early rather than drifting in and out of sleep until 7:10

7:30-7:40---turn on my ipod, make sure my badge is in the car, take off my shoes (I've found that driving without shoes (when I'm wearing flats for the day) is more comfortable, drive for 35-45 minutes

8:25(ish)--swipe into the lab, put my lunch away, turn on the computer,

8:30 to noon or 1: Check my cells (to see if they are ready to be passaged), which requires lab coat, gloves, and being completely awake. Check my email and, if I've was running any sequencing programs over night, check to see if they are done. Currently I usually stay at my computer until 10ish, working on my protein structure research, dealing with Macvector being stupid and closing unexpectedly and my sequencing/structure programs coming back with low confidence rates which requires me, and another woman, to find a new approach.
My other research resides in the lab, and currently we are simply creating the DNA to be experimented with. This leads to me doing PCR, incubation, centrifuging, and washing of the DNA, while being supervised sometimes which is quite nerve-wracking  The man I'm working with is super nice, but doing any task (let alone pipetting tiny amounts of liquids) while being watched is stressful. Plus, I'm an intern, so I'm (in my head) having to prove myself each day. With the lab work currently, there is a lot of waiting, which gives me time to work on my other research (the protein structure).

Around 12 or 1: lunch

until 5: either lab work or computer research. Each day is impressively different (making just that more stressful because I don't know what to expect, even after a month of working here), but it also makes it interesting.

5-5:10--walk through the hospital building (the main building at my work) to get to my car, say hello to the parking attendant (who is the nicest guy) as I pay the parking fee

5:10 to 5:50/6--driving. again, take the shoes off, roll down the windows, blast music, stay in the far lanes so I don't get killed by the nuts drivers driving on the 8 lane highway I take to/from work.

5:50/6: change out of work attire. I'm happy that I don't have to dress professional everyday! Jeans and nice shirts, or just t-shirts, or cardigans are what everyone wears. But still, it's june and while the lab isn't warm, walking to get to my car/sitting in my car gets hot with jeans on.

6-6:30--*on a good day*--biking, or running, or doing some sort of exercise  (I'm determined to go to the pool at least once after work but I'm not sure that will happen.

6:45 or 7: dinner, walking the dog, tv, tumblr/netflix, writing on this blog
(or go out with friends)

10: sleep.

and repeat.

Yes, I have begun to appreciate the weekends a lot more.

Until next time,
K