Week 10

This is a short three-day week, and my last week in Raleigh. On Monday, we continued working on our paper (this will be mostly all we do the rest of the summer and into the fall semester). All the groups also had to give a short highlights presentation for our last day on Tuesday. This was a more fun and chill presentation, so we made some quick slides the day before. We included highlights of our project, program feedback, and lots of pictures of everyone at the end! We invited Hugo out for lunch one last time on Monday as well. After work, I started packing up some of my stuff and trying to cook everything I still had in my fridge. Tuesday was our last day in the program. We had to return the laptops that NC State provided us with, so we did that on Tuesday morning. Then we had a group lunch with everyone in the REU and took one last group picture with the grad students and mentors. After that, we gave our presentations. It was fun hearing everyone's thoughts on the program and experience. There were definitely some funny presentations - it was a nice way to end the day/program! Once that was over, we said our goodbyes and went back to our dorms to pack. Wednesday morning, Maya and I did some last-minute packing and cleaning, said our goodbyes, and were out by 10 am. She was driving back home with her mom, and I was able to split an Uber to the airport with two other friends who were also flying back. My flight was a short 1hr 40min flight, and I was back in NY at 2 pm. And that is all I have for this week! I want to thank everyone for following me along on this journey. A special thank you to Mette and Brian, the program directors, who were able to organize and run this REU, as well as all the graduate student mentors involved. A huge shoutout to Hugo, our postdoc mentor, who helped and supported us throughout our time here, as well as Arvind, our project advisor! I am super grateful for this research experience, and I truly enjoyed my time in Raleigh and at NC State alongside a group of amazing and talented peers whom I can now call friends. I look forward to whatever my next adventure will be!

Thanks for reading,

Gaby