Week 7

Apr 22
7 min read

Updated: Apr 23

A shorter blog this week as I start to get into a routine with projects at work, and hobbies outside. Winter is coming!

Day 51 / April 17, 2026

TGIF!! Friday :))

In the morning I was in the lab to record the PHA results from yesterday. I measured the radii of the halos of inhibition for the respective antibiotic treatments and will perform a replicate next week. Aparna messaged Dr. Charles about meeting to discuss the proposed antimicrobial characterization project, and we scheduled time for Wednesday. We also gathered our tubes from the lyophilization machine where they were stored overnight. Lyophilization is the process of freeze-drying samples through sublimation, using a vacuum to directly vaporize ice. This was our first time using it and we saw varying levels of success dependent on the size of sample and depth within the machine. It provided a good baseline for future uses.

In the afternoon I started working on a slideshow presentation for a Bioscience Webinar I will be hosting for EducationUSA on May 7th. This organization offers workshops, tutoring, and guidance to any Chilean students interested in pursuing higher education in the US. My presentation will cover my path within biosciences, my experience at a US institution, and include time for questions at the end.

Afterwards, I met with Sharith to practice the line dances for an American culture exchange event I am putting together. We did a run through of American Kids, Shivers, Tipsy, and Footloose in my apartment building gym. She learned the moves so quickly and kindly agreed to teach at the event! I later worked on a flyer and arranged for a time to use the campus gym with Felipe, head of Experience at UA. This first line dancing night will be May 5th at 18:30, I can’t wait to see how it goes!

Day 52 / April 18, 2026

My Saturday started with a phone call with Coach Nick Orange of Orange Performance Coaching. It is my first time training for climbing intentionally, and I am excited to have his guidance along the way. As well as producing a personalized training plan, Nick will do video review and weekly calls to check in on my progress. He spent the weekend finishing up my profile and as of Sunday evening I had my two-month training plan ready to go!

It was then time for a catch up with Alex and start planing for Chile together in July!! I am sure the time will be here before we know it :)

Trying to make the most of a beautiful Saturday, I headed out for a romp up Piedra de Peñon. There were so many yellow flowers blooming at the top!

I got home, made a sausage, egg, and cheese wrap then headed out to Mall Plaza Maule in search of a winter jacket, running shoes, and climbing supplies. Though I wasn’t able to find the exact jacket I was looking for, I had a plentiful bounty including a tent and quick draws from Decathlon, new shoes from Merrell, and groceries from Lider. I tried to call an Uber to transport everything home but had several cancellations owing to the traffic pattern around the mall. After an hour, I lugged my haul across the street and was collected shortly thereafter.

I quickly brought all my things home then headed to Pared for a light gym session. Though there were less people in the gym, the energy was electric and so many hat tricks were on display! I gawked at all the bat hangs and iron crosses. I returned home and made some steak taco bowls before heading to bed.

Day 53 / April 19, 2026

Early the next morning I packed for a climbing day out at Constitucion. I quickly nipped out to Jumbo for some snacks, and shortly after Elias, Camila, and Chris picked me up.

A very happy goose heading out to climb! 4/19/2026

We stopped at a Pronto gas station store for coffee and breakfast sandwiches and empanadas before arriving in Constitucion at around 11:30am. We headed down to the beach by Piedra del Elephante and proceeded to do some climbs at sector Desembocadura. The anchor bolts were rusted so we opted to head to a different zone down past the port.

Managed to wiggle my way up the route on the right side of the photo. Unable to find a guide with grades and info.

Piedra Iglesia, signature Constitucion landmark. 4/19/2026

On the way, Chris bought a smoked Tuna steak which was so fresh and flavorful!

Because the tuna deserves its own photo block....so delicious!! 4/19/2026

We spent the rest of the day near Cara de la Playa and the bouldering area further down the beach. Supposedly this beach is always windy but we were in luck, the weather was perfect! After watching a colorful sunset we hopped back in the car and Elias drove us to the completo stand on 5 Oriente. In the car we chatted about all things climbing, accents, chilenismos, animal sounds, who we would want to be stranded on an island with, and what tools we would need to survive. It was an epic Sunday!

