Dear Science,

I am back where I started about three months ago: restless at night in Tucson. I was anxiously awaiting a new beginning of the adventure that you would take me on. Now I'm here, you've taken me on the adventure but I know that it's a never-ending one. Right now, I'm in a semicolon on the journey but this long, complicated sentence will go on.

During the past 3 months, I have been exposed to ES cell culture, primary cardiomyocyte culture, and microscopy/imaging. I have increased my technical repertoire but more important I have learned to be versatile, practical, and persistent (in the face of equipment failure and the like).

It was my fortune and joy to witness science in action halfway around the world. There was passion, there was frustration. There were similarities (basic concepts) and of course, differences (for example, the way the lab ran with subgroups working together on big projects versus working on individual ones).

So, I'm going to stop here and try to go back to bed, but one more thing: I'm forever indebted to you.

LILY

Dear Berlin,

A friend of mine once said "deje un trocito de mi corazon alli" (I left a little piece of my heart there) when describing a place that affected her a lot, but I must say the opposite for you. I'm going to take it all, everything you've given me: the beautiful, the unexpected, the disgusting, the disappointments and the elations. I'm leaving no part of me behind. I will take this experience and everything I've learned and carry it with me-- everything I've learned about the people, the science, the places.

With that said, I will, of course, fondly recall the day when I first landed and easily slid into your embrace. Never have I woken up in Berlin asking where am I? The answer was always natural: I'm in Berlin doing research. When I went to France and Italy, Berlin was home base. When people asked me where I was from, Berlin was always my instinctive answer. Although 3 months is no where long enough to know what it is truly like to live here, I have felt more comfortable here in such a short time period than in any other place.

I'd like to think that it's because you are so eclectic. You have something to offer everyone. You provide a mirror for your visitors. If they fail to find anything interesting, then it says something about who they are because when someone uncovers the city, they will find your vibrance and how you pulsate to the hip beats of modernity and futuristic visions.

A week ago, I was ready to go home. I felt that you were letting go of me and Tucson was welcoming me with my friends and family all waiting. Two days ago, when I looked down at you from the TV tower, I was moved by your diversity-- sprawling forests to tall skyscrapers and all the little crevices in between just waiting for people to claim as their place of peace. Yesterday, when I sailed down the Spree, I saw those quiet spots where people were picnicking with the family out on a nice piece of the river bank by the green waters reflecting the wind-whipped branches of the willow trees; I saw the impressive modern structures of the city center; I saw the graffiti smeared walls with small piles of trash strewn across the paths.



I saw. And I will miss it. All. And take it. All with me.

LILY

Goodbye Tour

This past weekend was my last weekend in Berlin. I have to say that I was not very exciting. I worked on this morning's presentation for almost the entire weekend. I knew I wouldn't be able to properly visit or see anything if I hadn't put in a good effort for the presentation. It was difficult for me to make all the figures and tables given that I had no experience with programs like Illustrator or Photoshop (I know, I know, this is unacceptable, I should really learn how to photoshop people's heads onto celebritys' bodies and the like). After the struggling, I managed to do a decent job. This morning I presented and it went well.

Now for my goodbye to Berlin, there are a few things I would like to do:

1. Go up on the TV tower
2. Take a boatride down the Spree
3. Eat a West Berlin currywurst at Konnopke's
4. Eat one last doner
5. Have a Berliner Weisse and a Hefeweisse

And then it'll be tschiiis, Berlin, vielen dank :)

LILY

Berlin Berggruen

This is what's great about being in a big city. There's just too much to do. Today, my PI encouraged me to go to free museum Thursday at Berggruen. This is a museum created by one man who donated his private (mainly) cubism collection to the public. In return, he gets a room upstairs in the museum, so he can be with his art (awwwww, sentimental and slightly maniacal). Anyways, the collection is small enough for a runaround zoom tour and big enough to savor. The major artists included Picasso (lots and lots of him), Matisse and Klee. I entered the museum forty minutes before closing time (this was emphasized by the guard who glowered at me and pointed at this watching and said: fünfzig minuten!). I nodded 'yes sir', and ran around the museum in 15 minutes. Then I realized that I had plenty of time and went back through the museum and savored each piece: I walk up to the painting, let the first gut instinct hit me, analyze the initial emotions, turn the painting ninety degrees in my head, look again and decide if it's photo-worthy.

My PI also suggested that I get a poster... I think he meant of a Picasso painting. However, my favorite Picasso in the collection is of a lady, but if you know Picasso, you would know it's not just a lady. It's a grotesque-looking lady. I decided that I would not be able to fall asleep knowing that she's glowering at me in my room, so I went with a nice impressionist painting by Cezanne (one that was actually already sold from the collection so I didn't see it in person).

I like impressionism. It's fuzzy.

LILY

Presentation Numero Uno = Done

Okay, I just finished presenting about RNA binding proteins. My PI gave me the choice of picking something I know about or picking a topic that I will learn about that will help me in the future. I decided against taking the easy way out and picked a topic that is becoming more and more relevant in molecular biology: RBPs! I'm not sure how well I understand everything about the topic but I definitely have more insight on it than before. I hope to expand my knowledge on the topic in the near future (this is very relevant to my work in the Tucson lab). I'm still chugging away on that other presentation for Monday's lab meeting.

I hope it all comes together.

LILY

I'd Like to Dip You In Cheese Please

Work was full today. In fact I'm still at work... gotta finish up one more thing to prepare for tomorrow's experiments. However, I also got a nice dinner break with Carol, Mitch and the rest of the lab. We went to a fondue restaurant in Prenzlauer Berg. Boy, can we eat. We had 2 cheese fondues and 5 meat ones plus 2 chocolate fondues. Yummy! Oh, Europe, you have some tasty treats!

LILY

PS: Carol asked me what I missed from Tucson in terms of food, so here is what's on my list: MEXICAN food (can I get a taco and a quesadilla or something??? No more fake Berlin Tex Mex), In n Out, cheesecake (the heavy American ones that make you feel like you're going to die of a blood clot right afterwards), Miss Saigon, real Chinese food!, Eegee's and the junk food I can stuff my face with! But the food in Berlin is not bad, I'm not complaining!

X 2

This weekend was interesting. It started out with my BFF bailing on me. My cells were ready and healthy but the incubator on the microscope refused to function so I could not set up my experiments (I need to increase my n!). That was a huge disappointment.

Then, on Saturday morning I woke up really early to try and troubleshoot the microscope error and also to finish up experiments before meeting Carol at the airport. However, to our surprise, she was not on the flight, oooooops! So we had a practice run and then my German PI took us out to breakfast anyway. The next day, we repeated the procedure, this time with Carol and her family. We did a little bit of sightseeing afterwards!

Today, it was back to work but still no luck with the microscope. The microscope staff did not know how to fix it so we are going to have to wait for the Zeiss service guy. Oh, technology, I love you but you are a pain sometimes!

LILY

Under Pressure...

Dear timekeeper, 24 hours per day is simply not enough, please give me more. There is too much to be done: I just got assigned to two presentations today. One for next Wednesday and one for August 10th. I still have a pile of data to analyze and more experiments to set up. I also need some more brain cells to keep up with all of this. It has been hard to keep track of everything >.<

On another note, Carol is coming to visit Berlin tomorrow! I'm going with Dr. Gotthardt to pick her up and get brunch with her.

LILY

PS: Neighbor update: looks like she'll be gone for a bit, but my PI is encouraging me to talk to her about the situation in case it is some health issue or condition she is unaware of. I hope she's alright but for now, I don't really have the desire to/have time to see her anyway (last image of her was not too pleasant...).

