Posts tagged as:

internship

Courtney

Life.

by Courtney on April 7, 2013

in Academics,College Life

Today’s weather was gorgeous. As in, practically eighty degrees, a nice amount of sunshine, and very low humidity. And what did I do today? Homework, as usual. And as I was looking at my planner, I realized that I misunderstood my friend and fellow blogger Carly when she said that we have five weeks of school left after spring break. Yes, technically we do, if you don’t count exam weeks. I love school, don’t get me wrong- but as the weather gets nicer and nicer, it just gets harder and harder to stay inside and study.

I’ve actually already started my summer internship. I’m interning in a microbiology lab halfway between my house and campus, and, if you’ve read any of my blogs thus far, you should be inferring that I’m enjoying the experiences there. And that inference is correct. I’m learning a lot of new lab techniques, and everyone is so nice that I’ve already made some new friends.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m excited for summer. But, then again, I’ll be sad when this school year ends. As I said before, most of my friends are seniors, so they’ll be graduating and moving on to bigger and better things come this May, which will make for a strange school year for me next year. I have a feeling we will all be getting pretty sentimental in these coming weeks.

This weekend, my high school presented their annual spring musical. This year, the show was “White Christmas.” As I sat there in the audience watching eagerly as the cast members tap danced to songs like “I Love a Piano” and acted out some pretty powerful romantic scenes, I started thinking about how fast life goes. I graduated from high school just three years ago, yet I only knew the seniors in the show. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was on that stage playing twelve-year-old Agnes in my last high school musical, “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

So if my rambling here means anything to you, then great. If not, I’ll try to sum it up here: even though these last few weeks may seem daunting and difficult, and even though motivating yourself to do your homework amidst the glorious preview of summer weather may seem nearly impossible, college truly will be over before we know if, so we need to savor every sweet moment we have.

{ 0 comments }

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that we’re, what?, a week past the halfway mark of the semester? The sheer amount of stuff I’ve learned in the past eight weeks is kind of really mind-blowing.

I’ve learned, for example, what a derivative is. I’ve learned how to take the derivative of the aforementioned derivative. I’ve been reading all about GMO foods for a book report that I’m doing for my evolution class. I’ve learnt about the Michaelis-Menten equation and its graphs. I’ve learned some really, really fun words, including, but not limited to, glycosylphosphatidylinositol (try saying that one five times fast. Heck, try saying it at all. I dare you.). I’ve revisited some old friends from general chemistry that I really should be a master at, but actually kind of suck at (but it’s okay, because I think we all have come to the agreement that we all suck at these things and should probably retake gen chem. as a result), including acid-base chemistry, the pH scale, and pka; kinetics; and thermodynamics. Yes, if I haven’t pulled this analogy on my blog yet, I’m doing it now:

My mind is like a supersaturated solution: one more particle of information, and everything will crystallize out of solution.

(Yes, it’s nice to know that the concept of solubility is not above my level of comprehension and that I can make such analogies as a result.)

In addition to lots of learning going on, things have been picking up speed at the Botanical Garden, where I’m currently an intern. A classmate (who is also a dietetics drop-out) and I are in charge of designing seven display cases in the Brookings Interpretive Center. Hey, no pressure, right? I think we did a fine job, and tomorrow we get to start putting them together. I highly recommend you go to the Garden this spring and check out Brookings…it’s going to be awesome when we get it flipped to fit the Garden’s “Foodology” theme! Plus, something tells me the Garden is spectacular in spring…

Anyhow, I hope everyone else’s semester is going smoothly as well! I’m feeling at home in my new department, and I think I know what I want to do with my life. I would say what it is, but it’ll be different next week or month or whatever, so I’ll refrain from doing so.

Have a great weekend everyone! And remember: spring break is almost here.

-Carly

“Assistant Director” by Ducktails

{ 0 comments }

It kind of creeps me out how close summer really is when you sit down and think about it.  We are just a mere 16 school days until spring break, and Fontbonne’s summer class schedules are already out.  (By the way, kudos to whoever designed the covers - I was talking to some friends about the brightly-colored design, and we were laughing about the fact that they almost actually make summer school look fun.)  And just this morning, I went to the St. Louis Science Center in order to interview for a summer internship position in the Life Science Lab.  Wish me luck!

With summer just around the corner, I begin to reflect on the semester.  It seems like we just started this spring semester, but, at the same time, it does feel like we’ve been working through the same classes for a while, if my contradictory statement makes any sense at all.  I’m really enjoying my classes so far, and, though they’re definitely challenging, they’re so worth it.  I’ve figured out a study schedule that has been working out pretty well, and I feel as though I’ve learned a lot. 

But, there’s still a lot more to do, so I’d better not dilly-dally any longer.  I’ll have all summer to do that.  Well, sort of – it kind of depends on if I get the internship and on which summer classes I decide to take…

{ 0 comments }

There is a snow/ice storm covering the Midwest! Classes were canceled Monday night, all day Tuesday, and so far all day Wednesday.

I have been using this time to apply for internships for Summer 2011. I hope to land an internship in the windy city! Wish me luck! :)

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Students writing for Real Life at Fontbonne are paid a small fee for each post by the university.