WEEK 2

Being friday I see it as a good time to sit down and type out my blog for week two. Looking back it was an extremely busy week but I have to say that it went by really fast. Most of my time was spent in the lab doing running DNA extractions and PCR amplifications. I think I am also finally starting to understand the relevance of identifying bacteria and archaea in waterways. While this is good I have also learned a lot by making mistakes in the lab in regards to the DNA extraction due to my misunderstanding instructions. The main lesson learned from this would be to ask questions when I am unsure of things.

My advisor Professor Schnorr also has me thinking about other potential projects I could do that would relate to our work right now. Examples include analyzing soil samples from the Pacific University B street Permaculture Project or water samples from watersheds on my home island of Oahu. 

Besides all this lab work we were able to get out this week and visit the OHSU campus in Portland. I had a good time and found it very educational since I got to ask students about graduate school and see how many options were available for me if I choose to continue my education.