Sunday, August 5, 2018
By:
I am less than a week away from being on the West Coast once more. It is truly a bittersweet feeling. I have become very fond and attached to my life here in D.C. It feels as if I have been here longer than just nine weeks. So I am saddened that I must leave here, however I am simultaneously happy to return to San Diego. I do miss my home, my family and friends, and of course my car. I am excited to return home and continue my undergraduate career. San Marcos is my comfort zone which is why this 10 week internship away for it has been great for me in many ways. I had the opportunity to learn many new things around physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, networking, and simply many things about life in general. Not to mention the people I have met throughout this journey.
This week at NIST started of a tad bit sad because I knew it was the last real week of hard work remaining. I finished up the module I was working on. I annotated and cited the code so that my mentor is able to use it in my absence. I also finished up my presentations and practiced a few times. I also visited a few more labs and spent some time with spots around NIST that meant something to me. I also took my last run around NIST. It is a large campus that a morning run around it is a great way to start the day. This week to come we have a few things to work on but I will definitly be enjoying my last days there.
The two highlights of the week occured Thursday. I was able to connect with Dr. William Phillips at NIST. We had met before when he visited my university back in April. I had the opportunity to spend an hour with him. We talked about what we had been up to since April, we talked about physics and also toured on of his labs. He truly is an amazing soul to speak too. He speaks with such passion with you about the topic at hand and his description of physical phenomena is amazing. He left me with many questions to wonder about about for the semester to come. That same day I also sat down with my mentor and had a long conversation about opportunity in life. We shared some of our backgrounds and it was amazing hearing his story and connect with him on that level.
I am glad that work here at NIST doesn't end with these ten weeks. I could not have imagined these 2 months in D.C would have such an impact on my life, but the amount of things I have learned and accomplished this summer has even surprised me. I am excited to get home and step things up a notch. It is crazy to think that last spring semester I was felt like working at my limits, but now I see how much more I can crank things up a notch. I can’t wait. These past weeks here have only been the beginning of the grander things to come.
Jesus Perez