July 12th
Until today, I finally realized why people said SSP was the experience of a lifetime. I have met so many lifelong friends, and they were all so funny, silly, kind, and altruistic. I love them all <3. Purdue Biochem I is the best!! I woke up at 8:30 today because Dr. Das announced the good news on the bus yesterday as we returned from the Aviators’ baseball game: we would not start working on our final report until 9 in the morning 🙂 The Lafayette Aviators won!! Yay! A few days ago at the dinner table, Jazzy asked Mrs. Rochon if we could go to Greyhouse Coffee to work on our final report. Today, that wish came true. We walked there without Katherine’s sprint pace because she wasn’t with us (which was very chill); she headed to the coffee house on campus instead. Julia, Jazzy, and I walked too slowly without Katherine’s help, so when we arrived at the coffeehouse, there were no seats left. However, we found a tunnel that led to the other side. We sat at a circular table, and our computers formed a triangle. It made me feel like we were a team. In fact, we are. From the first day to today, we’ve gone from strangers to teammates, from friends to intimate friends.
We grind for about two hours and finish the methods, results, and discussion parts, and the
research paper ended up becoming about fourteen pages long. Jazzy has been so addicted to the
inhibitor design that he said when he closed his eyes, he could see the active site of the enzyme.
While he was in addiction, Julia and I went “boondoggling” and bought Gelato ice cream. I
ordered mint chips and sadly it was almost the same as the one that I had in Ford.
After working in the coffeehouse, we walked to the boba place. Almost everyone went in to get a
drink to prevent the Indiana heat stroke. We stayed outside instead because, as Julia said, “I have
too much sugar and feel like I’m gonna get diabetes at a young age.
Team 5 took a 0.5 together and Marcy has become one of our teammates.
We walked together as a group back to the dorm and changed for dinner. Then, we had our last
game night in this program. We played Kahoot first, and learned more fun facts about others.
Next, we played the tag game, which was extremely hot (typical Indiana weather), tiring and
intense. Julia’s face turned so red that she said it was the Italian gene effect.
I’ve been so grateful that I’ve had the chance to join this program and be able to meet these
amazing, wonderful, and most intelligent peers. Although we only stayed for 39 days, 36
students, the supportive and funny TAs, and the kindest, smiley professors have become a big
family, filled with love and support that I will not experience anywhere else.
By Sophie
