Now Potsdam, NY may not be exciting, but let me tell you, the Syracuse airport is really not exciting. We’ve been “in transit” now for over nine hours, but after a three hour bus ride to the airport, we haven’t made much more progress.
In the organic chemistry lab when I spend the entire period running a reaction, only to find in the last ten minutes of lab that I did not get the necessary product, I can often only say that the lab gods weren’t with me that day. Well, today I don’t much care about the lab gods (I will soon…), but I’m much more concerned with the travel gods that have let me down yet again. With three flights, it might be expected that something would go wrong, and it did. With our first flight delayed indefinitely, they’ll be no way we can catch our other flights. So, they’re instead sending us to JFK, where we’ll fly out again in the morning. We can only hope that the travel gods will be with us then!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Potsdam, NY is not a very exciting place. There, I said it. This is especially true when you spend the entire day doing lab safety training, personality testing, and other somewhat lame orientation activities. Take home message: don’t be afraid to get naked when you spill chemicals all over yourself and have to use the emergency shower. Needless to say, after our second long day at Clarkson, a few of us were ready for a bit of excitement in our lives. We decided to explore a bit more of the Clarkson campus and go on a run through their extensive trail system. We were warned there would be mud, but we didn’t really think this through. We were much more interested in finding the large swamp in the woods. Well we did find the swamp. And the bonus sunset and lack of bugs was really the icing on the cake. But we also picked up lots of mud along the way. We returned home to pull off our disgustingly wet and muddy sneakers, considering how on earth we would be able to pack them in our suitcases in the morning. Luckily there was an extra trashbag in the bathroom… What were we thinking? I’m not so sure, but we all agreed that the wet sneakers in the suitcase were totally worth the adventure. Hopefully many more adventures to come in China!
Betty
Monday, May 23, 2011
Question 1: What do Massena, NY and Tortola, BVI have in common?
They are both serviced by Cape Air Airlines. Who knew?! I discovered this leafing through the in flight magazine when I came across an advertisement for Blue Water Divers. The small dive shop outfitted the entire Trescott clan (grandparents and all) with flippers and snorkels during our family reunion trip to Tortola about five years ago. I couldn’t help but think of Grandfather Trescott decked out in his snorkel gear. It was quite the sight!
Question 2: Why do you care about some obscure connection between Massena and Tortola?
Well don’t worry about Tortola, but I flew to Massena yesterday for a short stopover before departing for Beijing, where I will spend the next two months doing research in a materials science lab at Tsinghua University. The program is offered through Clarkson University, in Potsdam, NY, about a forty minute drive from Massena. Jimmy Trescott, my brother, participated in the same program two years ago and you can read all about his escapades in his blog Jimmy does Dalian (http://jimmydoesdalian.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html). This might also help you in understanding the names I have chosen for myself and my family. I've heard that censorship in China is widespread, and I’m all for avoiding kidnapping and imprisonment, plus an alias is always fun.
Question 3: Why would I want to write a blog?
Well after the part about going to jail, I’m not so sure, but whenever there is an opportunity to one-up an older sibling, it must be taken! I have no guarantees at this point, but we’ll see how it goes.
My hope is to regularly update you all on my adventures in China throughout the summer, but I make no promises. Rumor has it that my Chinese mentor works 90 hours per week, so who knows, I may not ever leave the lab! We have one more day of orientation here at Clarkson before a marathon day of travel to Beijing. Looking forward to shipping off!
Betty
They are both serviced by Cape Air Airlines. Who knew?! I discovered this leafing through the in flight magazine when I came across an advertisement for Blue Water Divers. The small dive shop outfitted the entire Trescott clan (grandparents and all) with flippers and snorkels during our family reunion trip to Tortola about five years ago. I couldn’t help but think of Grandfather Trescott decked out in his snorkel gear. It was quite the sight!
Question 2: Why do you care about some obscure connection between Massena and Tortola?
Well don’t worry about Tortola, but I flew to Massena yesterday for a short stopover before departing for Beijing, where I will spend the next two months doing research in a materials science lab at Tsinghua University. The program is offered through Clarkson University, in Potsdam, NY, about a forty minute drive from Massena. Jimmy Trescott, my brother, participated in the same program two years ago and you can read all about his escapades in his blog Jimmy does Dalian (http://jimmydoesdalian.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html). This might also help you in understanding the names I have chosen for myself and my family. I've heard that censorship in China is widespread, and I’m all for avoiding kidnapping and imprisonment, plus an alias is always fun.
Question 3: Why would I want to write a blog?
Well after the part about going to jail, I’m not so sure, but whenever there is an opportunity to one-up an older sibling, it must be taken! I have no guarantees at this point, but we’ll see how it goes.
My hope is to regularly update you all on my adventures in China throughout the summer, but I make no promises. Rumor has it that my Chinese mentor works 90 hours per week, so who knows, I may not ever leave the lab! We have one more day of orientation here at Clarkson before a marathon day of travel to Beijing. Looking forward to shipping off!
Betty
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