Beginning to Prep

Hi, this is my first-ever blog post, and I hope my writing will be interesting. It’ll pretty much just be all my random thoughts and stories as I have my first study/work-abroad experience, so hopefully that will be somewhat entertaining. Anyways, if you’re reading this, you probably know me and what I’m doing in Germany this summer, but just to refresh, I’m going to Germany this summer to do research in organic chemistry through the RISE program. During my first two weeks in Germany, I’ll be in Berlin learning my first words of German at the did, which will hopefully make the rest of my stay more exciting. I’ve heard German is a really difficult language to learn–let’s hope I come out of Berlin with enough language skills to get around! Then I’ll be off to Düsseldorf to begin my internship, which goes on for the remaning ten weeks.

So I’ve been thinking of my “preparation” in three ways: practical, academic, and emotional. Yesterday my mom and I went out shopping and got some of the practical stuff taken care of, like getting a cell phone that will have international service (though at a really inflated price!) and buying a converter/adapter for my electrical appliances. That’s another thing we’re trying to figure out–the one we bought works for small things like hair dryers and such, but it will not support a computer, so I’ll have to find some way to make my laptop work there I guess. According to the German Ph.D student I’ll be working with, I can probably purchase something when I get there, which is what I thought. *cross my fingers that’ll work out!*

Academically, I’m still getting there–I need to brush up on my lab skills and orgo knowledge. I feel rather out of the loop in terms of lab stuff because this past semester was my first that I was not in any lab class! I’m really afraid of getting to lab and looking dumb because of being rusty on certain procedures and techniques, so I’m planning to revisit my old lab books, and I’ve also dug up my old p-sets from Freshman Orgo to review before going. I’m hoping things will come back quickly once I’ve started–kind of like muscle memory in piano.

And the thought of taking German classes has re-inspired me to go back through my French notes from last year as well. I don’t know why, but I really love the French language; I wish I could also take my French stuff with me, but as it is, I’m already really worried about space/weight limitations since I’m not a very light packer. And finally, I think I’m emotionally prepared to go; I’ve been trying to spend time with my family before I leave, but it seems the days pass so quickly as every day is gone once I finish my morning run, daily piano practice, and nightly “look-over-some-stuff-and-get-ready” routine. This morning, I suddenly realized that I only have three more days at home after today. Maybe I’ll have a last-minute freak-out on Friday or something. But right now I’m pretty excited!

This has been a lot of rambling, I know! I guess I’ll probably start packing today, as I’ll have to do some maneuvering to get all my stuff to fit within the 50-pound limit for the luggage. That’ll be a piece of work! My next update will be from Berlin–that’ll probably be more interesting than this! And I’ll do pictures, then–not much to see here, except for my messy packing area. And hopefully by that time, all these words in German that make up this webpage won’t be so foreign to me. Until then! =D