The Undergrads.

This first week and a half of the semester has been a whirlwind of crazy and getting used to new schedules. There are so many children everywhere. And by children, I mean undergraduates. The bane of my existence as a grad student. They take over all of my local watering holes (aka bars... even though half of them are technically not even 21 but ID's don't lie), restaurants, parking, busses... they're all flooding with undergrads.  Even my peaceful 6AM running time has been kidnapped. I used to see not a single soul out and yesterday I saw 4. What is that? Aren't you sleeping undergrads? Do you not have class till noon? I think you're doing college wrong.

The little town of Ann Arbor literally doubles when school is back in session and since I am officially old, I naturally hate all things that I wish I was: young, care free, and with soooo much free time.

A good chunk of the country (75% actually) went back to school weeks ago but Michigan is behind in the times and doesn't go to school until after labor day. It is apparently a law that started because child labor was invaluable. I mean, why hire farm hands to harvest your land when you can get your 10 children to do it. After all, that is why you had 10 children, right?

What I can tell you is that times are changing... though at a much slower progression than I would have originally thought and starting this late is stupid. The later you start, the later you get out. I miss being done the first week of December and not thinking about anything educational for a month (NMSU was so generous in their breaks). Instead, school roughly gets out the week right before Christmas and goes back the week after New Years... slashing my break time drastically in half. Not to mention our complete lack of Thanksgiving break which is essentially just Thanksgiving day instead of the whole week.

Not that this actually matters much for me anymore because science/grad school hates breaks, and holidays, and anything that actually makes one happy. This is a scientifically proven fact.

This also doesn't matter much because I'm not actually taking any classes. Unless you can count a weekly seminar in which I listen to people talk about their research.

Anyway, even though I'm not actually taking a class, I am teaching one. I know what you're thinking: is this girl qualified to teach a group of 360 undergraduate students? No probably not. Except, I actually think I might be good at it. I didn't think it was possible.

I'm historically bad at a lot of things and my aversion to public speaking made me question why I was doing this. And then I remembered I am required to teach. So I sucked it up and went to the absolute sorriest excuse of a GSI orientation in which I wasted 2 work days and learned the exact opposite of anything useful.

And then the real class time started. And I have to say, I really like it. I'm teaching Genetics which is one of my favorite subjects to begin with.  I have 3 discussions and about 75 students total. Because this is more of group talking and discussion based class than a lecturing style, I really got in to the swing of it. All I had to do was remember

1) I actually am smarter than them.

2)  2 years ago wasn't that long... I can relate, right? 

So besides the one kid who answered his phone in the middle of the professor lecturing... while he was sitting directly behind me... and then had a full blown conversation and then I nearly decapitated him in the middle of class. Yeah, besides that it's been going well. Granted, I've only taught one class so it could all fall apart by Friday judging by how things in my life go.

Side note, I got my very own pre-med undergraduate to mentor in lab which I thought was kind of cool, that my PI trusted me enough. And then after the fact I found out everyone else in lab said they didn't want one or will be "graduating" (supposedly) in the next few months. Therefore I was the last and only option. You know me, always trying to impress.

The Grad School Struggle

Well, I'm back. But this time I think it's for real. No really, I've had some time to mull it over.  So, after nearly 10 months off from the blogging game I'll start this as a kind of re-introduction post to me. For those of you who don't know, I'm a 23 year old, native New Mexican, struggling pre-PhD candidate at the University of Michigan.

It's currently just after midnight (nearly two hours after my normal bedtime) and I've been inspired by my lovely friend Stacy to start up this blog again. I've been told many times by various friends how much they missed my shenanigans and awkward life moments as I document them on this blog.

I can come up with every reason in the book as to why I stopped writing... my life got less interesting as I got to grad school, I'm too busy, I'm not the same person as I was before. To some extent this is all true. But the real reason, is when I got to grad school, I kind of lost myself. Or maybe I had never even had myself to begin with. I'm not quite sure yet. What I am sure of is I still haven't found myself. And I'm also quite certain I was afraid to let you in on the very large fact that I don't have anything 'together.'

I guess I could say I was once a big fish in a small pond. I was good at what I did, which was school. My whole life school is what I did. I did other things on the side mind you, my sorority, Panhellenic, marching band (because I was that cool kid!), horseback riding, volunteering etc. but what I did best was school and yeah, I was pretty good at it.

And then the pond changed in to a lake and then an ocean and before I knew it I was chugging water just trying to stay alive. And I was failing miserably. Not only was I failing, but I hated every second of it. Not because I was failing but because of what it was. This is not the science I wanted to do and this was most certainly not the life I envisioned for myself. And I found myself in Nashville at my Aunt's kitchen island, wine in hand crying and trying to figure out how to tell my parents I was indeed dropping out of grad school right after the Christmas break.

