Anyway, here is how my day went.
I woke up at 8:30am, because our program coordinator was picking us up at 10am to take us over to Goddard. I actually woke up before my alarm, but my roommate woke up without an alarm and left before I got up... I was a bit worried, but thought maybe she went out for coffee or something. I got out of bed quickly (it's easy to do here because THEY LAMESUCK). I showered and then waited around until 10am. I went outside and my roommate was nowhere to be found, but three other peeps were. We met Corrie and she took an awkward picture of us. Corrie drove me, Mickey, Sean and Emily, and Luca drove himself. It's about a 30-minute drive to Goddard from UM, and we all talked briefly. As we approached the entrance, Corrie told us about the security guards and we all shared a few laughs. I had asked her when we got in if we needed our passport, and she wasn't sure.
We got to the entrance gate, and Corrie parked so that we could go get our temporary badges. Luckily, they only needed a Driver's License (or one form of government-issued ID) today.
That is Corrie in the picture.
My sweet temporary badge. Unfortunately, we don't get to keep them :( :( :( HOW LAMESUCK.
On Friday, I have an appointment at 9:15am (!!!!) to get fingerprinted and need to provide two forms of government-issued ID then.
After we all got our badges, Corrie drove to Building 22 and she got Luca set up with his mentor. Then she drove the rest of us to Building 34.
My mentor isn't here this week (apparently he heard I was arriving and skipped town), but this is the government so they will find him and bring him back (actually, he is observing in Chile... sure...). Emily's mentor, Boncho (yes, that is his real name - frickin' awesome!), works closely with Geronimo (yes, that is my mentor's real name, dig it!), and so I hung out with them. Corrie showed us our computers, which are a row of Macs along a wall. Check this out:
OH YEAHHHHHH
Boncho then asked Emily and I a little about ourselves, and told us about himself and Geronimo. Then he gave us a small "introduction" to spectra and things... and I knew everything he was talking about! Woo!!!!!
Then it was time for lunch, so Boncho took Emily and I across the street to a deli-sandwich-ish type place. Sean came with his mentor, Avi, too. We talked, and Avi is actually from NY as well (just outside NYC though). I asked if he knew about Wegmans, and he said yes, but obviously wasn't as thrilled about it as I was/am (and my mom called me today too to tell me that there is one here. HOLLER!). There is 1 Wegmans in Maryland, and 6 in Virginia, and the three closest ones are all about an hour away... IT IS WORTH IT THOUGH. I'll probably make at least one trip...
Anyway, after lunch, Boncho finished his "introduction" and then gave me some reading to do. I am working with IDL (yay! (only because I have used it before)), and so he gave me a book to read. Also, Geronimo wants me to read about radiative transfer (um... yay?) and so Boncho is going to get me a book on that. So I went downstairs to my computer and wrote some emails before getting to work. Then Boncho told us there was a video-conference-y presentation if we wanted to go to it. So Sean, Emily and I got up and went into the room, and Corrie was there. It was some person from... somewhere talking about life at the bottom of the ocean and under the sea floor. It wasn't enthralling, but it lasted from 2pm to about 3:15pm. Then we returned to our computers, I read a section in the IDL book, and then it was time for Corrie to take us back to UM.
MINE.
All in all, it was a great first day. Not too long, Boncho was extremely nice and funny. He also told Emily and I that he could talk to us about grad schools and such because he knows the "inside info." He also told me that Geronimo is, in his opinion, the best in the world when it comes to analyzing spectra for biosignatures, so that is freaking fan-awesome-tastic-magorical because I want to analyze spectra of extrasolar planets for biosignatures to find life on other planets to make millions and billions of dollars... so I'm headed in the right direction :)
When we got back to campus, I drove Mickey, Sean, Emily and I to a grocery store (not Wegmans, sad face) to get some foodstuffs. Then I met some girl to get my parking permit (FINALLY). Then I cooked some rice pilaf and teriyaki chicken. Then I wrote this post. Now, I'm thinking about peeing because I have to go soooooooooooooooo bad. Still thinking about it. Oops.. not thinking about it anymore... it'll dry. Too bad I used all my Febreze on my bed to cover the smell for Carla. I mean, what?
Sometimes I worry that your genius can't be contained and you'll explode. With pee.
ReplyDeleteBut for serious, awesome times eh? Very cool.