The Stuff of Scary Movies (Tengo Miedo!)

Buch is no longer safe! I had a fright this morning. My day started early today when I woke up at seven because I needed to be at the microscope at eight. I was starting my usual morning wake up routine and stepped into the bathroom across the hall for a shower. When I walked back into my room, I saw a flurry of movement, nudity, and the German girl who lives next to me screaming angrily for me to get out. Confused and frightened, I closed the door quickly-- only to realize a second later that hey! this is MY room. What does she think she's doing? I opened the door and told her to put her pants back on and go back to her room-- clearly, this was an embarrassing mistake. After waiting for 10 minutes outside, she still did not come out. At this point, I realized this was not just a mistake on her part-- something was up. I opened the door and there she was, still half-naked and just walking around my room looking at everything. I asked her if she could please leave so I can get ready for work. She became distraught and raised her voice for me to get out. I tried to reason with her about why this room was not hers. I asked her if she was alright, if she was sick or needed something, because if not, please put some pants on and kindly leave. I offered her her pajama pants (which were for some reason on the opposite side of the room) and eventually shoved a towel at her hoping she would cover herself up--- nope. I was dealing with unreasonable craziness: she started grabbing things from the table and saying they were hers. "This is my card, this is my money!" I was running out of options. I grabbed the cards and money and firmly told her to get out-- no more reasoning with someone half-naked and clearly out of their mind. She refused. I stepped out to the hall and called for my friend to help. Maybe she saw the light or maybe she was scared but she finally left my room.

Whew. I'm locking my room up everytime I step in or out now! No more of this craziness. I'm not sure what happened: just a little disturbed that she's my next door neighbor and that she touched the furniture while undressed (ewwwww). I saw her making cake yesterday and even had a nice conversation with her! Wow, people are surprising.

LILY

Florence = Firenze?!

I did a power trip through Italy. 4 days = 4 cities.
So first up was Milano. I flew into Bergamo which is an hour outside the city. All I did in Milano was to go see the Duomo. Very very pretty, but I had googled it before and when I got there in person, I thought, yup, this is it!


Next up was Venice. People had told me that it's not very pretty but I always feel connected to any city with water (I was born near the water anyway). Venice was by far my favorite city with its canals, bridges (I like bridges too) and Venetian glass (these things were addicting to look at especially in large quantities: vases, beads, figurines, jewelry = serious eye candy for any artsy shopaholic).

Oh, of course, there was Rome! So much to be seen: Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Spanish Steps, St. Peter's... etc. It was impressive; the city was filled, absolutely filled with ruins and monuments and history. I was, throughout the trip, replaying those chick flick scenes set in Rome (I know, I know, dorky).

I spent 6 hours in Florence, during which time I explored the city without a map! (only with directions from random Italian shopkeepers and also with my own poor sense of direction!) I managed to see a lot but also managed to get bogged down at the Mercato Centrale (oh dear, Italy was shopping heaven but don't worry I had a budget and a limit to how much I could shove into my poor backpack). On a side note, I would like some of that fancy jewelry from the city when I'm older: the pieces were dazzling and original in design not to mention too expensive for me!

Now that I gave you an overview of the trip, let me make you high school yearbook-esque list of the best and worst:

Biggest disappointment: The food! Remember how I was excited? Well, I set my standards too high. I had one good pizza (the texture and flavors came together nicely) but the rest of the meals were... eh. I didn't feel like it was too different from the Italian food I can get in Berlin.

Most worth it: OMG, gelatto! We ate gelatto everywhere, thanks to Polina's handy gelatto map (yes, made for her (+me) by her!). In fact, we even ate two gelattos in a row= we love it!

Moment when I lost (a little bit of) faith in humanity: Remember how I was a crime magnet in Paris, well, Italy was no exception. I was stepping onto the Metro in Rome when all of a sudden, I felt someone push up really hard against me, then I felt my bag being unzipped. I hurriedly stepped onto the train and grabbed my bag. I looked down to see a small Gypsy girl, who gave me a flicker of a look of fear and then it turned into a bold stare. She started screaming at me and waving her hands so that I could not say anything. As she kept on yelling 'Chino' or something of the like, I told her to stop. She slunk away eventually, off for another purse (her mom, the baby, and an older brother were also there, I guess to help in the operation.) How sad, she is not helping the Gypsy image. She was too young to be rummaging through people's purses. Why does one person have to gain at the cost of another?

Silliest A-ha moment: For the longest time, I could not figure out why my Eurorail map of Italy did not have Forence on it (isn't it a major city?). I knew that Florence was approximately midway between Rome and Milan but on the map, there was only Firenze (also please realize that I was thinking of the centaur in Harry Potter + I was saying fire-enz). When Polina handed me the train reservations she made for me, I was confused and said, aren't I going to Florence not Fire-enz? That's when she laughed at me and then clarified this whole thing. Oooops, least I learned something.

Best memory of the trip: Polina <3 and I dashing through the streets of Venice to our hotel while the rain was pouring =) We weren't sure when it was going to stop and dodging underneath buildings and alleyways was so much fun. We were soaked!

LILY

Italy-- Check!

Hey guys, I'm back to Germany, but tired and busy with work. So details later.

LILY

Dove è il treno?

Equipped with my spanish skills and my ability to add an "e" sound onto the end of a Spanish word, I am off to Italia for 4 days. I will be flying into Milan, heading to Venice to meet my favorite Russian (Polina :)!) and then heading to Rome and hitting up Florence on my way back to Milan. See you all later! Don't worry, I'll eat your share of pizza, pasta, and gelatto, suckas :P

Be back Monday night!

LILY

Guess What This Post Is About?

I think you see my trend. I work. I work and I have been working, so here is picture of the administrative buildings of the Max-Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine. The MDC campus in Berlin-Buch is actually quite large especially for Europe (I was told). Large by European standards is nothing. I can walk across the campus in less than 15 minutes at a leisurely pace so don't worry U of A, you're still the mammoth. However, I quite like the campus ( they devoted a part of the budget to art, which adds a nice touch, although occasionally if you stop to look, you wonder what the artists were thinking about when they made these sculptures...) The MDC houses many research groups and buildings including one called Biotech Park (I pay rent there, but I keep expecting an amusement park every time I step in).

When I first arrived in Buch, my PI told me about how the MDC started... It was a long long time ago or maybe not so long when the plague was rampaging across Germany, those who contracted the disease were sent here to the outskirts of Berlin to be treated and naturally research and medicine go hand in hand so more and more scientists came out to Buch--- the cowless outskirts of Berlin.

LILY

I See Red Everywhere

I just finished analyzing the data today. We use a dsRed fluorophore, which means that I get to stare at a screen with red cells all day, everyday. I'm seeing red, people... seeing red. Okay, now I'm off to get some dinner. I'm tired.

LILY

My New Expensive BFF

I have already written about my BFF a few posts ago, but I feel like I need to establish how big of an impact he has/will have on my life. He controls my life (well, my work). I'm talking about the microscope we use for my experiments. I'm hoping that he will be nice because then data will be on its way >.<

LILY

Fruit Galore

This, my dear readers (who never bother to comment), is a physalis --another fruit I have fallen for in Berlin. My mentor introduced it to me the other day. It certainly packs a punch: it has a very distinctive flavor. I think I have seen it before but always thought that it was only decorative.

You apparently may know it as a cape gooseberry?

