Life here is getting on track after being in Boston for almost a month. Rather than being uneasy and stressed at the beginning, now I feel much relaxed either at the work or the life.
The project I am working on here is different from what I have been studying in Japan, but the more challenging it is, the more I can learn from it. I have gone through a rather hectic week in the last a few weeks. I got trained with the SEM and microtome, which were all for the first time. One interesting story about the training is that I scheduled the SEM in the ISN (Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology) training with the steward, Bill, on Tuesday at 9:00 am. I got the there roughly 8:57 am, and he said I was the one who was there on time after he trained hundreds of the students. I felt very interesting about this and I think being punctual is the very important merit I have learnt in Japan (with a big smile).
In addition, people work a lot here and they work efficiently and productively, the work schedule is usually very intense and packed, they work like from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm and sometimes without a break even. The graduate student who sits next to me, told me before they used to work 7 days a week when the lab just started, now it is getting better. It is the lab culture I think, which is related to the professor, how she leads the lab. I like the professor here, when she was a student in MIT, she already showed her remarkable ability in the research and she got her faculty job right after completing her PhD in MIT and 2-year postdoc in Stanford. From her, I see the spirit of the fearless young mind who has the courage to bring forth new ideas with full efforts. It can be stressful at some time but most of the time it is inspiring when working with professor like this.
Then, I will talk a bit about the life here. Besides I feel busy in general, the life here in the weekends is rather cozy I think. Or in the other words, I try not to work in the weekends, ;) I know at some point I will do this, but right now, I just want to have some time for myself and try to enjoy the life in Boston a bit.
[Fig.1]Top of one hill we hiked
[Fig.2] Hiking during the weekend
[Fig.3] Charles river in front of the MITIn addition, the gym here is free for students and it is awesome, especially the pool here. I like swimming a lot, so it is perfect and convenient for me to swim after the work. It is very important to stay fit while working hard. I wish we could have one in Aobayama. :)
This is the report for October; in general, I feel there is always something new to learn everyday. I really appreciate the chance to study here and I will put forth my best effort for the work here.