Day 54 / April 20, 2026

BOSTON MARATHON!!! Huge congratulations to all those who participated, it was a pleasure to watch and cheer on from afar!!

Back at school I prepared solid and liquid Marine Broth media to start culturing the new bacteria from -80C glycerol stock. I autoclaved around 20 glass plates alongside both media. When the cycle was complete, I dispensed the solid mixture into 10 plates in the biosafety cabinet and left them in there to set overnight. I spent the rest of the day doing home work for class and working on my slides for EducationUSA.

I returned home at around 7pm and got to work cleaning up the house from a hectic weekend. I swapped the batteries in the thermostat, cleaned out my clogged kitchen sink drain, then made myself some salmon rice bowls.

Day 55 / April 21, 2026

This morning was foggy, and cold! Probably my first day getting a taste of what winter has in store for Talca. Shortly after waking up, the building fire alarms went off as part of a system check. Luckily, I can see the exit from my window and when it was clear nobody was evacuating, I continued with my morning routine.

I arrived at school where I worked on this week’s blog post until class started with Dr. Charles at 9:30am. We covered transcription today, the process of using a DNA template to produce RNA and eventually protein later through translation. Dr. Charles did some fantastic drawings on the board which certainly helped to conceptualize an otherwise complicated process with over 100 transcriptional factors involved.

Afterwards I headed to the lab to inoculate the plates I had prepared yesterday then spent the rest of the afternoon working on the literature review to show Aparna.

At around 5:00pm, I headed home, jogged to the climbing gym and completed my first day of exercises as prescribed by Coach Nick. Push ups, pull ups, lions, tigers and stretching…oh my! It was a welcome change to follow a routine. I am excited to see how my climbing approach changes.

The night ended with a gathering at Shrabana's house. We enjoyed pizza and Cola de Mono while catching up on life!

Aslan, Shrabana's cat, watching from the door. 4/21/2026

Day 56 / April 22, 2026

This morning started with a weekly call from Coach Nick, we reviewed my physical test results from the day prior as well as my mental readiness checklist. Nick answered all my questions about skin condition, timing, and more. It was a great conversation and a solid way to start the day.

I packed my bag and headed out the the Civil Registry Service to collect my physical RUT card. Unfortunately, it had not arrived yet so I turned around and headed to school. I spent the morning working on my paper, had my last salmon meal prep bowl for lunch, and headed to the lab. Yesterday I had inoculated 4 plates with bacteria stored in a glycerol stock, and stored at room temperature overnight. Today I needed to check the plates for signs of growth or contamination. I was lucky in that 3 of the 4 plates had grown biofilm and there were no signs of contamination. I sampled directly from these 3 plates and inoculated new plates for each. These new plates will be the stock we pull from for future experiments. For the one that didn’t work, I will wait another day in hopes of a slower growth time, and if this does not work, I will repeat the activation process.

I then dashed over to Dr. Charles office with Aparna and Nicholas to discuss plans for our collaboration project. This idea came from Nicholas who thought it would be beneficial to characterize the antimicrobial activity of all the new Deception Island Antarctica samples that we have. We were given his support and a plan to coordinate supplies which will allow us to begin in just one week’s time!

Finally I had lab practical today. We did a worksheet activity about DNA replication and had to answer various questions identifying the leading and lagging strands, and select a disease that provides an example of a splicing error. We opted to discuss Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy which among other pathways, often presents as a result of impaired splicing processes.

I finished up the blog and headed home for the night ... originally with plans to do my core workout, but plumbing duties called instead! Though I thought I had fixed my kitchen drain yesterday, it clogged right back up. I took it apart with some moral support from Val on the phone and did a deep deep clean. I wish I could unsee what was in there. ew.