LILY

Monsoon Hits the Big B

I woke up to rain yesterday, got out my extraordinarily flowery Asian umbrella (thanks Dad for leaving me the most embarrassing umbrella, thanks Mom for buying it, and of course me for being too lazy to get another one) and walked to work (That's the building I work in by the way). As with everything new, the experiment setup took longer and my mentor and I anticipated. At one point, the incubator on the microscope was making a high-pitched beeping at us (just the type of noise that crawls through your skin, into your skull and promptly sprawls itself out on your brain and makes a picnic there while your brain is screaming: please make it stop! ). Then other various problems occurred, but in the end we triumphed! (Restart the system when you don't know what the heck is going on... that was my advice for the problems and it worked for the most part :) )

Today I set up another overnight microscope experiment (I'm getting better with the set up and the really expensive microscope). For the rest of today it's onto more cell culture and preparations for next week!

LILY

Crunch Time!

As my time here is coming to an end, things have picked up at work. The mice are making babies and I'm getting more cells to work with. This means that I have been working late with packed work days. The only people I have been hanging out with are my mentors/colleagues.

I just spent the last hour struggling with picking mouse embryonic stem cells (this is as in I have to literally go in with a pipet and take the inner cell mass of the hatched blastocyst). My mentor had to leave early so I did it by myself (but he has never done this either so his presence probably wouldn't have mattered much). I tried my best and (this maybe tmi but) I was sweating so badly. It was hard to get the microscope, pipet, pipet tip, and the petri dish to line up and do what I wanted, but I think I managed. We will be seeing the results tomorrow. Oh yeah, did I mention? I'm working the weekend!

LILY

Confessions of a Glutton!

One month exactly from now I'll be on a plane back to the States, so now I feel that it's only proper that I confess >.<

1. I'm a choco-holic: note the piles of boxes and wrappers. It had no cure, every supermarket visit started with a creed: I will NOT go to the chocolate aisle and will NOT linger there and eye all the treats, gingerly pick up each one, turn them over, examine them, analyze benefit vs. cost, and end up with an armful of chocolate that say fett 4,5% (4.5% fat). Then as I walk towards the juice, something catches my eye: is that the glint of the wrapper of that chocolate I had last weekend? Oh, but look at the one next to it: I've never tried that one, oh and that one, and the other one .... then the chocolate avalanche hits my cart and I'm done for. The only things that's slowed down this hobby of mine is the hot weather (correlates with appetite decrease, thank goodness) and the scale that mysteriously appeared in the guesthouse bathroom one night. (It steadily told me that gluttony = gaining 4 kilos in 2 weeks and that sluggish feeling I was getting, it was related to this lack of exercise plus engorging myself with treats). For now it's under control, I only have two pieces of chocolate a day (but the chocolate here is too good. I will miss it dearly.)

2. I'm a doner kebab-holic: these things are good. Every time I'm too lazy to cook, I want one. It also does not help that they are only 2,50 Euros(that's two euro fifty for those of you unfamiliar with how the punctuation works here).

3. Potato-holic: been getting my share of starch lately. Those of you who know me know that I <3 potatoes but seriously, German mensa, please stop feeding me five potatoes per meal and send me running for the salad bar!

4. Erdbeer: German strawberries are also very good and a much healthier hobby, although they go bad very quickly as well.

5. Raspberries: This is the only time I will admit to betraying my favorite fruit strawberry because I think the raspberries here edge them out! It's sooooo good. I also admit to buying them and not waiting to wash them and just eating them all on the way home instead of waiting... :/

LILY

Tortillas Espanolas--- Autenticas!

Last night a guesthouse mate (de Espana) showed me the ins and outs of making the famous Spanish omelette (tortilla espanola). We made two giant ones for her lab barbecue today. What goes in a tortilla espanola? Potatoes, onions, eggs, an inordinate amount of oil (no worries, most of it is drained out) and a pinch of salt. Here is the basic recipe:

1. fry potatoes (washed, peeled, cut up) in lots of oil until soft
2. add onions and fry until clear
3. drain the oil out
4. beat the eggs and mix in the potatoes and onions
5. pour mixture in a non-stick pan with a small amount of oil
6. cook one side AND flip it! (use a plate... it is a formidable task... I watched her do it.)

I probably forgot a few things here and there but you get the idea. Oh, and make sure to mix in lots of laughter and some new Spanish vocabulary (including curse words).

Enjoy, guten apetit!

LILY

When the Cat's Away...

The mice play! My PI is on vacation starting this week, but don't worry the mice aren't playing (they are being experimented on). I spent yesterday morning and this morning searching for blastocysts that I flushed out of mouse uteri. They look exactly as they have been depicted in the textbooks with the inner cell mass and the zona pellucida. Then hopefully they will hatch and I can make ES cells again!

LILY

The Florence of Germany

Yesterday I was in Dresden (I read somewhere that it was the Florence of Germany). Indeed, it was very pretty. There is a river running through the town and the town is divided into an older part and a newer part. We mainly stayed in the older part and explored the gallery and museums housed in the Zwinger Palace. In the gallery, I saw works of Raffael, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Van Eyck, Rubens, Vermeer, and Durer among others. We also spent sometime looking at the armory and porcelain collections.

The weather was so unbearably hot! I think I was delirious for a good part of the time when we were walking. It was fun and I would definitely recommend it as a place to visit if you're ever in Berlin for a while (it's only 2 hours away by train)!

LILY

70% Failure

Pretend like I posted this on Friday:

Last night, I attended a presentation, dinner and movie for the end of the Transcard Program 2009-2010. The Transcard program is for graduate students who are doing their thesis in the cardiology field. It is a seminar series (at least for the first year) to expose the students to a wide variety of topics in the field. I have also been attending these seminars.

My PI gave the last talk for Transcard where he summarized the goals and visions of the program (he is a director of the program; it is new and in its first year). Then we had pizza while watching a documentary film about the life of Nobel prize-winning neurologist Eric Kandel (In Search of Memory). It is a great movie especially for a science crowd. In the movie, Kandel pointed out the struggles of his life and which events he remembers the most: playing with a blue toy car as the Nazis came knocking or saying goodbye to his parents as he and his brother first left for the United States. He also describes his career: science is 70% failure. This we talked about during lunch. I accidentally quoted it as 80% failure and my mentor joked that maybe when we all lower the failure rate to 70 then we'll be the ones with the Nobel prizes.

So there: I knew this already but it's good to be reminded, especially be a Nobel prize-winner, sometimes science is about persistence in the face of multiple failures.

LILY

My Direction = Gloom Town

I'm not feeling terribly well. (Don't worry, I'm physically unharmed!) The weather has been gloomy the last few days and last night's game was disappointing. Things are work are not going as smoothly as planned. To top it all off, I am getting reminders about how quickly my time in Berlin is ending (people keep asking me when I'm leaving... )

LILY

With the Octopus --Not-- On Our Side...

Today is a big day. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you have not been following the World Cup and you have ignored all the World Cup news. Well, if that's the case, don't worry! The enthusiasm here is making up for it! Everyone ten minutes, the conversation strays to the game (Germany vs. Spain Semifinals). Where are you going to watch the game? Who are you going with? Do you think the meeting is going to take long tonight? The game is at 8:30 pm Berlin time and tonight we have knockout night (once a month). Everyone is anxious that the meeting will run long but the presenters are aware of this anxiety. I also made brownies for the meeting, so hopefully that'll help.

Back to the game: everything looks good for the German team this year, however, an octopus that predicts the outcome of the games is not on Germany's side this time. Paul predicts that Spain will win and he has been 100% right about the German games in the World Cup so far. I will just have to wait and see!

