It's all Greek to me

I signed up to do research this summer. All my friends told me that was the stupidest decision I've ever made. They said it was the last summer of freedom I'll ever have. That I should go travel Europe. Or lay by the pool all summer. Two problems: I don't have the funds to go to Europe. And I don't have the skin type to sit by the pool. I'd turn into one big freckle. Research seemed like the logical thing to do. I'd get paid. I'd learn a ton. I'd get my foot in the door at the hospital and the medical school. I'd be ahead of the game compared to the rest of my classmates. I'd enhance my CV. The list goes on and on. Still, part of me was wanting to have a relaxing summer before the chaos starts in August. But it is time to grow up. Time to be responsible for the first time in my life.

I've never done research before. I've never worked in a lab. I've never taken a medical school class. So I was already intimidated before I stepped foot in the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky this past week. But I figured my boss would understand this and would give me a project that I could handle. Let me take a second to introduce you to my boss - Dr. Natasha Kyprianou. She is as Greek as they come. She is a go-getter. Intense. Intelligent. Enthusiastic. I am glad I have been to Greece so that I can truly appreciate her. The first time I sat down with her in her office, we discussed American politics for 30 minutes before we ever got to what I'd be doing in the lab this summer. My gut told me not to get into a debate with my boss about the upcoming election and the current president, so I attempted to just nod and agree with what she was saying, but when she directly asked me, "Do you like Bush?" "What do you think about the war?", it's hard to skirt around the issues. So I told her my two cents, and we had a very intellectual, amiable discussion about the political scene in America over the past ten years. I enjoyed our conversation very much. She was a staunch Democrat, and I am obviously not, but we were civil and both had the opportunity to put our beliefs on the table. She grew up in a very political family in Greece, where her father was in the Parliament and eventually became mayor of Athens! This lady is really into her politics. She told me afterwards that she enjoyed our discussion because most people in my generation don't give a care about politics. She was impressed with how articulate I was. 1 point for Jones!

We finally moved on to what I will be doing this summer. And I wish I could tell you what it is that I am going to be doing, but it is top secret. Actually, I can't tell you because I have no idea what I am going to be doing. She spent 30 minutes telling me, but it was so over my head that all I picked up was that I will be curing prostate cancer. Superb! Then she handed me six journal articles that I need to read before next week so that I will have a good background before I start the actual experiments (where I get to castrate mice...woohoo). I can honestly say that I only know 1 in 5 words in these journal articles. I think it's time to invest in a medical dictionary. I am in WAY over my head.

But she told me that I will get my name published with the article, so that's great news! Then she asked if I was a good writer. I thought she was asking because she might want me to look over the article before it gets sent to the journals, so I said that writing probably comes easier to me than most because of my history major, and she said "Great, you will also be writing a chapter in my book this summer. Of course I will critique it, but you will be in charge of writing it." WHAT?! I am supposed to cure cancer and write a chapter in 8 weeks!? I didn't realize I was superwoman.