Sunday, June 12, 2022
By:
I have been biking a lot lately and I love it!
Everything from the metro and the people in suits rushing to work in the mornings to the ever expanding pool of possible daily activities that we enjoy here at DC remind me that I am in a city. I love cities. I am from a big metropolitan myself, Istanbul, so I am used to the hustle and bustle of the city. I love the fast pace. My intern friends have been letting me know after long walks that I walk pretty fast. I call it my city walk. DC is great, I wouldn't call it a city that never sleeps, especially not with Istanbul standards, but there is always something to do. I enrolled for the AMC A-list program, now I can go see up to three movies every week for 22 dollars a month. Since I go to college in a small town at Brunswick, Maine I've been falling behind on my old habit of going to the movies every Friday evening after school. I hope to get back on it and see the latest Cannes movies in the next weeks.
This week was very eventful at work. I got assigned my first update for Physics Today and started doing research for it. The academic paper I am currently reading is about microcomb driven silicon photonic systems. I have not been aware of the significant role photonic systems already plays and is projected to play in our lives in the near future. This paper opened my eyes to the possible near future adoption of photoelectronic systems if not all photonic technologies. I had a couple of meetings to learn more about the digital PT content and general conduct during the interviews. I have sent my first set of interview questions to the researchers and received positive and more than willing responses. One of the perks of working as a Physics Today journalist is that reseachers are more than happy to talk to you and to hear that the biggest physivs journal in the world is interested in their work. So you never have to chase people around waiting for their response. I also had the chance to attend two PT editorial meetings to weigh in on the stories for the next issue. I got to meet Paul, Tonya, Alex, Heather, Matt, and Ryan in person hear about their passions.
One of the greatest aspects of an SPS internship is the community of great physicists that it introduces you into. Just this week I had the great pleasure to have lunch with the Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather at ACP. He talked to the interns about the space projects that he was involved in and his work in George Smoot, the famous cosmic background wave explorer satellite that won him the Nobel Prize. He had great advice for us young physicists and was very down to earth and to the point.
The Nationals baseball game that we all went to on Friday was a great icebreaker for all of us and encouraged us interns to make plans amongst each other for later. We went and checked out a couple of pride parties going around in the city. And later saw a late night screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Many of us got marked a virgin at the entrance as it was our first time seeing it on the big screen and witnessed the festivities inside the theatre organized by the long time fans. I definitely recommend a hundred percent. The pride parade 2022 was this weekend and I can safely say the entire city went all out for the parade this year. It was bold, hopeful, and crowded at Dupont Circle. Although we later got scammed at the food trucks at the Concert on Sunday, having to pay 30 dollars for a gyro sandwich and a lemonade. So beware!
But my favourite things about DC so far are the bikes and the comedy clubs. I have biked and laughed like I never did for the longest time in this past week. I can't wait to see what this next week has in store for us all!
See you then!
Gizem Dogan