Goodbye Cambridge! For my final days in the U.K., I was swept up in finishing my experiments, qualtifying the results, and presenting my conclusions at this weeks lab meeting.
My departure from the University culminated in a final group BBQ, and goodbye dinner, and a goodbye party (my coworkers baked me two cakes!). I went on a short day trip to Ely with one of my frineds, and went on an overnight trip to worcester for a wedding.
Week 7 was all about jumping head first back into my experiments. I began rearing new stock of the caterpillar populations, mainting the greenhouses, sampling caterpillars with a variety of tests all day every day, and organizing my data. This week I also spent a great deal of time planning the final days of my project and time in the U.K.
Outside of the lab, I was trying to spend as much time with my friends as possible before my departure. There were many college lunches, BBQ’s, and game nights this week. I baked a coffee carmelized walnut cake for the Sunday roast my friend hosted.
Sarah and I at a castle
New Castle
Tynemouth beach crabbing
New lab mates, new trips, and new results! The insect biomechanics group welcomed five new students into the lab for the remainder of the summer this week. We had a lab meeting introducing everyone’s projects, and I baked a birthday cake for one of the new lab members.
I set up my ongoing experments to go on pause for the next few days, as I met with Sarah Garfield (GOAT), Dr. Donnelly, and Ms. Tyler in New Castle! We spoke to the UF new castle research exchange students, and go tto watch their progress presentations. I went to the beach in new castle, went crabbing, and explored the city (and its many castles!)
4th of July cake
River Cam, Kings college
New Pet!
London Pride
Week 5 had a lot going on inside and outside of the lab! I had to celebrate American Independence from the British by baking an American flag cake on July 4th for a British charity. I had three friends visit London from Gainesville, and we went to London pride (one of the biggest in the world!). I took a punting tour of the river Cam, with views of many of the colleges, swans, and other wildlife. We caught a new lab pet (common house spider), which was quickly dubbed “Gracie’s spider”.
In the lab, there was a full day Zoology departmental seminar, in which dozens of labs broke down their research, proposed future directions, and asked for feedback. People in the Cambridge zoology department work on projects ranging from characterizing the genome of butterfly species to exploring biomechanics of marine species. My survical experiements continued, I began establishing so-called “ovi-position preference” experiments to ID if the butterfly species has a preference for a certain plant type, and I began characterizing injury resistance across populations of caterpillar.