Well, it’s been quite a while since I last wrote a post on here. Even longer since I talked about what I have been up to. This year came with many unexpected surprises, and I am thankful for them and what I gained through each experience. I wanted to share some of the bigger experiences with you for my first post in ages.
I’m not sure I can pick just one as the most significant, but here are several significant things that happened to me this year.
What Happened During the Past Year:
🍃 Working as a lab tech
In the research lab I’m in we have different roles and responsibilities. While researchers contribute to other projects and help maintain the lab, their main focus is, of course, research. After graduation, I worked as a full-blown lab tech in the lab and it was honestly a really great experience. At times it was stressful, but other times it was a nice reprieve from my research. Those of us with more experience in the lab were responsible for training the newer techs, but I would say we all learned something from the experience. The biggest lesson I learned is that communication is key when with a large team doing many different tasks.
🍃 I was accepted to grad school!!!!
I’m officially a grad student!!! I’m working towards my masters studying public health with a concentration in epidemiology. Becoming a grad student has definitely been a learning curve, but I think I am beginning to become more comfortable and recognizing myself as a grad student. If you asked me a few months ago, I don’t think I would have been able to comfortably call myself one. I was even nervous about discussing this new chapter with many people around me. Luckily, I have started to get my bearings and move past that stage. Now, I hope to get more involved in the school and public health community, and I’m just overall excited about my grad future.
🍃 I presented my research at a conference
In April, I went to Florida to present the research I have been working on. It was at a smaller conference, made up of scientists who were more like a small community. I was able to reconnect with several researchers that had visited our lab in the past, and also made many more connections. Scientists from all over the world with various backgrounds and fields of study attended the meeting, and they were all so welcoming and enthusiastic. My favorite new connection was with my roommate, who was a Ph.D. candidate at a lab linked to ours (she recently defended!!! 😆), who I became friends with.
🍃 I traveled to Greece 🇬🇷 for two weeks during the summer
I took a course through my school there that focused on migrant health. During our first week, we lived in Athens, and during our second week, we lived in Chios. We studied at the National School of Public Health in Athens and met a number of researchers and practitioners who worked with and studied migrant health in various populations. While studying, we also visited hospitals, camps, and housing facilities, the coast guard and more to learn about migrants in Greece. Although the course took place in Greece and many examples were from events occurring in Greece over the past couple of decades, the research spanned migrant health across the globe. Throughout our stay, we also visited historical sites, museums, and explored the city of Athens and the island of Chios. I had a really great time learning about Greek culture and *attempting* to pick up the language. However, it was also a very stark contrast to what we were learning in the classroom. Overall, it was a life-changing trip. I met so many amazing people both from my university and from Greece, and the experiences I had both inside and outside the classroom impacted me immensely.
Life after college is a journey and this one is just beginning! 😉
Tatyana xx
Comment below! (sign in not required)