Fast forward 8ish months and here I am still in graduate school. Actually, yesterday I just started my second year and I have to say I am quite content with where I am. I love my lab. I love my friends. I love my new roommates. And at least 75% of the time I love my life.

So how exactly did I jump from a complete breakdown and almost quitting to being satisfied with where I am today? Well, I learned and accepted a few facts about myself.

1. Academia is not for me. Once I decided I wanted to go in to research, I knew I was going to be a professor. But as I  actually started to see the reality of professorship: too competitive, struggling for money, tons of grant writing, lots of hours for quite frankly not a justified amount of pay... I realized this life was not going to be for me and I had to accept that.
2. I do not live to work. I work to live. I do quite enjoy my work otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. But guess what, I love me more. Not saying I don't work hard, because I do, but I won't work 80 hr weeks every single week like I used to. I can't do it. My body and my mind cannot handle it. And I enjoy my outside life way too much to be cooped up inside all day every day. Finding a balance between work and play was key.
3. I need a stress reliever. I need something I can do several times a week to completely take my mind off of work and life and get out some of my pent up aggression/anger. For me, this is running and kickboxing. And hey, I get a great workout to boot. Which really means I can eat more food and drink more beer. 
4. Science hates me. This was probably the most important thing I learned. Science does, in fact, hate me. With a passion. 80% of my stuff doesn't work out the first time, or the second time, and sometimes not even the third time. The more I expect this, the less stressed I get when it happens. And I can happily trouble shoot and continue on my slow... very very slow... uphill battle towards ever getting a PhD. 
5. I'm not going to cure cancer and I'll probably never be published in a journal like Science and I'm ok with that. First off, I don't even work on cancer so I'm probably definitely not going to cure that or any other disease or do anything to get me a Noble Prize. I do basic science research on yeast genetics and I find it pretty interesting. Which doesn't mean you (or frankly most people) do  but that's ok. I'm going to be successful in my own way, but I don't need to be famous to do it.

I'm sure I learned plenty of other things too. Like, I learned how to ride a bike (story coming soon). I learned how to parallel park. And I learned Japan was an island... mind completely blown. I obviously lack all geography skills. 

And I know I still have a long way to go. Like how to not freak out each time I have to give a public presentation. Or how not to procrastinate everything. All good things to probably put on my check list of life lessons. 

But all in all, I'm still pretty much me. I'm still awkward. I still have horrible grammar. My friends still love to make fun of me. I still love wine (though I've drastically cut back on my drinking to the much happiness of my parental units). 

Don't worry, I promise to keep in touch. 

Jacked Up Sangria

I think it has come to be known that I like alcohol... but only the tasty kinds. And you know what, I'm not ashamed to say it. Mixed drinks are delicious and fun and as long as you don't drink them in too much excess you're fine. I mean, just go to the gym a little more and it shouldn't have that much affect on you. Don't try and get all drunk and eat an entire bag of chips and your life won't change that much. If you have a huge presentation tomorrow, probably safe to say you should stay in. And if you're drinking... this doesn't mean you have to get shwasted. You probably will by accident but I'm sure you're smart enough to think through your own life choices. I am and it's working out pretty well for me.

Follow these simple rules and your life will be sooo much better. Because alcohol is a happy magical elixir of life. You know... besides that it is in fact a depressant. If we choose to ignore this, it's all good. Besides your liver of course. I'm sure your liver hates you.

But guess what, I'm 22 and in grad school and life is hard. I won't be this young forever and eventually I will in fact have to grow up. Not now. Not today. I know, I have white girl problems in excess.

That being said, it is probably never a good idea to have me make you a drink. Why? I don't believe in shot glasses. I don't believe in measuring your alcohol. I believe in pouring until it tastes good and if it doesn't taste good you add a little more. I believe in having good beers (or cheap beer really, I'm not that picky) with great friends. I wholeheartedly believe in 2 Buck Chuck. I believe in spiked cider on a cold day. I believe in boxed wine and Champagne. I believe in pretty drinks, girly drinks, fruity drinks, and manly drinks. I believe in alcohol.

In honor of my love of alcohol and my new found love for Michigan football, I decided to make a Fall Sangria for our Michigan vs Michigan State tailgate last weekend. And the number one comment I received was "I hate you and your sangria." This was of course after the entire batch was completely devoured.

Why? Because apparently my Sangria was a little too potent for some people... the kind of potent that you didn't actually realize until you're a full glass (or 4) in.

This is what Fall Sangria is supposed to be:

Fall sangria (courteous of nerve.com and my mama) 
2 oranges
1 lemon
2 apples
1-2 cup bourbon
½ cup triple sec
3-4 tsp hot sauce (they use Crystal)
¼ cup simple syrup
2-3 cinnamon sticks

Combine in a quart container and let marinate for at least a day.
Combine mixture with 2 bottles of sauvignon blanc and 3 cups apple cider and adjust to taste.
Garnish with chopped apple.

