14 Jun Maria Camacho, University of Houston, Week 2

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my weekly update on my internship! This week has been filled with so many fun things that I can’t wait to share with you all. Let’s start off with some cool stuff I did in the lab.

LAB/RESEARCH 

This week in the lab, I successfully mounted and secured the camera lens that I selected for my collection optics. Choosing the correct camera lens took some research. I have been hard at work making sure that the spectrograph and the camera detector have been receiving the optimal light in order to get the best Raman spectrum. This definitely takes some patience that I wasn’t aware I had. I have learned that optimizing the camera takes a while and is a tedious process, but once it is complete it will all be worth it. I was also super excited to start with my first sample and get my first spectrum with it! My first sample is toluene, which is a clear, colorless liquid that makes the scattered light look super pretty. Working so much on my setup has made me feel a little maternal toward it. Can’t wait to finish optimizing my spectrum even more next week so we can try new samples out!

FRIENDS/ACTIVITIES

Not only have I gotten to experience cool things in the lab this week, but I have also been able to have some interesting and fun moments with everyone here. This week was extra exciting after we got evicted from our dorm rooms on the second floor. Thursday evening, we get the news that the second floor had flooding issues and that the water was going to get turned off. Great! We had a 2-hour move out that day all the way to the 7th floor. Moving on to the fun stuff, today we went to the movie theater, and I went to go see Scary Movie 6. Interesting indeed. After the movie we went out to eat at this huge building with a number of different food stalls. Safe to say, this week was filled with some fun and not-so-fun experiences, but nonetheless, I enjoyed every moment.

I had a great second week here in Houston, and I am excited for next week! Join me at the same time next week for another update!