I arrived in Colorado on Thursday, May 29th. My mom and I drove to Denver that day from Iowa City. I’m staying with a Cornell alum who graciously opened up her home to me for the summer. This goes to show how Cornell is a positive experience for all who attend. I hope that I can pass this experience along and one day host a Cornell student, too. My first day was on Monday, June 2, so my mom and I spent the days leading up to that exploring and getting me settled. I dropped my mom off at the airport on Sunday. It was hard to say goodbye because this is my first time living far away from home (Mount Vernon is 25 minutes from my house), but I was excited for the adventure ahead.
The first day started with a tour of the hospital, getting acquainted with the other interns, and I got to meet my two research assistants (RAs) and my principal investigator (PI). Everyone was so kind, and the first day left me feeling excited to come back the next day. The rest of the week consisted of many onboarding processes, online trainings, reading scientific articles, and frequent calls to the IT department. Though the rest of the week wasn’t the most thrilling, it was nice that all the interns were doing the same things, which allowed us to get to know each other more and bond. I’ve always been confident that Cornell has prepared me academically for this internship, but this week made me realize that I’m also thankful for how Cornell has prepared me socially. Because of the block plan and switching classes frequently, I’ve become good at making new friends quickly, which has been helpful when trying to get to know the other interns. I’m only a week in, and I already feel like I have a group of people who I can count on.
Some of the most exciting parts of the first week were getting to talk to the researchers, doctors, and my fellow interns and learn about their future plans and goals in the medical field. One of my RAs just got into medical school, and the other is in the process of applying to PA school. Talking to everyone about their journey getting to these points has been helpful to me as I try to figure out what my next steps are after graduating from Cornell.
View from where the other interns and I ate lunch.Last summer, as I was doing CSRI, I remember reading the blog posts of the Cornell students who were doing this internship last year. As soon as I read the first post, I knew I wanted to do this internship, both because it sounded interesting and fun and aligned with my interests in orthopedics and because of its location in Denver and the proximity to the mountains. I’ve grown up coming to the mountains of Colorado for almost every break I’ve had off from school since elementary school. I love getting to be outside, hiking, and exploring, so I was very excited to get into the mountains this weekend. Some of my weekend adventures included going to the farmers market, hiking around Red Rocks, running on trails in Golden, and enjoying jazz in City Park!
Saturday morning farmers market!
Red Rocks hike with Alyza and Ava.