Last Day :(

{August 3, 2012}

Friday was my final day. Although, Thursday was spent having a luncheon with everyone. It was super sad. First off, let us all just agree that I am absolutely terrible with goodbyes. I can hardly handle them. I took my camera with me, and Kristin took lots of pictures for me. She was determined to make sure that I would remember absolutely everything about the lab.

She was right to do so; I hope that I never forget. I have pictures of just about everything. I am truly going to miss Johns Hopkins Hospital.

This is the plate washer. I used it on a frequent basis when I was doing ELISAs (or Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays). Since it is such an important machine, Kristin and I posed next to it.

I also pulled out my boxes that I stored things in. Now I will never be able to forget my infamous Smile :) and Trouble boxes.

Kristin and I then had a photo shoot. Not really though, we were just goofing off.

We are also really bad at pretending to be serious. Hence, in the next picture, we are laughing uncontrollably. Also, both of our lab coats say Kristin's name on them. We are the same person!

Other things that were necessary to capture forever are Curtis with his glasses, and my name on my slot.

Here are Curtis and Natalie, they are so cool, look at them pipetting . . . especially without gloves! Ha! You can always tell a posed science picture when . . .

I am a scientist! In our cold room I am pointing to the goat cheese and soy milk that we have stored. On the back of the shelf, I uncovered the 2% milk that I got at the beginning of the summer. It has been in there far too long.

Here is the milk that I labeled "not for consumption" just about two months ago. It is long past its expiration date and has formed a layer of sour nastiness on top. My favorite part of this milk bottle is the back where it says "Not your average cow!" Does it make anyone else wonder what makes these cows so special? Or do I even want to know?

We did the only thing we could, throw it away!

Other equipment from the lab are shown. Kristin models how cold -85 C really is . . . now that is cold! Freezers are an important part to any lab, without them scientists would not be able to store their samples for very long without damaging or killing them.

When I started this summer, I had to do several training modules. One was for all Hopkins employees and it talked about fire safety. I laughed at it though when it said that if there was a fire, everyone should evacuate and not use the fire extinguishers.

I am being a rebel and using the fire extinguisher! Let me put out that fire!

Every lab comes equipped with an emergency shower. I've never had to use one, and I hope I never have to.

This was Ann's door. I sure will miss her. She loves the Ravens (if you couldn't tell) and always has a treat in her office. Ann is friendly and thinks about everyone. When the delivery guys come to drop off a box, she makes sure that she has a cold bottle of water for them.

Here is Emily and Sarven in their office. Emily was my mentor. She was absolutely fantastic! I just love her and I will miss her smile.

When it was finally time to leave, I gave Emily a final hug and pushed the button on the elevator. The doors slid shut with finality and I descended eleven floors. I was conscious of every step I took through the hallway and past the Jesus statue until I was out the door.  My feet felt heavy at each step, I struggled to pick them up.

I arrived at the row house in Fells Point wanting to cry. Although I knew that I would be in Baltimore for another week, it was not the same, knowing my summer days were at an end.

The view from the lab on the eleventh floor of the Blalock building

I do not consider myself one to get homesick, most likely to the regret of my mother. I know where my family is, and I am assured that I will see them again. Leaving Hopkins on Friday was not the same. I had to say goodbye to people that I was uncertain whether or not I would ever see again. You never know when paths might cross, but in this case, I was more distraught than for comfort. I will truly miss these people.

Philadelphia

I feel the need to apologize to all of you reading this blog. The last couple of weeks of my summer in Baltimore were so eventful that I didn't have time to finish all of my posts. I would start one, but soon after I felt the need to start yet another post, all the while neglecting the ones prior to it. As a result, I have several posts that were started and just never finished. I also wanted to be sure to complete them in the order they happened. I told myself that I would finish all of them once I got home and just before school started . . . and I am sure you all can guess how well that plan turned out. :) It didn't. School started and my semester was crazy and a lot has happened since then, but first things first: I need to complete these pending stories. I started this blog to document my summer, and I plan on finishing it. So here is the rest of my story.

{July 28, 2012}

I spent the whole Saturday in Philadelphia with Leanne. 

After we parked the car, we saw horse-drawn carriages. I guess just about every large city has carriage rides, I have seen it all over the place now. Nothing is different from coast to coast. 

We saw Independence Hall. There were so many people. A large line wrapped around the side of the building to see the Liberty bell. I peeked through the window, good enough. I saw the Liberty bell, and I did not have to wait in line.

