Last Friday on July 11th we headed to the University of Iowa for presentations at 7:30am. The car ride there was pretty great, all the girls from the REU + Johann joined a jam on Spotify and we were just vibing to some tunes. Everyone’s music taste varies but overall, it was really chill although I was a little tired.

Once we arrived to UI (2 hour drive), what drew my attention was how spread out their campus was. Their campus intertwined with the overall city which I thought was interesting. Also, the place we went to go present was not only a building but literally a mall which was super weird yet interesting. I thought all of our three teams presented really well which I was super proud of. It was also interesting to meet all the UI REUs and listen to their presentations. Overall, I think it was a good time, and I met a lot of cool people which was really nice.

The car ride back was also really cool as we kind of traded Johann for Stephen Gilbert. We chatted the whole ride back with Stephen, which was actually really nice to get to know him more personally. He has a lot of cool hobbies and excellent advice, not to mention, he’s a great listener! The only tragedy was that it was POURING rain but Natasha was able to (for the most part, hehe) drive efficiently. That day was really great, and I am glad that I got to experience that. Also, quick thanks to all the faculty and interns who were there 🙂

Best,

Big Jack