Vienna Introduction
Yesterday I had the pleasure to meet Daniel's (the guy with whom I'm sharing the apartment) aunt, uncle, and adorable four-month-old baby girl. They gave us an in-depth walking tour of downtown Vienna, pointing out historical sites and museums I might want to check out during my stay here. I have every intention of doing just that as soon as I get over my jet-lag. I can't ever remember having so much trouble with adjusting to a time difference. I still can't sleep at night, and I inevitably get suddenly exhausted around 4:00 pm every afternoon (persumably because my body thinks I've just stayed up all night and therefore desperately need sleep).
Yesterday afternoon Sylvia, the woman who lives in the apartment next door and a long-time friend of Daniel's mom, took us out to meet a couple of friends of hers: an 87-year-old Irish man who worked for the last four UN secretary generals and his son Kevin. We went to an old 'wineyard' for some afternoon appetizers and homemade wine. The wine was unfortunately not all that impressive; however, the company was delightful. I think Daniel was a little put off by the father's eccentricity, but I loved every minute of our conversation, and he promised to try to get us an invitation to eat lunch at the UN (no guarantees because he's a pensioner and "pensioners get no special priveleges" though). Kevin was also very engaging and constantly argued with his father which was quite amusing. Afterward we went downtown for an evening stroll and some ice cream.
Today I had my first day of work. I'll be working with a young woman named Andrea, and she seems very nice. For the first day she gave me three papers that are pertinent to her project and an immunology textbook and encouraged me to read the papers and start the textbook (the whole of which would be useful for me to have read, she says). Tomorrow she is going to present her specific project to me, so hopefully I will then have a good idea of what we're working on. Here's a brief summary of the information I've gathered so far. She's injecting mice with cancerous cells and also with something which she thinks might inhibit the cancer. In about two weeks some of the mice will get sick and then we will analyze their bone marrow for... something. In the meantime, she assures me that we will be performing lots of PCR. Also, retroviruses are somehow involved (something which I'm very excited about because they're so cool and cutting-edge). Anyway, like I said, I'm pretty unclear on the details, but it sounds like really neat stuff, and I'm looking forward to learning more. I'll clarify as I gain greater understanding, hopefully starting tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm exhausted so I'm going to end the entry here. Tomorrow we may go to an American restaurant to celebrate the 4th and watch the football match. Also, this weekend I may be invited to a lake somewhere with Daniel and his aunt and uncle. I'm also hoping that as I get to know the people in the lab, they might invite me out with them some night. I don't much care for the idea of going out alone when I don't know the area, but I'd really like to experience the Austrian night scene.
Yesterday afternoon Sylvia, the woman who lives in the apartment next door and a long-time friend of Daniel's mom, took us out to meet a couple of friends of hers: an 87-year-old Irish man who worked for the last four UN secretary generals and his son Kevin. We went to an old 'wineyard' for some afternoon appetizers and homemade wine. The wine was unfortunately not all that impressive; however, the company was delightful. I think Daniel was a little put off by the father's eccentricity, but I loved every minute of our conversation, and he promised to try to get us an invitation to eat lunch at the UN (no guarantees because he's a pensioner and "pensioners get no special priveleges" though). Kevin was also very engaging and constantly argued with his father which was quite amusing. Afterward we went downtown for an evening stroll and some ice cream.
Today I had my first day of work. I'll be working with a young woman named Andrea, and she seems very nice. For the first day she gave me three papers that are pertinent to her project and an immunology textbook and encouraged me to read the papers and start the textbook (the whole of which would be useful for me to have read, she says). Tomorrow she is going to present her specific project to me, so hopefully I will then have a good idea of what we're working on. Here's a brief summary of the information I've gathered so far. She's injecting mice with cancerous cells and also with something which she thinks might inhibit the cancer. In about two weeks some of the mice will get sick and then we will analyze their bone marrow for... something. In the meantime, she assures me that we will be performing lots of PCR. Also, retroviruses are somehow involved (something which I'm very excited about because they're so cool and cutting-edge). Anyway, like I said, I'm pretty unclear on the details, but it sounds like really neat stuff, and I'm looking forward to learning more. I'll clarify as I gain greater understanding, hopefully starting tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm exhausted so I'm going to end the entry here. Tomorrow we may go to an American restaurant to celebrate the 4th and watch the football match. Also, this weekend I may be invited to a lake somewhere with Daniel and his aunt and uncle. I'm also hoping that as I get to know the people in the lab, they might invite me out with them some night. I don't much care for the idea of going out alone when I don't know the area, but I'd really like to experience the Austrian night scene.