We saw the Old City Hall building where the U.S. Supreme Court was held. 

I took pictures of many stately buildings. I really enjoyed the layout of the city. It was quite magnificent to see such a variety of buildings on a single street.

Beautiful and breathtaking!
I also found gentlemen in the city of Philadelphia ready to offer an umbrella as protection from the scorching sun. How thoughtful!

Upon entering a tall building, we found a piano placed at the center of the room and a glass dome above to allow us to view the sky. I also took notice of the food court. I seem to have a homing signal that can always direct me to the nearest food.

A view between skyscrapers on the right, this made me feel absolutely puny! It amazes me what things men are able to make with certain materials. It certainly is quite the achievement.

The other thing I thought when I was walking around Philadelphia, was how picturesque this city is! I mean how many cities have giant statues of clothespins lying around town? Maybe the clothespin is actually a metaphor about the cleanliness of this city and how much the people pride themselves in smelling nice. I don't really know, I was just trying to apply my English classes from high school to everyday life. I don't know that I succeeded.

I was sure to take pictures of all of the castles. :) Okay, we know they aren't castles, but it's been awhile, so I can't recall what buildings they were specifically. So just enjoy these pictures along with me.

I do remember finding this little park, if you can call it that. It was filled with giant game pieces from all different types of board games. I even managed to push over a Domino that was probably eight times my size! No, the pieces were cemented in place, but you can see the size of them really well in this next photo. Absolutely crazy how small I am!

Looking down one of the streets, I saw a paintbrush peeking out from between buildings. Someone must be sneaking around painting the sky because I caught evidence of it. I can tell an artist's hand when I see one ;)

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe this was the Mason temple. I did like the architecture of the building, specifically the doors. I don't know what it is, but for some reason I am drawn toward things that look like they have been aged through weather and time. I think it is gorgeous.

We found a little complex for apartments that had a beautiful entrance area with marble pillars and stairs complete with pigeons nesting up in the supports of the ceiling. I thought this was quite the little gem. Wouldn't it be fun to live in a place that you walked through here to get home everyday? I love it! I just had to capture some of the elegance of the place with the layout of the entrance.

As we continued our journey, we ran into a Constitution convention. There was a room that had statues representing each of the signers of the  Constitution. At the base of their feet, a plague stated each man's name, occupation and where he was from. It was neat to be able to read about these great men that did so much for citizens of the United States. I am thankful for the time and effort that they put in to establish this nation.

Here I am with Alexander Hamilton, the youngest of the group. What surprised me was comparing the heights of the men in that room. Some were significantly shorter than I had imagined. Others looked like giants next to the rest. It was so fun to see all of the people and think about what each was contributing to the convention.

We spent the better part of the day in Philly. I am glad I had the chance to at least walk around and absorb some of the sights. Then we left. Goodbye Philadelphia!

Making our way back to Baltimore, Leanne remembered a little place called Havre De Grace that was on our way home.

We decided to stop by and see the lighthouse. The entertainment came in our struggle to locate the lighthouse. Obviously I had not been before, so I was rendered useless in our search. We drove up and down streets next to the river, but were largely unsuccessful. On all of the lamp posts along the streets were banners declaring we were in Havre De Grace and an artistic lighthouse was painted on them.

By the time we were about to give up, we asked a friendly-looking pedestrian to help us. She laughed and directed us over three streets. We were SO close!

We got out of the car to take a look. It was no wonder we had had such a hard time finding it. It couldn't have been more than 25 feet tall, but it was cute. Don't you know that all things small are cute? I just think it's written in the manual for girls.

The weather had been fairly pleasant up to this point, but as we got out of the car to explore the park and dock next to the lighthouse, we were greeted by a gust of wind. We walked around a bit and took pictures as we talked. I loved the contrast between the gray-blue sky and the brown, murky water.

I also got a shoot looking at the lighthouse from the dock. It really isn't very big, but it is so charming. It was overall just beautiful. A storm blew in with huge raindrops and we ran for shelter in the car. Then we drove home, back to Baltimore. It had been a long day. I never knew how exhausting taking pictures can be. :) I did do a lot of walking, so that might have contributed a small portion as well.

Upon my return, I had to squeeze through the door because this. The Olympics were starting and so my roommate had cleverly conjured up a stand for the television antennae. However, she had to improvise to make it so that Willow couldn't reach it either. I hope everyone else enjoyed the games as well!