LILY

Oh, and correction on my post about passionfruit. I actually had gooseberries (stachelbeere). Really good!

New Hobby: Apfelstrudel with Vanilla Sauce

Since I have such an obsession with food, let me share with you a few details about German food.

1. Currywurst: It's a sausage with curry ketchup, served with fries or a bread roll. I have had it twice and that's that. Every time I have one, I end up realizing that it's not really that impressive. But if you're in Berlin, you have to try it!

2. Potatoes: Almost every meal I have had at the mensa contains potatoes. Once I even had potato fried with bread crumbs as well as mashed potatoes.

3. Bread: the Germans also take their bread seriously. Do you know how to tell the difference between German and French bread? If you can use it to kill someone, it's German bread. I lugged one home once from the supermarket and my back was sore.

4. Meat: The German diet also contains a lot of meat. For a German meal at a restaurant, I had hunks of pork with potato dumplings.

5. Apfelstrudel: my new favorite since I had one last night with vanilla sauce. It was warm and scrumptious. I even liked the raisins in it (I usually don't like raisins messing with my desserts).

Food is heavy here. I'm feeling it.

LILY

Strandbad Wannsee: Cooling Down in Green Waters

Sunday, I had breakfast with my mentor and his boyfriend on their lovely balcony. (It was beautiful: the breeze was blowing ever so slightly and we were enjoying a simple but delicious brunch surrounded by the colorful collection of plants that my mentor kept). We then visited Lake Wannsee and the beach that was open for swimming. It was a popular destination since everyone needed a good cool-down session. I have never been swimming at a lake before so this was a first. The major difference for me was that the water was green and shallow and was not salty (I didn't taste it on purpose!). It was a nice and relaxing way to not melt and end the weekend!

LILY

Fußball Spiele

Saturday at 4pm, we sat down to the Fußball Spiele (soccer game). We watched it at a restaurant with an Argentinian couple (I felt bad for them) and a table of enthusiastic Asians who cheered whenever any team neared the goal. It was needless to say, amazing, the German team made it look easy -- four times to be exact. Afterwards, the city went nuts--- with a score of 4-0 people went out, screamed, waved flags, exploded loud things, blew horns in people's ears, sang songs, broke bottles, drank too much and ran around. We were near the Zoo station in West Berlin, so this was the party was at! After every game, people were hurrying somewhere and I finally figured out that the people were hurrying to West Berlin where the streets were blocked off so people can celebrate properly!

LILY

I Believe in Air Conditioning (I do, I do!)

This weekend, I melted (It was hot and Germans apparently don't believe in air conditioning except for the air conditioning used for the machinery in our lab because machines need to stay cool, but... humans? nah!).

On Saturday, I visited Potsdam. We walked around the Sanssouci Park where the Sanssouci palace is located. Sanssouci means 'without sorrows'. I could see why, if I lived in a place like that I think quite a bit of my sorrows would dissipate. The park was green and natural. As we walked up to the palace, small, golden blooms of the nearby trees blew everywhere covering the small streams and the path with a sheet of sunny yellow. We sat down at the benches to admire the view: green, terraced steps leading up to a simple yet elegant yellow summer palace (magnifico!). Upon closer examination, we saw golden gazebos and the tomb of Frederick the Great (lucky Prussian king who summered there!!!), buried alongside his prized ducks (this guy was apparently crazy about his ducks). We then wandered through the park which was filled with other impressive structures.

LILY

Maybe I Should Have Taken Art History...

Every Thursday after 6pm, the national museums in Berlin are free. I have known this fact since the beginning of my stay but I have always managed to find something "better" to do with my Thursday evenings-- but no more! After visiting the Louvre in Paris, I have decided to bring some more art and culture into my life in Berlin. From here on out, yell at me if you see me online on a Thursday evening because I should be getting cultured instead.

For my first Museum Thursday, I naturally headed to the most famous museum of them all-- the Pergamon. (I was joined by a fellow museum buddy.) This museum is not full of wimpy paintings, I was told, it houses big gates and statues. This was correct, however, after seeing the Louvre, I was not as impressed as I should have been. Instead, I was just wondering how anyone bothered to move these huge monuments inside these buildings... must have been heavy. Since we were on Museum Island anyway, we made our rounds to the Bode and Alte Nationalgalerie. We finished these museums relatively quickly--chatting our way through. It went something like this: take a picture, oh wow, that's a big statue, hey look it's baby Jesus, oh there he is again but with Maria, oh no he's being crucified in statue form, and then in a painting, oh hey! look at that gold neat-o box thing, hey, what's that metal bowl with the intricate designs... and then my friend comments "that looks old" and I agree. Finally, we both look at each and admit that we wish we had taken some art history so we knew what we were looking at instead of just giving everything a cursory glance. Maybe I'll have better luck with something like a chocolate museum...

LILY

Biergarten Offen!

Yesterday it was one of our member's last day in the lab. As is tradition, the person who is leaving makes a small party him/herself. (I found this strange; shouldn't other people celebrate by throwing you a party? Guess not...) We had a very nice lab picnic, food courtesy of the member of the lab leaving. I tried a little bit of everything at the picnic, but everyone kept on insisting that I try Roquefort cheese. I was no chicken, so I slathered a portion on my bread and took a decent-sized bite. That was when I noticed my PI with camera poised ready for a reaction. Then my taste buds sent signals to my brain indicating that I had mold in my mouth. I paused in chewing and my salivary glands kicked in trying to drown out the taste. Against my natural reaction, I quickly chewed the bread and swallowed. With my eyes slightly watering, I looked up and everybody was laughing. I don't like bleu cheese to begin with and this special "cheese" (someone said Roquefort is not cheese, I quite agree.. I suppose it's an acquired taste) was yuck-O! I also found something I liked at the picnic although I don't remember their names anymore. Directly translated from German, they are hedgehog berries. They look like grapes with small harmless spikes on the skin and tasted of kiwi and the appearance of the gut reminded me of passionfruit. On second thought, perhaps they are passion fruits; I have never actually had fresh passionfruit. They were YUM... I had a whole handful!

After work, we went out to dinner and also to a biergarten to celebrate. This was my first real biergarten. The experience was good because I was with fun people. A biergarten consists of a lot of tables out in the open where people can drink (what else?) beer! This particular one was lit up with strings of incandescent bulbs. Under their cheery yellow, people smoked, talked and laughed.

LILY

A Mi Me Encanta.........

I know that you guys are like where are the science posts? Well, don't worry, I will update you on my work (some of it). Currently, I am wrestling with writing a good protocol for embryonic stem cell extraction and expansion. The problem is that for a protocol, it's the details that matter. I understand the basic gist of how to make ESC but I have found about 4 different ways of handling the exact details of the procedure. Asking people who have done the experiment also did not help elucidate the situation (I was more confused about what to do). So, currently, I have decided to consider my timetable, my resources, and my own technical abilities. With these things in mind, I am formulating a protocol that is a combination of different protocols (it is also an improvement on the last protocol, my last ESCs did not look so great :( )

For something not so nerdy: yesterday I met up with my new Spanish tandem partner-- una espanola quien esta en Berlin para una aventura (for non-spanish speakers: she is a girl from Spain who is in Berlin for an adventure) --truly a girl after my own heart! She is a photographer and is fun-spirited not to mention friendly. Talking with her made me realize how rusty my Spanish is-- so I dusted it off and went with her to watch the Spain v. Portugal game with her Spanish friends-- un grupo amable. Spain won!! All the Spaniards were doing the wave. They joked to me that the ones who were not joining in were the Germans (probably 90% true).

