Already the Last Week

It's hard for me to believe that's it's already the last week of the program. Time seemed to go by so slow in the beginning when my cohorts and I were traveling to different Ivy League schools and seeing so many new things every day. After we checked it to Brown, I believe we all gradually became used to life on campus and settled into a steady rhythm. Once we became comfortable and took everything at our own pace, any stress and anxiety quickly left our systems, making time seem to go by faster. My goal this week is to make more lasting memories before I leave, and what better way to start than to have my own blood extracted for use in the lab.

For class today, we had a few milliliters of each of our own blood extracted (by a doctor at the health center) for use in lab. I have had my blood taken before, but this was a completely different experience. We separated the different components of our blood in order to isolate the white blood cells from the plasma and the red blood cells. (The white blood cells are isolated because they contain DNA, which we were ultimately trying to extract.) In order to do that, we centrifuged our blood, pipetted it here and there and mixed it with various reaction solutions. When I found my DNA precipitate, I had a very satisfying feeling of accomplishment.

My blood