Week 3: 2 AM Bus ride and Boat Cruise

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Monday, June 17, 2019

By:

Catherine Ryan

This was an odd week for me. I had to travel home Tuesday night for my younger sister's high school graduation. Then after graduation, I took a 2 AM bus back to DC, from my home in Philadelphia. I got back just before 5 am on Thursday, which means I got back before the metro started running. I do not recommend being awake before public transit is awake.
With the traveling over the weekend and then traveling midweek, it just kind of had me in a weird mood all week. I think after this weekend, I will be back to regular tomorrow morning (Monday). I did have a lovely time with my family this week and I feel extremely privileged to have a summer job that let me take a day off to attend this great moment in my sister's life. I am also very happy to be working close enough to home to be able to attend.
I also got to see my high school physics teacher at graduation. I told him about this amazing position because even though I graduated high school three years ago, I still seek his approval of the cool physics related stuff I do. He was excited for me, which made me excited.
Work was pretty much the same as last week. I'm still working on the Chandrasekhar teaching guide. I'm trying to edit down the biographical information to just what teachers really need but also trying to make everything understandable. Amber has been a great help with these teaching guides. It is so helpful to have a future teacher in our group of interns. Check out her blog she's been doing great work and is off to speak at a conference this week!
Outside of work, we did a lot of fun extra stuff. We went on a boat cruise on Thursday night. We went to the orchestra on Saturday. It was all so beautiful and I am so grateful to be at this internship, where we got such wonderful extra activities. These two events where both great opportunities to meet important people from SPS and get to learn from their experiences in AIP and just the world of physics in general.
Overall, week three has been a trip. There still has not been a week of this internship that has not impressed me. I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store for me!
Sunburn update: Still, have not gotten sunburned! But I have acquired weird sandal tan lines.
PS. Yes, I did do the 2 am bus ride back to DC on the same day as the boat cruise. No, I do not understand how I was able to stay awake for the whole time.

Before we went inside to see the orchestra we took a group picture with Jack. Jack started the SPS internship program over 20 years ago and he just a delight of a person.
Sammi and I are committed to taking cute pictures at all the fun things we do this summer. We got on the boat at the perfect time and we all got such wonderful pictures.

Catherine Ryan