My time in San Diego/La Jolla is off to a great start. Ry and I arrived on Saturday, and were greeted by our host mom, Claire, and her house keeper, Magdalina. They have both been very gracious and generous. Spending time with them has especially interesting, since Claire has a very different perspective than I am used to coming from Telluride. She is a devout Catholic and conservative. This is somewhat of a shock coming form Telluride, that is a rather liberal and non religious town, it has been interesting her ideas on things and in many ways I have learned that it possible to over come our differences in opinion and get along and even be gracious to someone with whom you frequently disagree.
When we first arrived at The Scripps Research Institute we went to an HR orientation for the first few hours. Following that we found our lab and discovered that a majority of the staff was at a conference, so for the first few days we worked with the only grad student that was in the lab, Sierra. She is more focused on the molecular side of psychology, rather than the behavioral side. So for the three days we worked with her we prepared rat brains to be looked at under a microscope. We either mounted stained brain slices or sliced brains so they could be stained. We did this on a cryostat, which in Sierra’s words is “a really fancy deli cutter”. It is capable of slicing things at 5 microns, or millionths of a meter. The rest of the lab team returned Thursday, and that day we watched them put rats into cages that taught them to become dependent on alcohol, then we cleaned the cages. We also started our rat handling and care training, so that we will be able to handle the rats. For the most part we are doing the ‘dirty work’ in the lab, cleaning cages, transferring rats, writing things down for the main researchers. Though this is a rather inglorious part of the scientific process, I have found it to be fun and simply being around such intensive, high-level science is a joy. Especially the lab we are in, I feel a great sense of purpose because most of the people there aren’t being paid a lot, but they love their work and see an opportunity to effect change in the world through science.
In just this first week we have met many great people, Claire, Dr. Jane Reldan, who lived and worked in Telluride and was the connection that made our housing possible. At the lab we met the PI, Olivier George, who, as we learned, is a rare sight at the lab. In the lab you can see that he wants to build a good culture, and has succeeded. I noticed that despite a light-hearted mood people work hard and that both individual drive and collaboration are promoted. I am very excited to continue my work in the lab.
Outside of work Ry and I have begun to enjoy the amenities that we are now exposed to in San Diego. At first we had an issue with our transportation, as we didn’t want to take Lyft to work everyday, so we ordered and assembled bikes from Walmart. We live within walking distance of the beach and our house has a pool, but we have only gone to the beach once because the weather has been cloudy and rather cold, so we struggled to motivate ourselves. Though we have enjoyed La Jolla quite a it so far. Claire has taken us to dinner numerous times, so as a result we have seen a good amount of the area. One day we went to dinner near the La Jolla Cove, where we saw lots of sea lions, seals, and seagulls. Also, yesterday we went and saw Incredibles 2, which is a fantastic motion picture. All in all, I have loved my first week here and I’m excited for the next 5 weeks.
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