Ready for some all-nighters? Grad students’ blogs record anxiety, excitement
Regina Cheung
Sarah Aerni
Nicolas Tilmans
BY JONATHAN RABINOVITZ
The School of Medicine has selected six incoming MD and PhD students to blog about their initial experiences in class and outside as part of a project sponsored by the Public Web Services Group in the Office of Resources and Technology. The previous issue of Medical Center Report offered takes from the future physicians; this issue offers adapted excerpts from the PhD students' blogs, which cover driving across country, choosing their lab rotations and discovering the joys of the IKEA cafeteria. For the complete text, visit: http://med.stanford.edu/blogs/students/fall06.html.
Regina Cheung, 26, PhD student in immunology who describes herself as "a born and bred Jersey girl." Married for three years. Received undergraduate degree in engineering & applied sciences from Caltech and master's in mechanical engineering from MIT
Sept. 12: Remembering how to be a student
I've been out of school for about three years now. The last class I took was over three-and-a-half years ago, while doing my master's at MIT. I am anxious. I haven't pulled an all-nighter since I finished my master's thesis. I need my eight hours of sleep. I'm not a young whippersnapper of 21 anymore.
Sept. 14: Registration
The whole thing was online. You'd think I'd have registered online before, but I haven't. In college, I had to fill out a form and leave it for my advisor to sign before handing it in at the registrars. While doing my master's, I did fill out something online, I think, but then I had to take a printout to the gym and get it stamped or something like that along with thousands of other students. You'd think that since my previous schools were Caltech and MIT, they'd have digitized the whole process by now. Go figure.
Sept. 15: My last free weekend
My husband Robin and I headed to Christina and Xianne's (my fellow immunology first years), apartment on campus. After some requisite nerding out—comparisons of cloning experiences gone wrong—and fine beverages, we settled in for a game of Cranium and Taboo.
Sept. 18: no butterflies on campus
I've stopped by campus a few times in the past couple weeks, but today I spent a full afternoon there. Now I really feel like a student, and a lot of the butterflies in my stomach have calmed down. After getting a keycard for CCSR and picking up forms to register my bike, I rode home. I'm really out of shape; all the walking and biking in the Boston area kept me fit, but I haven't done that in a month now. The half-hour ride to/from campus isn't bad at all, but my legs are really tired tonight. I need to get both my mind and my body ready for the coming semester!
Sarah Aerni, 22, PhD student in biomedical informatics. Born in Switzerland; moved to Los Angeles in 1994. BS in biology with a specialization in bioinformatics and a minor in French literature from UC-San Diego.
Sept. 18: introductions
Today was my first day at Stanford. I had a meeting with my academic advisor, Teri Klein [senior scientist in the Department of Genetics]. I really lucked out. I'm not sure if the committee realized she was a major reason why I picked this school, and that's why they chose her as my advisor. She makes me feel so comfortable. I can be totally candid with her about what's stressing me out. I asked her about questions to ask during meetings about potential rotations, how to choose advisors, and she just flat out answers and encourages me. . . . I then had a meeting with Arend Sidow [associate professor of genetics and of pathology] with whom I am doing a rotation. I was completely blown away by both how friendly he was, and also how he is a scientist that has found the balance of biology and computation. I definitely chose the right lab for the fall. The work is exciting—I even have a key!!!
Sept. 19: Scavenger Hunt and IKEA salads
Today was my first event as a Stanford grad student with BMI. We had a scavenger hunt that was loads of fun. I met the incoming class; they're really great people, funny and outgoing. We had a lunch after the hunt, and just stuck around getting helpful hints from the more advanced-year graduate students. They're the best place to learn a lot of information. . . . We headed back to IKEA later on and spent a ridiculous amount of time and money there. Of course, we made up for it by having a snack there again—$1.50 for a salad and roll, we couldn't pass it up (ew! that is such a grad student comment!). After the snack we picked up our eleventy-gazillion boxes of furniture.
Sept. 23: winter golf?
I met with Serafim Batzoglou [assistant professor of computer science] and set up a rotation for spring quarter. He has some great projects, just like Arend. They are collaborators as I had noticed on papers from both of them. . . . Nikesh, the czar for BMI (the student I can go to for all my questions basically) told me about various courses and suggested I take whatever intramural sports I'd like to. He also said that Stanford has a great golf program and it's only 20 bucks for students to play, which for all you non-golfers, like myself, is apparently cheap?! He suggests I take advantage of it. Maybe in winter.
Nicolas Tilmans, 23, PhD student in biochemistry. Born and raised in the Washington, DC, area; both parents are Belgian and he visits there fairly often. Received a BS in biochemistry and computer science from the University of Maryland-College Park.
Sept. 13: About me
I procrastinate by reading the New York Times, and I listen to NPR constantly. I'm very interested in biochemistry, of course, but also art history. I enjoy tennis despite not being very good at it, and anytime there's snow on the ground, I'm itching to go skiing. Being your standard CS major I also occasionally overindulge in mindless computer games. This summer I worked with the Maryland chapter of a group called Engineers Without Borders building latrines in a tiny village in Ecuador. In keeping with the general traveling theme, I will be driving my beloved Subaru across the country to reach Stanford in four days or bust.
Sept. 14: Away to CA
Moving to California isn't necessarily difficult, but it does take some consideration of how to get there in the first place. Of course, because [it] requires a lot of organization and planning, I procrastinated for most of the summer before making the decision of how to transport my belongings. I ended up reserving a trailer with U-Haul a little less than a week before I needed it.…The planning stage complete, I faced the hardest part of the whole moving endeavor: Goodbyes. Leaving behind family, friends and significant other was very difficult. My family and I are very close and given the short distance between the University of Maryland and my house, I've grown accustomed to having dinner at home once a week.
Sept. 20: 'Home'
[My father and I] drove a total of 3,032.5 miles, and we got here around 3:30 in the afternoon. Escondido Village was relatively easy to find. The apartment is a decent size. The studio is very well appointed, plenty of shelf space and closets to store pretty much anything. Palo Alto is a lot more alive than I thought it would be, if a little expensive. The weather so far has been fantastic. It's easy to adjust to this place; I'll definitely be able to call it home.
