I started a PhD program last fall because I was looking for a challenge. Have you ever had the feeling that you just needed to do something? Going back to grad school wasn't necessary or even entirely rational, but I decided to apply to PhD programs just to see if I could get in. And by the time my top choice sent me an acceptance email, my decision was made.
Even though I initially found grad school overstimulating and exhausting, I knew from the first day that I would love it. I am fortunate to be attending a program where the people are as supportive and friendly as they are brilliant. I couldn't quite put my finger on what is so satisfying about the experience until the professor I was teaching for shared an interesting science fact she had learned from a colleague earlier that day. She commented that her job is like science camp, an endless playground of experimentation and new ideas to be discovered and shared. I spent three summers at science camp as a teenager, so I knew exactly what she meant. While my peers rode horses and stayed in cabins, I was living in a dorm and learning how to use a pipette. Each summer I spent an entire week immersed in a university lab learning things that we'd never cover in my high school. Now that I am a graduate student, I get to do this every day. I have quickly discovered that when you get paid to learn cool things and run your own experiments, it's like perpetual science camp. And thus a blog was born.
