Even weekends are going to be busy this semester

Today I took the first CS 125 quiz at the Computer-Based Testing Facility. There is one every week, and due to my busy schedule during the week I'll need to take them all on Saturdays. There are also pre-lecture assignments for both chemistry and MCB as well as post-lecture assignments for MCB. Therefore, I'll have lots of work to do even on the weekends this semester.

Unrelatedly, the chemistry section I'm in is a little bit special in that it provides free genetic testing kits from 23andMe. I picked mine up today and will use it soon.

Learning more in the lab

Yesterday I (with the help and direction of my supervisor) prepared my first gel electrophoresis. I have not yet figured out a good way to see where the wells are (since the gel is transparent), so I had to go on the distance from the previous well. After we ran the electrophoresis and put the finished gel through the imaging machine, we discovered that only two of the three PCR chunks worked. My supervisor has a handful of ideas on why the one may have failed, which we will look into more on Tuesday.

Lab work begins

Today I started doing some actual lab work with my supervisor. We set up a PCR with multiple primers to make copies of just a few specific runs of DNA. We will next use Gibson assembly to produce unified, rearranged plasmids from those runs. My job was to pipette a lot of very small amounts of liquids into various tubes to prepare the 18 (2 templates times 3 temperatures times 3 primers) PCR tubes. There's a lot to keep track of, and though some parts were repetitive, it was pretty neat getting to actually set up a PCR, having only read about it previously. I also got to start a lab notebook and start keeping track of relevant information.

Things are getting intense

Today I had five classes. The first was a CS lecture at 8 AM, so I was up shortly after 6:30 (hooray for coffee) to hop on the bus to the other side of campus. The professor covered the course policies and what we'll learn in the class. The course teaches Java, which I already have something of a handle on, but it can't hurt to get more practice.

The first chemistry lecture likewise was just an overview of the class. My next class, differential equations, held its second lecture and covered actual content the whole time. Then MCB started the intro (which will apparently span three days, with the next two interspersed with biology content). Following the biology lecture I ran north to the CS lab. Today's lab was meant to make sure everybody had their computers set up to work on and submit the machine-graded projects, but since I had already partially finished the setup I managed to complete the first project during lab. It'll be nice to not have to worry about that next week.

When I got back to the dorm, I was very tired. I watched the pre-lecture videos for Friday's chemistry lecture and did the questions. Then I watched the newest Star Trek episode to relax.

Tomorrow I have only one class because the chemistry lab has not started yet. I will go into the biology research lab in the afternoon to start doing some work.

Second semester begins

Today was the first day of classes in the second semester. My first class was at noon, but lab work began at 9, so I got up bright and early at 7:30. In the lab, I learned how to use micropipettors and heard about the techniques used in the experiments we'll be starting on Thursday. I was also told what kinds of things we might want to be able to know from sequence data. I look forward to doing some biologically relevant programming.

After finishing up at the lab, I walked over to my differential equations class. In the first session, the professor just covered the syllabus/policies and the outline of what we are going to do with differential equations. After a quick stop at the dorm for lunch, I got on the bus to the chemistry discussion, which is conveniently exactly where it was last semester. Unfortunately, due to the vast amount of people getting off and on the bus and there being so many cars on the road, the bus took ten minutes longer than I expected and I was a bit late to class. (First impressions ahoy!) I'll take that into account next time. Since there have been no lectures yet, the discussion was just personal introductions.

Tomorrow I have a CS lecture at 8 AM, so I'll be waking up at 6:40.

Ready to launch the semester

Today I went around campus with my roommate to find all our classrooms. Some of the buildings were locked, but at least I now know the streets of the engineering side. On Wednesdays I'll just need to run straight north to get from biology lecture to the CS lab, which shouldn't be difficult.

I now have the semester-opening e-mails from all classes except math. CS 125 has a neat course website with detailed information on how the projects and labs work. My biology class indeed works with last semester's materials (including the online access code), so I think I can return the new textbook I bought. Chemistry uses a free online textbook, which is wonderful.

I also received an e-mail with the times I should come in to the research lab. My first day is tomorrow! I am very excited.

Moved in for the next semester

Today I arrived back at UIUC. I immediately unpacked all my stuff and found that I had forgotten my toothbrush at home. So I went to Walgreen's to get a couple disposable ones, and on the way I went to the bookstore to pick up the biology textbook I ordered. It looks identical to last semester's, so I will not unseal it until I attend class and know for sure that last semester's online code will still work. That way, I can return it for a full refund if I don't need it.

For most of the day, I did some reading and organizing in preparation for classes. Tomorrow I'll go around campus and find all my classes. I recognize a lot of the places, but there are a few new buildings for me, especially ones on the engineering side of campus.

Once my roommate woke up (jet lag is rough) we went out for some late-night sandwiches since the dining halls are all closed until tomorrow. From now on, I'll need to be more disciplined about my sleep schedule.

Packing up again

Tomorrow I go back to UIUC after three weeks of break. I've accumulated many more items that will travel with me. My main desktop computer is now back in service and will be more so once a more powerful power supply arrives. It's accompanied by an excellent microphone, which I hope to use for some recording soon.

I'll have less than two full days to get everything together before class begins on Tuesday, so there will be plenty to do when I arrive tomorrow. I plan to pick up my biology textbook from the bookstore and find all my classrooms before it gets too dark and cold.