Up to the Fourteenth Floor

After yesterday's lab, we did a discussion on our findings from the lab, and the conclusion was that heat broke hydrogen bonds and the instant cooling made the DNA not able to form back to its original shapem and DNAase broke down the phosphate-sugar bond, and prolonged reaction time further let the mixture more turbid because DNAase would cut DNA into more segments. After this, we went into groups and started an activity of finding genetic sequences. I thought that it would be easy, but I was wrong. With so many codons, and the messages they present, I was confused and was not able to find the sequence Jody provided since there were too many characters. And that's why computer was used genetic programming, or it would be too painful for human. We had a quiz in biotech class today, and the quiz was on our classmates' names and some questions regarding yesterday's lab. For a person like me, who is really bad at names, it was quite a challenge.


After lunch, Brandon, Arnold, and I went to CVS to buy some survival stuff. After that, we walked around the street, shopped at some interesting stores, and finally, we arrived at the ugliest building in Providence, the Science Library. When I entered the building, I thought that was a really nice place because the AC was running. With all the heat and sweat, AC, at that moment, was my best friend. I decided to explore the library. I swiped my card, and walked upstairs.

The Inside of Library

Second, third and and fourth floors were all studying areas. Some spaces were individual studying rooms, some were group study rooms, and some even had projectors and white boards that allow people to use. I was amazed by all these equipment. From fifth floor to fourteenth floor, bookshelves all contain science-related books. I opened some do the books with titles that attract me, such as Nucleus Chemistry, Microbiology, Calculus, and finally Surgery. Then so many professional vocabularies, graphs, and equations just popped into my face. I can see that I still have a long ah to go on my learning career. But I was really amazed by the volume of science-related books in the library. Most of them are hard-covered, which created a rally professional feeling. I love college libraries. One thing more, climbing up the fourteenth floor was really tiring; I will take the elevator next time.

The Studying Floor 

I looked at my watch and realized that it was almost time to attend "Balancing Academics and Social Life" session. I looked at the map, and finally found Harkness Hall. I wanted to attend this session because I know in college balance between academic and social life is crucial since we know that we not only want to graduate, but also to build connections with more people and have a sense of community. The presenters, Alex and Gust, told us to write down our three priorities when we enter college. I listed academic, social, and extracurricular. They then talked about theirs experiences in college, and they both agreed that it is very important to maintain grades, but also at the same time, it is very important to have a group of really close friends.

Two hours later, I attended "Making a Good Impression: How to Engage in a Successful Interview" workshop. I knew that in order to get a job, get accepted by a college, and get an internship, etc., so I decided to attend. When I arrived, there were already many people there. In the workshop, we practiced with a partner some possible questions on any interview, such as "what are you the best candidate?" "how can you contribute to the school/company?" and "what are your interested?" When I was answering these questions, I did not feel awkward when answering, and I thought it was because I already got some experiences from the nerve-wrecking ILC interview.

The last activity I did today was to attend "College Admissions Series:Writing the College Admissions Essay." The title was very appealing especially for me, who is a rising-senior. It was a really informative and energetic lecture. The lecturer was Bill Caskey, one of Brown's admission officer and the director of Alumni College Advising Program. He went through two sets of imaginary applications, one from Andrew and one from Andy, and told us to be the admission officer and decide whether they get accepted or not. Brown admission officer graded applicants academically and non-academically with a scale from one to six, which was a fact that I did not know before. The process was really interesting because it was not just a lecture of how to write an application essay, but a comparison between a successful and a less successful application, so we could see what to really focus on when we are applying. Luckily, I was able to ask my question about whether or not to write undeclared in applications, and the answer was no.

I said that I want to learn today, and I did, so I am happy about that. The only bad thing is that my nose started running in the evening, and now I still have to finish my biotech homework. I hope my nose gets better.