research?

November 16, 2006 11:19pm

Had a pretty relaxing day-off today… well relaxing, yet very exciting too! First to sum up yesterday: didn’t have shooting practice in the morning, so Jas and I decided to do an aeroboxing class at the fitness club. I don’t know how many of you have boxed before – but it’s fun and it’s hard! The club provides the gloves and pads, though every time I wear them I’m reminded of the stench of my kneepads (when I used to wear them). Everybody in the club has access to the gloves (some people bring their own), but most people just borrow them every class. Um yum… lots of sweat all mixing together creates for a wonderful perfume. Really though, the boxing is great. I think everyone should try it!

After boxing, Jas came back to my apt with me and… surprise!... I opened my door to mail!! Yay! My first mail here in Sweden! I had a letter and a note saying that I needed to go pick up a package. Thanks, Grammie, for the Happy Thanksgiving card. It’s displayed nicely in my kitchen… and, no, just as you suggested, they do not celebrate thanksgiving here. Then… to get my package, I had to go to the address on the slip of paper that was stuck in my mail slot. It was super helpful that Jas was with me because she showed me to where the package would be. There aren’t that many post offices, so for instance, my box was being held at a convenience/tobacco store. Laura sent me cookies!! She and her mom baked them and they are totally delicious!! I’ve almost finished all of them (with a little help from my teammates). Perfect with a tall glass of milk. Grammie and Laura… thank you SO much!! You don’t even know how excited I was to get mail. I am absolutely appreciative of your efforts to send me mail! Plus, it’s pretty cool when you think of the path the mail takes to get here – I mean, those cookies came all the way from a kitchen in Menlo Park, California to my little apartment in the city of Stockholm. That’s amazing!

Did some laundry yesterday afternoon (I’m still doing my laundry with the machines at the club because I don’t know how to work the ones in my apartment), had a good practice, and went to bed at a reasonable hour because…

I met for morning coffee with a postdoc from Karolinska who offered to talk to me about the research in his lab and about the potential for me to do research there!! I was so excited to meet him, and now even more excited that there is a great probability that I really will be able to spend time in the lab. Aaron Nelson is an MD/PHD… he did some med school at Tufts, then PHD work at UPenn (where his wife completed her MD), and now is doing some post doctorate work for a year at Karolinska (he, his wife, and son – Raffi – don’t know if I’m spelling that right) are here in Stockholm for a year (which is up at the end of april). Currently, the lab he is working in is quite large and he has one student (about my level of study) that he is directly mentoring right now. That student is done at the end of December, and then it sounds like he has all the time I would need of him to help me if I wanted. When we met this morning, Aaron told me all about the lab, the research, what I could be doing, questioned me about what I wanted to be doing, discussed med school/being a doctor, life in Stockholm, living outside the U.S., and lots of other fun things. I think the best part was that he took the time to really explain to me about the research he does. He is a great teacher!! Plus, he really enjoys teaching. As we were sitting in the little coffee shop, he was drawing pictures and showing me slides from a powerpoint presentation on his mac. It was so much fun! Hopefully next week I will get to meet the heads of the entire lab (though they’re always traveling all over the world to conferences and I hope they’ll be back soon), perhaps too I will even go to the group lab meeting so that I can hear about all the projects everyone in the lab is doing. It was so good to be talking about science. So good. I mean of course I love basketball, but I love biology too! Yup, I’m a nerd (but, we already know that!). Anyway, I’m hopeful that pretty soon I might be able to spend a few afternoons every week doing research. : )

The café that Aaron and I met up in was off T-Odenplan… and yesterday when I was reading the paper, I saw an ad for a show store that was off this T-stop also. They supposedly were having a boot sale and I really have been wanting to get some cute boots! I figure I can treat myself to some cute shoes once in a while ;). I had the address of the store, but didn’t actually know how to get there. I asked a guy handing out newspapers by the T; he couldn’t tell me how to get there, but he brought me to another guy that could. Because of those two helpful guys, I was able to find the store pretty easily. I picked out a pair of boots and a pair of “going out” shoes… I mean, they’re just black heels to wear with jeans or a skirt, but I didn’t bring any with me and I’ve been wanting to get a pair anyhow, so it was perfect… that is, until I went to check-out… I didn’t know until I went to check out that they only except cash (is that sketchy? Oh, well. I liked the shoes a lot!). I couldn’t remember the pin number for my Swedish ATM card, so I has to go all the way home (like 5 stops or so on the T) to get the number. I bet the guys in the store didn’t think that I was coming back. I did though! The guys in the store were very helpful too when I was trying on the shoes, and kinda funny too… when I was trying on the boots, one guy was trying to make conversation and just be a friendly sales guy I guess… once people realize I’m from America, they always wonder where from. Then, the next question is most often “why are you in Stockholm?” Instead, this guy was slightly more specific… he wanted to know if I was here for “love or business.” Hehe. I thought that was pretty funny. Love? I asked. Definitely not. Guess it must be business… I’m playing basketball. Does that count?! Anyway, it was a fun little conversation. Come to find out, he has an 11-year-old daughter who likes basketball, so maybe they will come to one of our games. That would be fun! I just love meeting new people. Everyone is so different and interesting. Good times good times.

Tonight I watched the last two weeks’ epidsodes of Grey’s to prepare for the new one that comes out tonight. Now, I just have to wait until it comes up on the Apple Music store so that I can purchase it. It’s only $1.99 per episode… which is totally worth it to me. I’m addicted; we all know that… oh, well… it’s the only TV show I really watch. Don’t tell me what happens!

God natt.

Oh, last thought: I went to the library again today. I wanted to borrow some books and CDs that would help me learn Swedish. The beginner level of the “learn Swedish” set they had was taken out. Instead, I went to the children’s section of the library and asked where I would find books that Swedish kids who were just learning to read would start with. Now, I have a few “learn-to-read” Swedish books. My vocab is currently super tiny, but hopefully with these books, my dictionary, and some study time everyday… I just might be able to learn a few more words!

Good night for real now. Or good morning. Or, just: have a great day!!