Week 1:
Welcome to VA

June 2, 2021

29 May 2021

After 24 long hours in the car, I finally arrived to Blacksburg Virginia last Friday night. I am an intern in Dr. Lijuan Yuan’s lab at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (Virginia Tech), which does research on vaccine efficacy on enteric viruses. Mouthful, I know. My mom and I pulled up to my new home and breathed a sigh of relief. We dragged my belongings up two flights of stairs, entered my apartment, and fell into our beds for the night.

Saturday morning came all too soon, but we were eager to check out the town of Blacksburg and the surrounding areas. Being from Colorado, we immediately searched up good hikes and outdoorsy areas nearby, and ended up on the outskirts of Blacksburg at a trail known for its waterfalls and neat rock formations. Hiking the trail in this strange place I am going to call home this summer made me wish my family could be here to explore with me. My little brother would have loved seeing the waterfalls and gazing into the forest that looks so different from ours at home. But, that is even more reason to enjoy being here as much as possible. I am extremely excited to explore something new, to grow in this new and unfamiliar environment while keeping my roots close, something Cornell has offered me this summer.

After the hike, we went grocery shopping, something I have never done with the aim of living completely on my own before. I guess I have to enter the real world one way or another., right? This is just another opportunity that Cornell has allowed me to pursue. The chance to live away from home (other than school) is something I could have easily missed out on during my undergraduate years, something that could have waited until I was off on my own for real. Boy, am I glad that is not the case. This gives me a chance to grow up, to see what I am made of in the real world, away from my friends and family. I am so excited to see what girl comes out of this experience, and how she is prepared for what is to come in life.

Monday rolled around and it was time to say goodbye to my mom. We went to Krispy Kreme for some morning donuts and coffee, and I sent her on a plane back home, half way across the country. Big step. Then I headed to the lab to meet Dr. Yuan for the first time face to face, as well as other lab members I will be working with this summer. BIG STEP.

After introductions were made, it was time for the science to begin. Sofia Schnur, a Cornell College 2020 alumni, my former soccer teammate, and a lab technician for Dr. Yuan for the past year, showed me the ropes. I will be working closely with Sofia for the next few months on her antibody assay (ELISA) she does for the lab. This week, she showed me the ropes of the assay.

It was honestly amazing to see someone I had taken undergraduate classes with, played soccer with, had sleep overs with, working this professional job, getting paid, and doing extremely well at it. I asked her if Cornell prepared her to be successful in this way. Her answer? Absolutely. My two cents? I feel much more prepared for this than I ever expected. While Sofia explained the ups and downs of the study we are in the middle of right not, I realized how much Cornell biochemistry classes have really taught me. It is an amazing feeling.

The upcoming weeks are looking to be busy as we move forward in our study, looking at the efficacy of a certain company’s three versions of a vaccine for a rotavirus. I am so EXCITED!