Dear Diary,

I feel: 🙂(good), 😳(nervous)

We’re beginning week seven today! We just finished a four day weekend, and it was much needed. I had a great time, and I got to relax.
On Thursday (4th of July), my boyfriend surprised me by coming up to Iowa!!! 😁(so happy) We went to downtown Ames where there was a pancake breakfast and a parade! Then, we went and saw Spider-man: Far From Home, went out for dinner, and watched fireworks.
On Friday, we went to Reiman Gardens! Currently, the theme is toys and games (next year it will be animal legos!), so we got to play checkers inside a rubik’s cube, play giant chess, play connect four, and play an environmental awareness game. They even spray painted the grass, so you could play twister. The place was beautiful! Besides the themed exhibits, there’s a butterfly garden and the world’s largest (concrete) gnome. When we went, there were almost 700 butterflies. I highly recommend this place! In the evening, we went to Des Moines for dinner, and we saw more fireworks!
On Saturday, I went to VRAC to work. Afterward, Yi, Vignesh, Jennifer, Emmanuelle, and I went to a chinese restaurant for dinner. It was super yummy, and we talked for a really long time! It’s so cool to learn about the variations in english such as Spanish english, Chinese english, and Indian english. We also talked about interview tips and those were super helpful! After dinner, I watched a documentary about Theranos (a company meant to revolutionize blood work) called The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. It pertains to a massive product failure and unethical processes occurring behind closed doors. I watched it for the Ethics class we had today.
On Sunday, I went to church, and the family that drives me to church invited me to lunch! We went to a mexican restaurant, and it was delicious! The family has a little boy and baby girl, and they’re absolutely adorable. Playing Peek-a-Boo with them is a lot of fun. When I returned home, I read, and I FaceTimed my family. It was great talking with them. I miss them a lot.
While this might seem like a busy weekend, it was super fun and relaxing. I got lots of hugs from my boyfriend, and I had great company every day.

And now it’s Monday.
This morning started out with me writing part of our research paper. We went to Jamiahus Walton’s PhD thesis defense today. That was nerve-wracking, and I was only a bystander. Watching someone present in front of a professional board determining if he deserves his degree is tough. I can only imagine how he felt. We didn’t get to see the complete defense, because we had an Ethics class, but I hope he passed! For Ethics, we formally defined the definition of ethics with four principles.
This afternoon, I worked on the research paper and poster draft for tomorrow’s craft of research class.

Tidbit(s) of information:

• At lunch today, I waited in line for 10 minutes for chicken (it was worth it, very yummy). A girl in line struck up a conversation with me and gave me a hug afterward!
• The 403 Forbidden error is fixed! I can now access the VRAC REU website from home now. 😊(happy)

Sincerely,
Lara