First couple of days in Tucson

It's the end of my third day here, and I've already seen so much.

The first thing I noticed after stepping off the plane was the incredible HEAT! I met the rest of the REU group, and we headed back to our apartment in a huge van that was mostly dominated by our luggage. After settling in, we were taken to Tumamoc Hill, where we had dinner and met our mentors from the lab and got to hear about the history of the hill. The landscape is so incredibly different looking here! Everything is shades of brown, and people landscape with cactus, stones, and sand in their yards. Tumamoc Hill was really neat, and we learned that a saguaro cactus grows an arm around age 50. The hill was covered in these cactus. We hiked to the top, where we saw artwork on rocks from ancient peoples, and were repeatedly warned about keeping an eye out for snakes. From the top of the hill, we had a panoramic view of Tucson, which was really beautiful. The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides. As dusk began to fall, the heat became less intense, After a 10 minute sprint through a Safeway for some essentials and groceries, we all came back to our apartment and collapsed, feeling the effects of jet lag.

The past two days have been spent in orientation, where we learned about research ethics, biomath, nationally competitive scholarships, biosafety, how to write a press release, politics and science, biosafety, and much more. Today I got a tour of the lab I'll be working in from Craig Weber, the research specialist in the lab, and got to meet Dr. Lynch. They both seem extremely friendly, helpful, and definitely put me at ease. Tomorrow is my first day in the lab.

My roommate Yi and I went expoloring yesterday, along with Jenna. We found our way around University Blvd and 4th ave, but were mostly just amazed at how huge the U of A is. All of Russell Sage could probably fit inside the stadium here. The university is like an entire city!