Vivo por aventura!

LILY

It’s getting hot in here!

From yesterday (LAN was down): Berlin is warming up! I hear the next two weeks are going to be super hot (for Berlin, that is. No worries, Tucson, Berlin's got nu-nu-nu-nu-nothing on you, baby ... in terms of the degrees, Fahrenheit or Celsius). This means I'm pulling out the good old sunscreen because A. I don't want skin cancer and B. I don't need to tan anymore. I have gotten multiple comments about how "dark" I am for someone of Chinese descent. (My response: I'm from the freakin' desert! It's called blistering hot with the sun penetrating everywhere and heat waves warping everything in the distance?)

Good news is I'm pulling out those shorts and T's, goodbye coats and long-sleeves!

LILY

Berlin Vibes

I have been here for a little more than a month now. Although I live in Buch-Berlin, I have gone out to the city enough to make generalizations. Here are a few fun things I would like to share with you all about Berlin. (I like lists apparently so here we go.)

Berlin is....

1. laid-back: whether it's what people wear or how they act, there is very little to no reason being a real snob. When I was coming to Europe, I was amply warned that flip flops were a big no-no in public, however, recently, since the weather has been getting warmer, I have seen plenty of Berliners break that rule!

2. indie: the art scene here is on display everywhere--the city is covered in graffiti. Some of it is very rude, but some of it is truly art. In fact, there is a graffiti tour of Berlin that one can take.

3. divided: by this I am not referring to differences between East and West Berlin (right now, I find East Berlin more interesting just like everyone else... I still haven't figured out what the heck is in West Berlin-- my fault, I think, for not exploring it), rather I refer to the different regions in the city. Each region has its own subculture, its own vibe. For example, when you want a good place to watch football games in a biergarten, Prenzlauer Berg is good; on the other hand, if you would like to go to the hippest and fastest-growing region of Berlin, go to Kreuzberg.

4. historical... but not obviously so: when you take a good tour of Berlin, the tour guide will tell you that... oh, see that old looking building right there? yeah, it was built 30 years ago, they just put some old statues on it. Much of Berlin has been destroyed and rebuilt. (WWII bullet wounds to buildings can still be seen).

5. a good capital to live in: it's economical and safe for raising a family plus the big city feel is present but there are still parts of Berlin that feel very small and intimate.

LILY

Fanmeile

This weekend Adele visited me to see Berlin. Having spent her time in Paris and after me visiting her in Paris, there were lots of comparisons to be made about Paris and Berlin (my personal opinion: hipper, more casual but also more reserved, flatter and lower).

More importantly, Germany has made it out of the group for the World Cup (sorry, France :/). Also, Germany is thriving in football ( 4 to 1 good enough for ya?). Today's game against England (as I have been told by the Germans) is a culmination of hard feelings between the country that invented football and the country that is not too shabby at it. I went to the fanmeile to watch. This is a location right past the Brandenburg Gate, where the real fans come out decked out in red, gold and black to enjoy the game on big screens. (The street is sectioned off for the event).

With four goals, Berlin shook with every one of them. I was standing next to the Port-o-potties and I felt really bad for whoever was unlucky enough to be inside one when a goal was made. People were pounding and shaking those things! (probably felt like a magnitude 8 earthquake while going to the bathroom... eeeek!). It was a very exciting experience all in all.

Although the stranger part of my day came later when I somehow ended up with a 20 peso bill from a Mexican guy who said vamos a chingar a Argentina!! when I asked him why (hahahaha, I'm afraid it was the other way around...)

LILY

The Two Most Important Things in Life (Currently): Science and FOOTBALL

Since I'm back in good old Buch and pipetting away again, let me just say that science is pretty much the same anywhere. I visited Adele's lab in Paris and watched her do a plant DNA extraction: a very familiar Invitrogen kit! Yesterday one of my office mates struck a conversation with me about how he viewed science: particularly molecular biology. He said if you threw enough money and manpower at this type of science, you're bound to crank out data but it's all useless. People who sit on a pile of data but fail at the analysis part are not scientists, in his opinion (I agree). He then went onto say that he feels like the majority of "scientists" are not doing science. They are wasting money and time just to make a living. While we were chatting, I was mulling over his pessimistic views. While a lot of research seem far away from practical implications, this type of work is fundamental in building a collective understanding of our world. I disagree with the thought of knowledge being useless. How have we come to understand complicated processes like metabolism? Painstaking and meticulous research. When I read biology textbooks, I know that behind every sentence, a lot of bench and field work was put in. It is simply summarized for my benefit. I agree with my office mate that to be a scientist, you have to "get it"-- what is the freakin' point?? what is the big picture?--, you also have to be passionate because sometimes, repetition of one procedure and bog you down and make you want to fast forward through 6 hours of pipette, wash, wait 20, repeat X 6.

Okay, on to something less serious but very much a part of every conversation to be had here. Football, soccer fever, whatever you want to call it, is on the loose!!! Hopefully, you have been keeping up because Germany with a 1-0 against Ghana pulled a first out of the group! Next game up: England (long enmity in football) on Sunday afternoon. Everyone is buzzing about it. Most popular question is: where are you going to watch the game? Well, I already know where I will be watching it (to be revealed after Sunday, it's going to be crazy!). After last game, everyone on the streets were screaming Deutschland, Deutschland!!! The city went crazy: there was a bit of a stampede on the S-Bahn. Of course, I was caught in it--being squeezed by tall people = me wishing I had more muscles.

LILY

Rogue in Paris!

Firstly, there's a picture to prove that I was in Paris (I need to prove it to myself too because so much has happened in the last few days.)

The trip started when I barely made it to the train station in time to activate my eurorail pass and catch the train (I worked late and also failed to subtract properly -- military time requires too much thinking). There were three important things I learned on the train ride: 1. Talking to random strangers can be lots of fun (orthopedic surgeon + social science major); 2. sitting upright and sleeping = not fun; 3. when you are asleep, someone will steal your wallet!!!!!!!!!! Imagine this, next morning, when Adele came to pick me up, I find that I am destitute in Paris. With only 50 euros, no student ID and no debit/credit cards :( To my horror, I learned how long 50 euros would last me ( about let's say, 6 hours in Paris). I canceled all my cards and luckily, Adele was kind enough to lend me some money (thank you, mademoiselle). Now here, let me not go in specific chronological order but let me just give you a highlight reel of these days.

