I stood in front of the building and boarded the shuttle when it stopped. I guess it was the driver's break stop, and he had ten minutes, so he jokingly asked me and the woman across from me not to drive off without him as he exited. We were the only ones on the bus. She laughed and said, "You're good! I am security, ain't NOBODY goin' off with THIS bus!"
Other people boarded the parked shuttle. This shuttle is only for Hopkins employees; the outside of the door reads ID Required. I complemented the security woman on her vibrant attire (she was wearing orange pants, a printed top with orange accents, her finger and toe nails also bright orange, complete with orange earrings and sandals). I listened to her tell me about how she loves to wear bright colors and how orange is her "tribe's" color in church based off of Bible women and their stories. Her exuberance could only be captured in the sound of her voice and her radiant eyes.
The driver returned and we were off! The shuttle driver was friendly and helpful. He greeted everyone as they boarded, many by name, at various stops. He noticed me once more and said, "Well, you're just all smiles today! First day?" I nodded. He laughed, "Beautiful day to start. You are going to do just great."
I got off at the dome and walked into the hospital, almost expecting to be stopped. No one stopped me. I had a badge. It was official.
I knew that I needed to take the main corridor left and follow it around one corner. Confidently striding through the front doors, I came directly to a Cristus statue. I was glad to see it. I walked to a hallway on the left, but it was curved, not at all a straight shot. Immediately turning around and circling the entrance area, I started to pull out my map when a lady spotted me and asked if I needed help.
She led me to the main corridor as I had asked and continued on her way. Watching for anything that said "Blalock," I ended up passing it and pulling out my map. Someone asked what I was looking for and told me to turn around and it'd be two or so doors on my right.
Passing through the doorway was an area looking very much like a lobby, only it was missing the people, and a receptionist. I glimpsed the elevators and walked to them. I needed room 1105. I checked again, 1105? I didn't even think the building looked that tall. As I entered the elevator, I was astounded that there were 14 floors! I pushed number 11 and the doors closed.
The elevators were large, metal, and fast. I found room 1105 and met Ann. Her office walls were lavender, and the shelves were either covered with Raven memorabilia or a surplus of Tinker Bell figures. She greeted me and gave me a couple packets of important papers, and a filing folder containing goodies.
Now when I say a filing folder I don't mean one of those cheap manilla folders (although she did give me one of those as well), I mean one of those heavy duty folders that are already expanded three or four inches out. It was packed with brand new, still-in-the-package things such as a lab notebook, a spiral notebook, highlighters, colorful pens, a stapler, a scientific calculator, a fancy tape dispenser, a required reading book, a flash drive, and a ruler. It was almost like Christmas morning as I clutched my new belongings and followed Ann to Emily's office. I like her, I thought to myself.
Emily is my supervisor. She is really nice and was glad to hear that I had settled in to my place alright. She walked me to an office area (for lack of a better way to describe it, this was a wide hallway with doors at each end and desk space lining the walls with dividers for each person) where mostly students had a workplace. I was given a desk space on the opposite side of Kristen so our backs were to each other. Kristin is a student that works under Emily, so I ended up following her around the rest of the day.
I was shown the lab and some of the storage spaces and freezers. All of the doors have a lock that requires a swipe of the name badge to open them. Since I was new, none of the doors have been coded to allow me into them. I followed Kristin wherever she went.
Curtis made it to work and we will be sharing a desk. I arranged it so he can have the computer and I will plan on bringing my laptop each day. (Curtis does not own a laptop.)
Emily and Kristin showed me a few things in the lab that I will be doing. Emily gave me an overview of what project I will be working on this summer. I think this summer job is going to be absolutely splendid! I love everyone that I met today and am excited that I will be sharing a desk with someone that I know. I'll see Curtis every once in a while. I have so much that I can read and learn now! I can hardly wait to get started!
Sure I looked every bit the part of a new intern today: overly excited, confident, and turned around, but I think that today at work was great. It was everything you would generally expect for a first day on the job. The easy predictable things, nothing went terribly wrong. Overall, an average sort of day, but I think I like this "average." :)
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