Why I'm Here

So for those of you who aren't aware, I'm in Oxford this summer working in the High Field Magnetic Resonance Laboratory. I tend to call it "the lab" for short. In fact, no one ever calls it by it's full name unless they're showing a prospective student around. Anyway, it's my summer job to work on determining the three-dimensional structures of proteins. If you're interested in the details (I'd be shocked if anyone is), let me know. I'll give 'em to you. If you're not, just know that the goal is to end up with a cool looking ribbony thing.

Protein \ˈprō-tēn\
1 : any of various naturally occurring extremely complex substances that consist of amino-acid residues joined by peptide bonds, contain the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, usually sulfur, and occasionally other elements, and include many essential biological compounds.


Anyway, now you know why I'm here. I've been in Oxford for 1 week, 2 days, and 1.25 hours. Already there are some good quotes, stories, and memories. These were part of the inspiration for the blog. The other part came from the fact that I have two friends and a sibling traveling in and around Europe this summer, a cousin and cousin-in-law (?) moving to France (which should be interesting), and a friend working in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress. Many of them have travel blogs and dammit I want one too.

I really have no idea how this whole venture will unfold. Matt Forrest and I are already excited to post. Eric wants in too, and Mike's a little under the weather right now so once he's healthy we'll bring him up to speed. He's traveling this summer as well, doing ecology research. So yeah, that's all I have. I hope this doesn't suck.