06 Jul Maria Camacho, University of Houston, Week 5

Hello everyone, welcome to my last update. My last week at University of Houston was a bit busy as everyone was preparing their posters for our final presentation. Thankfully everything went well.

LAB/RESEARCH 

This past week I spent my days perfecting my poster for the poster presentations, and I finished taking some spectrums of some samples I didn’t get the chance to work on yet, such as iodine and toluene. From Monday all the way to a few hours before my presentation on Friday, I was working hard on completing as much stuff I could. Presenting was nerve-wracking at first, but after talking to a few people about my poster, I was finally able to settle down and present confidently. I’m glad that I was able to experience this wonderful research opportunity here at the University of Houston.

FRIENDS/ACTIVITIES

Even though everyone had a busy week preparing for presenting, we all took the time to hang out with each other, as this is our last week together. We did things like eat lunch together and go shopping together at the school’s stores. We also went to feed squirrels together and overall, just enjoyed each other’s company. There was no special outing this week because everyone was leaving on Friday while I and the other pinterns were leaving on Saturday. It was really sad when everyone left after completing the poster presentations. I am so glad we got to meet these wonderful people. Our RAs Kali and Marinha took me and the others pinterns to eat out after everyone had left, and I am so grateful to them for supporting us throughout our five-week stay.

I had an amazing time at the University of Houston, and I am so grateful to Novodha and Baldelli for teaching me all I needed to know about Raman spectroscopy. I am also very grateful to everyone I met for supporting me while I was in Houston. My time spent in Houston has taught me many important life lessons and has helped me discover myself a little better. Thank you, Pinhead Institute and University of Houston, for this amazing opportunity!