Makes enough for a small party (medium-sized punch bowl)..

This is what my Fall Sangria turned out to be:

Kaitlyn's Jacked Up Fall Sangria

4 Oranges

2 Lemons

2 Apples

1 Handle of Bourbon

1/2 a bottle of Triple Sec

Pour in hot sauce till you feel it looks like enough

1ish cup of simple syrup from Splenda (I mean, there are already enough calories in this thing, lets not add more) 

6 cinnamon sticks

Combine in a 2.5 L jug and let marinate for at least a day

Combine mixture with 2 bottles (The 1.5 L size) of Pinot Grigio and about half a gallon of apple cider.

Realize it is too sour. Pour some more sugar in.

Realize it is WAY too sweet. Pour a whole bottle of Merlot in and realize it is just right.

Obviously you have now moved to 2 - 2.5 L jugs

Makes enough for a small party!

You can clearly see the winner of these two recipes.

I'm sure you're sensing a theme from my recent blog posts but really, my life is a whole lot of work and school and nobody wants to hear about that. Do you really want to hear about last week how I was holed up for days in my room up until 2 AM studying for my biochem test. No, because that is boring, horrible news that nobody likes. Especially me. But in case you were wondering, I rocked that biochem test last week. Boo-ya!

If you were also curious about the development of Tequila Thursday... it won. It won big time. Just say no folks!! Tequila Thursday is no longer. RIP.

Now kids, please drink responsibly. We don't need anymore crazies out there than there already are.
 

Tequila Thursday

Grad school is hard. Graduate school is so hard in fact that we as first year graduate students needed to come up with ways to cope.

These coping mechanisms consist of weekly traditions in which we can all hang out, vent, relax, and in general enjoy life outside of the laboratory and class room.

Our first tradition involves heading to Ashley's on Tuesday night. Ashley's is amazing they have a ton of regular beers, a revolving tap, and even a whiskey club if you wish to partake in it. Not to mention their bacon, cheddar, chive waffle fries are to die for.

Next tradition is bagel Wednesday. Bagel Wednesday is probably my favorite thing of all because it involves free bagels. FREE! Supplied to the students of Michigan by the lovely alumni club every Wednesday morning. Bagel Wednesday also involves free coffee and hot chocolate. It's pretty much spectacular.

Our next brilliant idea as graduate students involves Tequila Thursday. It's simple really. You buy a bottle of tequila and you are not allowed to leave until the bottle is gone. This is not a bad thing. I mean a fifth is only 750 mL. That is 25.36 oz which is equivalent to roughly 17 shots (1.5 oz. each). So lets say there are 6 of us partaking in Tequila Thursday. That is only 2.8 shots each. Not bad, not bad at all. You can still get homework done after that. Not that I condone homework while drinking, but to each their own.

So you see, in theory Tequila Thursday is a really really good idea and not at all a crazy idea.

Let me give you alcohol tip #45... if you have Tequila Thursday, stick to the plan. If the plan is to drink a bottle of tequila, then you drink that bottle of tequila like a champ! Nowhere in the plan does it specify that you are allowed to go buy a second bottle of tequila. NO. I wrote the plan and I am positive that was never involved.

Also, is there wine in Tequila? Is there wine in Tequila Thursday!? You're smart so I'm going to go with you probably know that there most definitely is NOT. Then why are you breaking out 4 bottles of wine on Tequila Thursday? That is not in the plan. What that is, is the worst decision ever.

The plan is the most important thing about this social outing and I'm pretty sure you just punched the plan in the face. But what do you care right? It's 7 pm on a Thursday night and you're badass. So you're going to think to yourself: Psh... I own you Tequila Thursday. I OWN you.

And because Tequila Thursday is smart, conniving, and more badass then you will ever be, Tequila Thursday keeps quiet... for now. Silently waiting. Letting you have your good time. Letting you roll on home at 9:30 pm thinking life is just a bowl of freaking fruit loops.

So Tequila Thursday lets you sleep. He sits patiently until your alarm goes off. And the second he hears that buzzing, Tequila Thursday slaps you across the face SO hard that your head won't stop throbbing for at least 24 hours. Food will immediately become appalling to you and all you will think about all day is your amazing bed and how you're not in it.

You see... it isn't just Tequila Thursday. The effects last well into Friday evening.

But what Tequila Thursday doesn't know... and at this point my mother who must be sitting there wondering how she raised such a delinquent daughter who flat out lost her mind when she moved to Michigan is that contrary to popular belief I am a responsible human being. If something needs to be done, I'm all over that! 

