It’s been 2.5 days of the SPIRE-EIT REU program, and so much has already been done! First coming here I was nervous meeting everyone, but everyone is so nice! On the first day we all went to Dr. Gilbert’s house for dinner, which was unexpected but a very welcoming experience overall, where we were introduced to Dr. Winer. The next day was much more packed, we had to wake up by 8 am to go walk to the VRAC center, which is super beautiful. We got introduced to our pods where we will spend the rest of the summer working at, and got acquainted with more of the staff, including Paul and Galvin. Touring campus was very fun (despite feeling more and more lost the further we went). We also had a scavenger hunt which was super fun with everyone else, even though we got split up and lost. To wrap up the night, me and a few other interns went over to Walmart to grab a volleyball and then played at the nearest sand volleyball court. Overall these first few days have been an extremely comfortable and welcoming experience and I can’t wait to see what’s next!