1. Being touristy:
Eiffel Tower: I did not get to see this great monument until halfway through my trip, there was always a tree in the way for the first few days. All I have to say is that it's big and I liked it when it sparkled at night, although we had to wait in the cold until 1 am, while sketchy peddlers offered us wine, champagne, or cigarettes. Last day, I also climbed up to the top. The wait was long but i did get a nice view of Paris (so much bigger, whiter and prettier than I thought just walking through...)
Louvre: The museum was huge and beautiful. I saw the small Mona Lisa painting. This museum really deserved more of my time because all the paintings started looking alike after a while...
Versaille: This was an insight into how they lived back in days of royalty. It was a little too gaudy and extravagant for my taste but I wondered how the maids/servants lived? We were only shown how the royalties lived.
Sacre Coeur: My personal favorite, it was a powerful experience... the cathedral was beautiful and serene.
Notre Dame: Amazing architecture especially the back and the sides!
Moulin Rouge: Not that impressive, it was small but the street it's on was filled with sex toy shops and other equally risque clubs.
La defense: The impressive Manhantanized part of Paris-- didn't look like Paris at all, very modern!
Champ de Elysee and Arc de Triomphe: The street was filled with brand name luxury stores among others and the Arc reminded me of the Brandenburg Gate (Ahhhh, Berlin!)
Boat ride on the Seine: Beautiful! Things I love all combined: river, bridges, and being on the top deck of a sailing boat!!!
French Riviera: Oh, did I mention that we managed to squeeze in Nice, France? It was absolutely lovely (although the weather was not being good to us at first), but the stone beach was nice and the ocean turned the lightest of blues after the sun came out. However, the real adventure was in getting to Marseille to spend some time there and get back to Paris. We dozed off and missed our train! The scarcity of trains that could get us to Marseille on time forced us to break some rules: hop on trains we had no reservations for... we got caught but the guy was nice enough to just let us go with a warning. This train to Marseille turned out to be running extremely slowly and was late. Several times we were faced with being stranded in South France but in the end we hopped on a train to Paris in another city. Whew! Close calls, close calls.

2. The wild side:
Apparently I'm a crime magnet (Adele told me she hasn't seen this in her entire month in Paris). Okay first there was a big fight on the Metro among Algerian boys with too much testerone, too much beer, too many Algerian flags and too much pride. Punches were thrown and we were caught in the middle scooting our way to safety. Then there was another fight on the Metro towards the end of the trip. Sometime in between, a drunk French girl screamed in my face in loud French. I slowly back away as her alcoholic stench and drunken screeches invaded my personal space, however, she, drunk out of her mind, continued this for about 3 minutes until something else distracted her (thank goodness).

3. Food!:
Here, let me tempt you-- let's just say I ate my share in France. Crepes? Of course! For dinner and dessert. Sandwiches? For sure, the French know how to bake. Pastries????? Loved them, in fact, I am having withdrawal right now... I need some everyday! Baguette: did I mention the French can bake?? Panini? Who knew those were good in France too, oh but it was so crunchy and flavorful. Oh and of course, I had French fries (forgot about those....) and gyro sandwiches.
Sit-down dinners included a three-course lunch by the port in Nice: mussels for entree, paella for main dish, and tiramisu for dessert! We also had a dinner at a Parisian cafe where I stepped out of my comfort zone and ordered lamb and french beans: not bad especially with a glass of wine.

4. Feeling like the ugly duckling:
I dress fine for Berlin where it's more casual but in France, the girls are pretty fashion forward. I looked like I was ready for an urban hike (because I was...) while they were dainty with their blazers, heels and accessories. Oh, and also, a side note, the French are big on PDA. Are you staring? Because they don't care.

5. Aaaaah Berlin: easier on the wallet (or my lack thereof), nice and casual! I'm glad to be back. And I missed the science (my cells); I'm glad to be back to feeling like I know what I'm doing. It was a close call getting back as well. I got on the train as it was pulling out... and realized that I got on the wrong end so I had to run the length of the train. This time, my seatmates included two French people, a Swiss young man who was on his 3 month journey hitchhiking Europe after studying milk technology (cheese-making and the like), and a German university student who studied in Paris.

LILY

A Series of Close Calls

Okay, wow, a lot has happened in the last five days, but I'm back in Buch. I will update when I have more time and energy.

LILY

Au Revoir, Berlin... Hallo, Paris!

For those of you who bother to keep track of me:

I will be in France for the next five days. I'll be leaving tonight and coming back to Berlin on Wednesday morning. During that time, I cannot guarantee that I will be posting at all, so this is a temporary goodbye, but don't worry. I'm going to make it up! I'll take lots of photos and write about it!

For my ES cells:

May you remain undifferentiated and pure; healthy and attached to feeder cells. Grow but remember to stay undifferentiated until we signal for you to differentiate!

For my feeder cells:

Please grow tightly and cover the petri dish so that you can feed your brother ES cells.

For my cardiomyocytes:

Keep beating and maturing; you're doing a great job.

OK, I'll be writing post-France!

Lily

PS:

For Berlin:

Don't be jealous, my temporary affair with Paris will not last long and although people tell me I'll love Paris; you know you're my favorite European capital.

To the Beat of My, the Beat of My Heart

I have not really gone out to the city since the weekend, so I can't report on any awesome sightseeing, but I did see one spectacular thing today: the beating of the cardiomyocytes that I plated earlier this week! That's right, I spent a part of today looking at small triangular grey blobs contorting on a dish. Okay, on to something a little more exciting for you guys.

Dramatized for your reading pleasure:

Please try and dig out the food race post in your memories (or simply scroll down, click around and find it!).

Setting: the very same gathering of the herd outside for that usual walk to the mensa (or as the Australians say food hall).

My mentor comments on how quickly my PI eats. It's simply amazing: he talks the most but also finishes his food first. No matter what. Challenge (silent): PI vs. ich--who can eat faster? Clearly, I was off to a bad start; I couldn't make up my find in the mensa: what should I eat? Some questionable brown goulash? Some heavy, red meat with potatoes? Some pasta? Some salad? Or some fake Mexican food? As I am negotiating with my stomach on what it wants and what I know is better for me, my PI has already decided on the Mexican food. I hastily line up too but alas, I am a whole 6 people behind him! By the time I pay for my food, he has already settled down with knife and fork raised! WAIT, not fair! I sit down and start. After five minutes, I look over to gage the competition. His plate was 50% gone! My progress = 90% still left to eat! Suddenly, the chicken and vegetable with brown sauce did not look so appetizing and that mountain of fries was piled insurmountably high. I was dismayed.

My mentor caught my eye and motioned for me to continue this match: not over yet! As I was intently working on my food, the conversation starts. My PI asks me about football and what not. I manage to chew and answer, however, this Q&A was hindering my progress. 15 miserable minutes of food shoveling later, I still had not reached 50%, and that's when I heard it.... the sound of two clinks as my PI put down his fork and knife and the scratch of the sound of the tray being pushed away. I hung my head: defeated.

I enjoyed the rest of the meal at a moderate pace: I was the last to finish, oh well but at least my stomach got some time to process all the food.

Afterwards, my lab mates heard about my challenge; they laughed and said, he doesn't chew... that's his trick of eating fast. (Good tip for next time if I ever take up the challenge again... it's the balance between enjoyment or eternal glory-- in other words: stomachache from eating too much too fast...)

LILY

I Supervise Myself

It seems like a lot of people are out of lab for one reason or another. My "supervisor" for the past few weeks is also among the absent, he is best man for a wedding in Frankfurt. Guess what that means? I'm in charge! I have a few basic assignments:

1. Keep ES cells alive and healthy
2. Start FRAP experiments after primary cardiomyocyte culture
3. Clone if there's any time left (there is.... molecular bench work involves a lot of waiting)

This means that I get to plan my work days and decide which experiments to do when (without anyone looking over my shoulder and jokingly calling me their "slave"). YAY, so far I have managed to stay busy, minus small breaks :P

LILY

Ich Bin Ein Berliner

Yesterday I met a real Berliner: born and raised in Berlin and never been away for more than 4 weeks. I joined a tandem language site to practice my Spanish and begin to take baby steps in German. I admit that it sounds super sketch but as far as I know, many people do it and the meetings take place at public places. My guest house mate disapproves. He thinks I'm naive, but for two hours, I chatted with a total stranger about German, Chinese, and food (of course, there was a whole 15 minutes about bread alone). I admit it was not THAT interesting but it made aware of the different types of people who live in Berlin.

