Week 1:
An Unconventional Start

June 4, 2023

I arrived at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado, nervous but excited to start my new internship. As I got in line to receive my visitors pass for the day, I was able to meet up with the other interns right before we got our tour of the hospital. The hospital is one of the top-ranked children’s hospitals in the country, and I’m honored to be here for this experience. After the tour, we were able to meet the entire Musculoskeletal Research Center Department, and we also met up with our assigned Primary Investigators (PIs) and our Research Assistants (RAs), with whom we would be working closely for the entire internship.

Since I was selected through the Cornell Fellowship, my process of becoming an intern was a little different than the other interns there. So they already had an idea of who they’d be working with, but I didn’t. I actually didn’t find out, until a few days later, where I also discovered the topic that I’d be working on. I also haven’t receive my badge access, so I’m not able to work at the hospital until then, but hopefully I’ll have that by next week.

Instead I spent much of this week moving into my new apartment with my roommate, Ingrid Peters, who works at the VA, and getting used to Denver! I moved into Auraria Student Lofts on Thursday, and the beginning was a little rocky, but after everything smoothed out, I began to enjoy living here. The view is just amazing, as I can see the Ball Arena, where the Denver Nuggets play and are hoping to win their very first NBA Finals Championship!

Throughout the week, I spent time walking around the city, and finding new ways to get back home. Ingrid and I went to eat at Illegal Burger, this burger joint about 8 minutes away from us. The restaurant sells different kinds of burgers and sides a la carte, so the price can add up, but it was definitely worth it. I ordered the “Illegal Cream Cheese” burger and the “Slammer Fries,” and they were both so good. I’m surprised that I got a picture before I dug right in.

I ended the week going to a “barbeque” that really wasn’t a barbeque by Ingrid’s faculty at the VA. They were all super nice, and the desserts were delicious. We brought another student from Cornell that was working at the VA with us, Callum, and since we were all still pretty hungry, we got In-N-Out right afterwards. This was my first time having it, and I was excited to try the famous animal style fries.

This was a great start to my time here in Denver, and I’m hoping to start some research next week, which I’m very excited about.