Another Day of Adventure

Today was a lecture day. Jody first talked about the guidelines for the gene therapy final project that will be due this Friday. The hardest part is that we have to fit all information about a genetic disease in only 300 words. I should really start it now. Then, she lectured on the functions of buffers and other materials that were used in the past few days. Before, I did not know anything about these material; all I knew was putting them into the tube and mix it with the cells. Now I know why we used them. She also talked about techniques in gene therapy and plasmid cutting, which we will do tomorrow.

Rhode Island State House

The Royal Charter

After lunch, I met with Ms.Scott, which was the last check-in with the chaperon. After that, we headed to the Rhode Island State house and followed the guided tour at two o'clock. The sun shined brightly on us while we walked to the state house; my sweat started  dripped at by back and on my face. I just hoped that we could arrive there more quickly. It was a spectacular building on both the inside and the outside. The inside was mostly marble: the floor, and pillars, and the wall. On the top of the dome is a statue of the independent man, originally named "Hope." We also visited two galleries where people could listen to the senates' meetings and a library with books from the 1700s. The most interesting parts were the reception room and the Royal Charter Museum. In the reception room, there was a full-scale portrait of George Washington, which was very rare, and there were some illusions created by the portrait. The Royal Charter Museum has the Royal Charter of 1663 granted by King Charles II of England. Since it was priceless, there were many layers of protection on the document. It was amazing.

George Washington and I

Roger Williams and Prividence

I kept walking after leaving the State House. The sun was still shining brightly, and now my destination was the Prospect Terrace Park, which had the the statue of Roger Williams. The hill toward the park was really steep. The hot sun and the humid air made me so uncomfortable while getting up there. When I finally got there, I smiled. I could see Providence from the high point and I also saw the big statue. Although I was not able to see the front face of the statue, I still felt the greatness of the statue. I felt I could not travel anymore, so I went back to my dorm and had some rest.

Wood-Grilled Scallops

The last dinner with the cohort had finally arrived. We walked down hill, and arrived at Al Forno, an Italian restaurant. We had calamari and Margarita Pizzas. They were really good. The thin bread and the delicious toppings created an amazing combination. After that, I had Wood-Grilled George’s Bank Scallops, which had five scallops, sweet potato slices, and spinach. It was fabulous. The meat was tender and the grilling part brought out the sweetness of the scallops. I really enjoyed it. At last, I had Warm Chocolate-Filled Crepes with Crème Anglaise, which was my first time. I did not like it that much, but it was a new experience for me. While eating and waiting, we had a language game. Each of us spoke a language other than English; Ms.Scott and Jack spoke French, Kevin spoke Japanese, Arnold spoke Spanish, Brandon spoke Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), and I spoke Taiwanese. Although I did not understand what they were saying, it was a fun time since there was cultural exchanges happening there. I could not believe that this was already our last meal together, I hope everyone in the cohort can have a fantastic time during the last few days of the trip.

The party afterward was bad, and I took a nice shower, and now typing the blog. Although it is already the last few days of the trip, I still sleep late. It is okay because it is still early in California.