The more exciting part of yesterday was the football game between Germany and Australia. Summary: Germany kicked some major Australian ass. This is THE most exciting football game I've ever watched (yes yes I admit, I'm one of those people spoiled with basketball where there is at least a basket everyone minute... so I always considered soccer to pale in comparison... why would I want to watch people run back and forth? makes me tired just to watch...) BUT but but (before you football/soccer people starting harping) I'm gradually changing my mind. Some shots and moves in football are quite beautiful and it is harder than it looks (even though I say, the goal is that big, why can't they just make it?). At this rate, I'll get beat up talking like this in Europe. Don't worry, I lay low when watching the games: I clarify first which team is wearing which color and cheer when the others do. We went to watch the game at a bar in Prenzlauer Berg; atmosphere was joyful and patriotic. Black, red, and gold/yellow dominated completely. Each of the four goals were greeted with loud roars, horn-blowing, screaming and excessive beer spilling as everyone stood up and fist pumped! Good time for Deutscheland!

LILY

Don't Eat a Big Breakfast, the Marvelous World of Medicine Awaits

If this blog is a morning read for you, please be careful as I will fill this one with gross details about disease and deformities. Today I went to visit Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum. In the Lonely Planet guide, this was listed as one of the top five quirky museums. Seeing that it was quirky plus has something to do with medicine, I'm there! This museum was housed near the Charite Hospital, and it showcased the history of medicine in Germany as well as the collection of odd, gross, and disgusting specimen that Rudolf Virchow collected. This was Body World plus 8. The museum spanned three floors. The first showcased a history of the important people in German medicine. As I read through the summaries of their lives and achievements (which were numerous and impressive given the times that they lived in...who knew that they did surgeries way back when in the 1800s, lots of screaming patients with no anesethia :( ), I commented, where were the women??? As I looked around at the paintings, there were only two women in all the rows of important figures. They appeared much later and were ridiculed. For example, while one woman who did work on starch in urine was presenting her work, her male colleagues joked that she probably dropped her powder in the chamber pot.

Second floor housed a large collections of jars, tissue sections, and skeletons (like I said, Body World to the extreme). Each system of the body, each organ was represented. Want to see a super hypertrophied heart, a cirrhotic liver or how about a grotesque tumor? It was all there and up for display. However, the grossest samples were by far: a huge colon... (size of me), deformed fetuses, or personally for me feet in jars that were infected with some sort of fungi (unattractive to the max).

Third floor housed medical equipment and their history. The older microscopes and the blood pressure cuffs were intricate and very vintage (hahaha). I especially enjoyed the display about modern medicine and medical research: pipets, tips, petri dishes, cell culture media... stuff I have not seen since forever (when I changed media for my cells this morning).

Hope it was not too gross and if you want to see more gross pictures, just ask. I figured one would be enough.

LILY

Roof Top #2

Yesterday one of the lab's old members came back to visit. She is currently doing her post-doc in Australia and stopped by Berlin on her way to a conference. Speaking of tea parties, there was a small coffee and dessert break in the afternoon in her honor. There was a chatter of German. Everyone laughed. The guest of honor motioned wildly and jerked while explaining some fascinating story about her adventures, I surmised, in the wilderness of the Outback. Everyone roared with laughter until tears were dripping down the corners of their eyes, and I, on the other hand, was intently munching on the dessert. My first victim was the cheesecake topped with mandarin oranges. Delicious! My love for cheesecake has no bounds, especially not continental ones. I waited for a bit to get my second piece: some sort of raspberry crumble cake. This I savored slowly because dessert was becoming scarce (though it was my only source of entertainment). When I was done, I stood politely and tried really hard to understand German. Needless to say, I did not have any miraculous epiphanies about German, instead I just guessed at the content of the conversation based on the cognate words I could pick up and the context clues. After a while, I got to fantasizing about being able to speak and understand German and how awesome it would be if I had a Babel Fish (like the one in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Then it was back to experiments, I walked out of the stuffy little lounge and realized that the last time I came up against the language barrier in a similar manner I was nine, small, and intimidated. Ten years later, I did not feel too inadequate --I knew somewhat about what was going on-- and I was certainly not intimidated. Languages can be barriers but they can be overcome with some guessing and laughter (my mentor asked if I spoke Italish the other day... I-ta-lish??? I was going through the possibilities. He assumed that in England they speak English, in Spain they speak Spanish, so in Italy they must speak Italish... sounds logical to me hahaha)

Later after work the lab met up at a roof top bar (!!!!!) to chat more with the visitor. I have been to a roof top bar once in Beijing and had loved it! The view is amazing and the atmosphere is, well, atmospheric (nice to be above the traffic and the city jungle). The bar we visited last night had a good view of the Berlin skyline (not as impressive as New York's but we took the time to point out the landmarks and the history associated with the city). Inside the bar, there were plenty of lounging decks and sand (did I mention it's a roof top beach bar?) with people busy working on their tans with drinks in their hands (a little piece of island life in Berlin).

When not admiring the view, I enjoyed conversations (in English) with my lab mates. These ranged from talking about drinks to "the big picture" of life. My PI also asked me about the North American perception of doing a Ph. D in Germany. In my opinion, I don't think many people even consider the option. They are simply not aware of the option and some major differences in the education system present compatibility problems. However, let me just note that he was proud to cite that the MDC is 25th in the world for impact in genetics. The top 24 institutes were much bigger in size.

LILY

Hey Honey Bunny, Life is not a Tea Party!

From yesterday:

This morning, on my way back from sending Polina off to the next leg of her trip, I was listening to my ipod and letting my mind meander down its familiar corridors when the doors of the train opened, and right on cue, a 20-year old walked in. I didn't pay any attention because I was too intently focused on drifting off in some mental labyrinth. For a while, it remained this way until our gaze locked and we introduced ourselves and had a pleasant conversation.

Meanwhile, in the real world, I woke up at 4 am to send Polina off the airport. Her parting gift was telling me that "Lily, life is not a tea party." She meant stop being naive, even though it's Europe--a different place-- people are people, it takes a while for them to warm up to you and no one is going to sit around and invite you to sip tea. No one is going to just chat with you on the train out of the blue (could happen but not exactly picture-perfect like in the movies because I, for one, would be --the most apt phrase would be-- "weirded out"). In reality, I woke when I dozed off on the train and banged my head against the glass. I woke startled and looked around to make sure that no one else had heard the thud of my skull against the glass, jumped to my feet and hopped out of the train before it took me somewhere further from Berlin than Buch. Then I went back to the guest house and took a nap before work.

I guess my major complaint is that everyone here is older and at a different stage in their life and plus everyone I know here is connected to work, but what's wrong with that? It seems like I can still connect with them even if I'm not where they are in life.

Sigh, just never satisfied... but still having a good time!

LILY

Pick the Right One

Work Update: I have been cloning and doing cell culture--nothing much has changed. This post is for all you molecular biology nerds. I have been PCRing, Mini-prepping and picking colonies like mad. I'm doing 4-5 constructs. However, when we pick colonies here, we pick 10-15, which means a lot of tube labeling, lysis, neutralization, and centrifuging. As a joke, I asked my "supervisor" which colonies I should pick and he said to pick the "right ones." Hahaha, harsh harsh, but I did pick one right one so far! Four more constructs to go.

Also, yesterday, we had a seminar about MRI and its applications and benefits as a diagnostic tool but also as a tool of other sorts. For example, MRI can also be used on a probe for oil drilling because with this type of imaging, one can detect the difference between fat (oil, the stuff that's spilling all over the oceans recently :( ) and water.

