I guess I would have known love if it whispered in my ear.
All I know right now is that it's been almost a year
since I traded in forever for a kiss that day,
but how about some shelter if I promise not to stay?
- Train, Shelter Me
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"Are you a new post-doc?"
-- "Oh! Oh, no! I'm an undergrad, actually!"
[Embarrassed.] "…Oh! Ha!"
-- "Yes, I'm the new summer intern, haha. But.. wow, thank you!"
Quite possibly the single most flattering thing anyone has ever said to me.
-+-
"I have an awesome undergrad!"
During our internship orientation, we were told to treat this internship as if it were a summer-long interview, and I've really been trying to take it to heart.
"Downtime? Time to research EVERYTHING!! Time to shadow EVERYONE!! Must… get to know… everyone!! It don't matter that this lab is three times as big as my lab at home! MUST.. GET TO KNOW.. EVERYONE!!!!!! GOOD MORNING TO ALLLLLLLLLL"
I've started trying to arrive first to my lab in the morning not only to get more work done, but also to make a good impression on EVERYONE! Also, it puts me in a really good position to say a personalized, "Good morning!" to everyone as they walk in later in the day. Admittedly, it's been a batch of mixed results from the lab members - I am, after all, just a random summer intern that will only be here for a few weeks. But so help me, I won't stop trying my darnest!
Today, I hit it big when I mastered the Cryostat that I mentioned a few days ago. I finally cut beautiful tissue sections!! Although when I say "finally," that admittedly translates more into, "my second try." Even so, I did well enough to the point that my graduate mentor gasped and went, "Oh my god. Those are beautiful. I am so impressed!" She promptly went back to the laboratory, and after I was done cleaning my station, I returned to the lab as well, where it turned out that my graduate mentor told everyone about my Cryostat work! The other lab members said, "So I heard that you're a master of histology. She won't stop bragging about you."
She interjected, "I'm serious! Oh my gosh, you have to see them!" She held up the slides that I prepared, and a few of the lab members gathered around to look at my sections and agreed that they were impressed, saying, "That's beautiful!" and, "Nope, that's not okay. You can't do that, Christa. You're making the rest of us look bad."
They started joking that I'm now going to spend countless hours everyday at the Cryostat, "You can't do too well on anything, because now I'm just thinking of all the things I can have you section for me now! So many possibilities!" I would not stop blushing at my achievement and the subsequent praise. It was so rewarding and flattering!
After all my protocol today, I even got to hang out with one of the Master's students and watch a fantastic new protocol that involved brain dissection! Four hours flew by, and before I knew it, I hit the end of a 14-hour work day.
I'm definitely trying to make the most of this fantastic internship!
What a good day!