So much in fact I got myself up, took a shower, got to work on time to participate in journal club, went to seminar and a luncheon completely composed. So much in fact that it is 6:30pm on a Friday night and I am still at work making some pretty classy proteins. In fact, I am the last person at work because I'm that dedicated... So take that Tequila Thursday.

So I'm going to call this an even draw.

Until next week Tequila Thursday...

The Witches Brew

Sorry for the hiatus folks. I actually decided to discontinue this blog. I just never let anybody know. Whoops. My life got crazy. I moved to the frozen tundra known as Michigan and my ability to focus long enough to write a blog fully diminished. But I have been asked by friends what happened to my crazy views about life. And then my mother finally brought it up and said she misses them and I should start again. 

Honestly, how can I say no to my mother? I feel like I turned her world upside down by moving far far away from New Mexico and causing a severe case of empty nest syndrome. Really it’s the least I can do! So, I will be posting at the very least every week if you’re interested. And if I go on another hiatus I will surely inform you next time.

Today’s post is informing you about the dangers of alcohol. In particular, spiced wine. Also known as Witches Brew. The most amazingly delicious concoction of spices and wine that I have ever tasted in my life.

Coming straight from Leelanau Cellars, Northern Michigan winery, this wine is fantastic in more ways than one. For starters it’s on sale all throughout the state of Michigan and just about any store for 2 for $10. That’s 1500 ml of scrumptious red wine for a measly $10. This is probably why I have invested in and consumed 8 bottles already. Second, this is a wine that needs to be heated and fills you with warmth and bubbly goodness on a cold fall night. And let’s face it, I need all the warmth I can get out here in Michigan. Thirdly, if you hate red wines… which quite frankly I think is a crime against humanity… but alas there are those of you out there that the tannins of red wines just don’t do it for you. So, if you do indeed hate red wine I am about 79.2% positive that you will like this because of the amazing balance brought to you by the plethora of spices mixed in.

Wait… I think I was supposed to talk about the dangers of alcohol. Really, the main danger of this alcohol is that you don’t taste it. So… when a completely sane and not at all alcoholic person decides that the best thing to do on a Sunday at 2:30 in the afternoon is to start drinking this warm wine somebody should definitely tell them: No, that is the worst decision I have ever heard of.

Alas, my house that is normally filled with 7 other crazy characters was empty and I was alone to do as I saw fit. And what I thought was an excellent idea was to break out the wine and start cooking. All was going swimmingly until I finished the pumpkin muffins. That’s when the alcohol kicked in and my kitchen suddenly turned in to the background for “My Drunk Kitchen,” which if you haven’t watched you should definitely youtube it. 

You see, side effects of Witches Brew include:

• Not knowing how many cans of tuna you put in your tuna salad. Which will surely cause a nervous breakdown in which you literally have to go dig through the trash to count the cans you have already used.

• Not being able to properly open a spice jar plastic safety covering doodad… which really is a bit of a hassle to begin with so we’ll say this one isn’t entirely yours and the Witches Brew’s fault. I am personally ready to give full blame to the spice company that did not fully perforate the edges of the plastic for easy removal. However, in order to get around this you will inevitably pull at the cap as hard as humanly possible until it gives way sending red curry powder all over yourself and the kitchen floor. Then you will obviously have to clean up said mess which results in a soaking wet shirt with curry sauce that never actually comes off and a slippery floor which you will probably fall on.

• Thinking a different spice jar has a shake top when indeed it has a pour top. This will result in about 3 tablespoons of your spice ending up in your soup rather than the 1 teaspoon it originally called for. In order to rectify this situation, you will just add more pumpkin hoping it will hide the spice intensity… which you will learn when you’re sober that it definitely does not.

• Deciding that you should put your very hot soup in the blender (like the recipe says to do) but accidently forgetting the lid, resulting in firey hot curried pumpkin-apple soup to splash on to your hand. In your alcoholic haze you will momentarily forget how to use water as a cleaning and cooling aid for your almost 3^rd degree burn.

• Consuming Witches Brew will most definitely lead to all of your roommates coming home… finding  you drunk cooking with a house that has intoxicatingly harsh spiced alcohol fumes wafting through it. It’s ok though because they will proceed to eat all of your pumpkin muffins and join you in consuming an additional three bottles of spiced wine until everybody has realized that all the work they were supposed to do that Sunday night most definitely did not get done.

• Last but most certainly not least, it is highly likely that your wine consumption will end with a skype call to your friends back in New Mexico who are thoroughly entertained by you and your entire life shambles. Additionally, they will declare you haven’t changed a bit.

Who am I kidding? Witches Brew is probably the most fantastic invention I have ever heard of and I highly encourage you to obtain some with whatever means necessary. And by obtain some… I really mean you should consider buying 10-20 bottles because it’s only sold seasonally. Which at this point is my biggest concern.