LILY

Can We Get Some More?

Yesterday Polina and I went to explore the Turkish region of Berlin (our guide recommended it over the weekend). We decided to get dinner near the area and consulted the Lonely Planet guide my lab co-worker kindly lent me. We decided to go to a small restaurant called Nil. This was by far the most brilliant idea we've ever had. Although we got lost (which gave us the opportunity to get some baklava and cake), we eventually made our way to the small, Sudanese restaurant. We got chicken wraps (Sudanese style) and then.... we were still hungry! We looked at each other and went back in. The guy at the store looked at us and said... "but you already ate"!!! I guess we didn't look like we would be the ones to go back for seconds. (But in our defense, we had long days--me at work and her exploring Berlin plus the food was good, it was like mouthfuls of happiness, no kidding). So we got tamiyas (falafels with a Sudanese twist), delicious! But so gluttonous... and sort of embarrassing. The guy at the store asked us where we were from, turns out that he is one of the few who knows of Arizona (he likes the Diamondbacks) and he welcomed us to Berlin and to his restaurant.

--Adventures of foodies!

LILY

Mmmmm, cells!

Work update: I am doing cell culture, an area which I have always just briefly explored but never in depth, so these protocols are new to me. In summary, the most emphasized point that I have learned so far is the importance of maintaining the sterility of the cell culture hood. Fact and point: spray everything and its mother before you put it into the hood! (Yourself included, if possible. I'm exaggerating, not really, just your gloves.) The first few times at the hood, I had to be constantly reminded to spray things off. Now I'm getting better.

Although the most frustrating thing about cell culture is that being of smaller stature: my limbs are of a limited length. I can't really reach things in the back of the hood without a good amount of struggle as I try not to bang my head against the glass and stretch for that pipet box leaning up just out of reach. Of course, this whole process earns some chortles from the person watching me. Then I simply reach for a pipet and slowly use it to scootch that box towards me! Whew, I sigh when I finally get it, then groan as I remember that I need that other box that someone casually placed in the very back. Oh well.

LILY

Mis Pies!

So a little someone dropped by to stay with me for a few days. Yup, Polina's here in Berlin with me :) Okay, more like she is in Buch with me and we have to take a train for 40 minutes to get to the heart of Berlin, but we both think that it is pretty amazing that we can meet up in a world capital. Not to mention, our love of food has given us a common goal: let's walk around Berlin and eat as we go! On Saturday, we took a free walking tour of the city (if you're ever planning to visit Berlin, take notes, we did some pretty touristy things!). Our tour guide was a self-proclaimed loud, obnoxious Brit (who did a masters in German history and is now gonna go to law school). In 3.5 hours, he took us all over East Berlin: Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust memorial, Hitler's bunker, Reichstag, Charlie's Checkpoint, Opera House, Humboldt University,etc. Afterwards, we took the time to visit the museum underneath the Holocaust Memorial: it was very depressing but the design of the exhibit was very simple and powerful, it allowed the words and lives of the persecuted to touch us, the modern day visitors.

On Sunday, we visited the top of the Reichstag (it's free and beautiful, so go go go if you ever get a chance). There is nothing quite like a panoramic view of Berlin on top of the parliament building. I love rooftops and an exquisite glass dome on top of a building is right down my alley. After an hour or so, Polina dragged me away from the top because I could just be walking around up there for quite a while. Then we sought our some exotic dinner (Vietnamese curry salad?) and walked to a park, where there were a lot of people on a beautiful Sunday evening just out and about enjoying nature and the company and chatter of some good friends.

Overall, I got more exercise this weekend than I have gotten since I arrived in Buch. My legs are sore.

LILY

Food Race

Having been here almost two weeks (and having worked for nearly nine days), I feel the need to tell you about our lunch periods. For lunch, we usually go a little after noon, nothing unusual, except right before, everyone calls each other and assembles in a little herd outside the building. Any stragglers who choose to take their lunches separately or with other people are left behind but usually almost everyone goes, including the boss. We then begin the ritual walk to the mensa (cafeteria). Everyone gets their food, pays, and sits down at a table together. This is where I was surprised two weeks ago. The conversation is few and everyone scarfs down their food. The first time I had lunch, I was the last one to finish (I was talking to my PI but he somehow, along with everyone else, managed to eat everything and talk at the same time). As I looked around at the empty plates, it was clear that they were waiting for me, so I stopped talking and picked up the fork to shovel some food, so as to not make them wait excessively long. When I finally felt like I gave the lunch a good effort, I put my utensils down carefully and looked up. We waited a few minutes to be polite, and then someone muttered what I assumed to be "let's go" in German and everyone got up to walk out. Each time, the whole process takes less than 30 minutes..... who says the Europeans were all about leisure? :P

LILY

Desert Weather!

It's finally sunny today! For the past few days, Berlin has been wet and dreary. I was wearing multiple coats and shivering. A few nights ago I went out to eat, and look what I found: a little piece of home :) That warmed me up!

LILY

Knockout Night

I arrived in time for all the meetings of the year! The students at the institution attend a lot of meetings and seminars. Tonight was Knockout Night, which is a big lab meeting once a month. The first part of the meeting is general announcements and concerns. The second part involves presentations: the first person presents data usually formatted with future publication in mind; the second person "freestyles". This means that they can present about anything they would like (given that it's reasonably related to science and beneficial for everyone else). For example, today, the freestyle was about clinical trials.

After attending all these seminars, presentations and meetings, I am impressed with the variety of information and resources that these students are exposed to. Lots of guest speakers, some with international backgrounds, drop by and present their work. For example, earlier this week, a researcher gave a talk about gene therapy and his research team's work on the subject. Another clinician presented about case studies and another about epigenetics (which I mentioned earlier). It is exciting that these very relevant topics are being brought up because I took courses which discussed these subjects (bioethics and genetics!).

LILY

Pipet Withdrawal

At last, at last! After being here for a week, I finally got to do some bench work yesterday! I pretty much have been doing bench work since being in lab during high school, so data crunching on the computer instead of doing bench work was new and foreign to me. Currently, my project is getting to a slow start, so to more properly occupy my time, I am helping out with some other lab projects.

It's fate: cloning and I are inseparable. (Transformations, digests, ligations..... !!! ) I am going to help clone a construct that might help give me insight into my own project as well. Yesterday, I helped with a transformation, it was interesting to compare lab equipment and protocols. The concept and intent behind the procedure is the same, however, there are slight differences. For example (for all you molecular biology nerds), in this lab, they put a smaller amount of DNA into the competent cells and incubate on ice for only 20 minutes instead of the 30 I'm used to. Similarly, the equipment is slightly different but I'm at least intuitive enough to figure it out. (However, I must admit, I did, in fact, pull multiple times on a push door today :/) This morning I also did a maxi prep with the invitrogen kit, and instead of the makeshift styrofoam system we used for the holding the columns in Tucson, the German lab had a rack specially designed for holding all the columns and tubes! (That was exciting, in a very nerdy way).

BRIEFLY: Last night, my friend and I went to Alexanderplatz because she wanted to go shopping (she just got her first grad student paycheck). I resisted the temptation of buying anything but I looked around and what do you know, everything that's in fashion in the States is indeed in fashion in Berlin. The exception is that it's way too cold and rainy to wear any of it right now! (Unless you just don't care or you have a layer of natural blubber, it feels like a Tucson winter right now--first time I'm wearing coats in summer?!?).

LILY