It seems like this semester I have had a tough time when it comes to consistency in my blog posting. I think the primary reason for such sloppiness is because I did not set myself any deadline for blogging and relied on my free time. However, I will be honest and tell you all that I have had a physically challenging semester. I overestimated myself and although I spent a quite busy summer working in Hershey, I did not take a break and went straight back to Penn State, thinking I would be fine. Unfortunately, my body caught up on me and I have been hit by constant fatigue this semester. As always, I kept myself busy with some challenging classes, the integration of a new lab at Penn State, some extra curriculars (some of them quite ephemeral), and I have been trying to be more healthy.
This past semester I have taken molecular and cellular biology honors, an extremely interesting class taught by a fantastic professor who made me appreciate the molecular biology a lot more to the point that I was thinking about switching from Biology/Neuroscience to Biochemistry/Molecular Biology. However, my passionate for neuroscience could not be greater at this moment. This semester, I have chosen to take molecular neurobiology, the very first neuro course for my major, a year early (I was the only Sophomore in the class) and even though it proved to be challenging at times, I truly enjoyed it and am now looking forward to my next neuro course this spring which focuses on systems neuroscience (the biology of systems is more interested in the big picture rather than the molecular basis of things). This semester, I was also taking the second semester for general chemistry. I had a poor professor. It was an 8am. The material bored me to death. Needless to say that it was far from an enjoyable experience for me to go to forum, the most hatred location on Penn State campus for its huge classes taught at 8am, three times a week. On the other hand, I was rediscovering mechanics via the first semester of physics for my major. Finally, I was given the opportunity this semester to be a learning assistant for a class on research. It felt a lot like a first year seminar class for freshmen in the college of science to start learning about research opportunities. It was an interesting experience, but I am looking forward to get more experience as a teaching assistant for a real science class and not a first year seminar. However, I am thankful for getting to be a LA this semester as it prepared me for future interactions with students.
As I have previously mentioned, this semester was physically tiring. The first few weeks felt very different from my Freshmen year. I had a hard time getting work done in the sense that I would not be able to stay up late for as long as I used to neither was I able to get up at 6am for my morning workout routine. A terrible feeling to feel tired. However, I have pushed through this physical barrier and finished my semester on what I would call a good note. I was able to maintain my 3.8 GPA this semester (technically 3.79 but let’s not be too picky). I developed well into my lab which was difficult at first but I managed to learn quickly and prove myself to my graduate student. Since I am assigned my own project, I feel more engaged in my work, which is crucial for the learning environment of undergraduate students like me. As for the bad notes, my work as a medical career development coordinator went well although I think I could have taken more responsibilities for myself. The paper that I have been working on with my lab in Hershey has been going very slowly, a lot of procrastination which increased my stress levels during a tough semester. The final and most obvious bad note is my health, I have barely been working out, did not eat very healthy and my sleep has been constantly perturbed until the end of the semester following Thanksgiving break when I realized that it became too big of an issue.
This semester has also been quite eventful. I would like to give a shout out to Penn State Rowing team which is filled with great people. I have given it a shot at the beginning of the semester but realized after a week and a half of going to daily practices that I did not enjoy myself as much as I think I did neither would be able to handle the time dedicated to practices and competitions. Another shout out to Global Brigades Public Health which I found myself joining a month after the semester started as a secretary without participating in Global Brigades at all the previous year. Global Brigades is an organization with a chapter at Penn State which organizes week long brigades in South American countries where students have the opportunity to help underprivileged communities. The Public Health section of Global Brigades at Penn State has a hard time growing as people (mostly premed kids seeking to build up their resume) are more involved in the Medical section of Global Brigades and could not care less about public health although both have the capacity of protecting people’s health, however Global Medical sounds a bit more glamour. This semester, I also felt overwhelmed with applications such as the one for Schreyer Orientation which I totally forgot to fill in (the deadline was at the same time as my conference). I was also nominated to be a speaker at State of State, a student run conference emphasizing the importance of advancement in the college community. I kept telling myself that I did not really have anything to share in order to become a speaker but it definitely is an excuse for my lack of time management this past semester.
Research wise, things could not have gone any better this semester. As I have previously mentioned in my blog, I have had the opportunity to present my research on a new chemotherapy for the treatment of peripheral nerve tumors at a conference in Tampa, Florida. I was lucky enough to present my research and got even luckier to receive a prize for my presentation. I met incredibly bright individuals at this conference which is a great motivation to have. Whenever I think back to this conference I remember the guest speakers that came, the lessons I took away from their talk, and what I should expect from myself. I was fortunate enough to win a prize and was simply expecting to go home, tell my family, friends, and mentor and not necessarily think of it anymore. However, I was late contacted by the Schreyer Honor College PR who wanted to write an article on me and the research I did at Hershey. Little did I know that he would not only share this article with Schreyer but also with the Penn State community. I am very thankful for the opportunities Schreyer gives me, I would not have been able to conduct such research and find a new passion within cancer research. Heres’s a picture of the prize winners in Cancer Biology (I’m the second man starting from the left, back row):
Therefore, after such a ruthless semester I am now resting and visiting the other side of the Western world: INDIA. I am indeed spending winter break visiting India with my roommate Nakul who’s originally from New Delhi. So far I have had the opportunity to discover a lot on the history of the country, the current political/social situations, as well as the delicious and well diverse local food! I will write a full blog post on it but here’s a sneak pic of my roommate and myself at the Taj Mahal.
