Interesting days at King's.

Instead of sitting on the computer today, I got to take patients blood cards and punch out a spot to use for our research. Later, we will take the blood spot, add a solution to burst the cells and expose the hemoglobin then add Trypsin to break down the protein into peptides. Then we will be able to put the solution into the mass spectrometer to read the masses of the peptides. Also today, as I was leaving the hospital, it started to snow!

Day at Stonehenge and Bath!

This past weekend I took a trip with the school to Stonehenge and the Roman Baths, it was great to see! Very cold, but well worth it. The trip was from 9:00am to about 8:00pm. In Bath, there were many places to shop, it was nice getting to look around in the beautiful city. Omar, Kristen and I stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch. It was probably one of the best meals I've had here!

My First Official Day at King's College Hospital

Today I was excited to get started at King's College Hospital! When I first arrived, I got a badge that allows me access through some of the doors. Soon after that I attended a little meeting that explained a little about what kind of things I would be working with and how King's College Hospital works. I was working in the hemoglobin lab, which is the red blood cell lab. I spent most of the day entering different amino acid sequences that were problematic, so that when the information is transferred to the machine, the machine can tell the difference between a problematic amino acid sequence. Later we will be taking samples of blood and running them through the machine so that the machine can can test the blood for problematic amino acid sequences.

Interview Day

The day I've been stressing most about turned out to be one of the better days of the trip so far! The "interview" for my internship ended up being a two question session followed by a tour of the hospital and where I will be working. I was surprised because I had been planning for an in depth interview, when really, I got there and it was more like an orientation. So that all went well. I feel very comfortable and excited to get started, I feel like it is going to be a great experience.
Then Ashleigh texted me saying something about Sam Hunt being in London, and if that's not a big deal then I don't know what is! I mean, this is SAM HUNT. March 9th, count me in!
& it gets better! I've been sleeping on a box spring for about 5 days, while the true comfy mattress was being unused on the top bunk! So me and Kristen pulled the mattresses off and switched them out! Now, hopefully I will be able to sleep better!
Classes start tomorrow! :)

Settling In

St. Paul's Cathedral, from the Millennium Bridge

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with London day by day. Today, I went with CAPA on a tour around London, it was great getting to see all of the main attractions London has to offer. Tomorrow I am taking a walking tour of South Bank with CAPA also. I have an interview for my internship on Monday at King's College Hospital, then I start classes Tuesday. I can't wait to get my internship started, I think it will be the highlight of the whole trip! I should probably go buy a nice pair of shoes for my interview..
Anyway, so today I tried finding King's College Hospital.. That was a mess. The way I was told to go was under some sort of construction for the weekend, so the information desk sent me on a train taking another route, I got lost for a good 20 minutes but then was able to find my way to the Hospital. Then with a couple encouraging word from my mother back home, I easily found my way back to the flat.

Arrival in London

In the airport with my parents before my plane off to London.

Last minute packing is never a good sign but, as of right now I only know of two things that I forgot to pack, deodorant and a correct adapter for the outlets, which is pretty good if you ask me. My flight was 7 hours long; I was surprised to have gotten the amount of sleep I did on the plane. After landing in London, I grabbed my luggage and headed to the tube. The ride on the tube was about 45 minutes, then I walked to the flat I was staying in. I met all the roommates, then headed out for a tour around the local area. After the tour, Kristen and I headed out to see what we could do with our night. We ended up going to a cell phone shop, a couple pubs, Subway, and the local grocery store. It was a blast, we met a lot of awesome people everywhere we went. Literally, every place we went we would talk to someone for at least 10 minutes. People here are a little nicer and easier to get along with compared to the United States.
So far everything seems fun and exciting, although the weather could warm up a bit, this trip seems like it's going to be a good one.
Tomorrow is orientation for our classes, hopefully I will be getting a SIM card for my phone so I can talk with some people at home.