Monday, June 24, 2024
By:
Listen. I know that I wrote last week that I had finally established a good routine in DC, but week four took that routine and tossed it out the window. It was definitely one of the busier weeks I’ve had this summer, which is a bit ironic seeing as we had the day off of work on Wednesday for Juneteenth. That being said, it was definitely a good week!
I spent most of my time at work this week wrapping up the PhysicsQuest 2024 Lesson Extensions. I got to share my ideas with Nicole, and we spent some time tweaking them together. This is the first project I’ve worked on for my internship where I have produced so much original work and creative ideas, instead of just identifying information that we can use for lessons, and it was really nice to get to share my work! I really appreciated Nicole’s thoughts on my ideas, and how appreciative she was for the thought I had put into the extensions. My biggest takeaway from working on the lessons is that developing educational materials is really challenging! Trying to come up with creative ways to help younger kids engage with challenging concepts like plasma and nuclear fusion definitely stretched my creative abilities, and renewed my appreciation for science educators. I’m definitely interested in working on more lesson development, as it is a skill I’d really like to develop.
This week I also sent out my first email to the physicists I identified over the past couple weeks as possible additions to the Careers in Physics STEP UP lesson. I am so excited to get the ball rolling on the next step of this project, and I can’t wait to interview anyone who responds with interest!
Outside of work, part of what made this week so busy is that I went home for a couple days to see a doctor, celebrate my mom’s birthday, and go to a concert. I spent a lot of time on the train, both Amtrak and LIRR, going back and forth between DC, New York City, and Long Island, and so I got pretty comfortable working while in transit. I actually love taking the train, so I didn’t mind! It is so nice how easy it is to go between DC and NYC, because it was really great to go home for a few days. I was happy to be able to see my parents and brothers, and to be able to celebrate my mom’s birthday at home. We also saw Lizzy McAlpine play at Radio City Music Hall, which was absolutely incredible. I love her music, and she was absolutely amazing live. This was one of those weeks where I really appreciated the flexibility of my remote job. It was so nice that I could go home and still finish everything that I needed to get done for work!
Once I got back to DC, there was still lots to do! I went with Brynn to her tattoo appointment on Thursday, and let me be the first to tell you that it looks SPECTACULAR! She has single handedly increased our household coolness by at least a factor of 10. Then, on Saturday, we had Astronomy on the Mall, which I can wholeheartedly say I was not (nor could I probably ever be) prepared for. It was held indoors due to the absolutely horrendous heat in DC, which was probably a good idea in terms of safety. However, Astronomy on the Mall has a live DJ (think physics demos meets rave?), and the echoes of “Jump! Jump! Jump!” off the high ceilings were still banging around my brain hours after the event ended. If you had told me a few weeks ago that this summer would include explaining (read: yelling) about waves and spacetime to little kids over the background of a live DJ, I would have told you that you were crazy. But I would have been wrong! It was definitely a unique experience, but we got through it! And maybe even taught some people something cool about physics in the process.
On Sunday, Brynn, Charlotte, and I braved the heat and humidity to walk 45 (yes, 45) minutes to the Georgetown Flea Market. Was it cool? Yes! Am I an absolute baby when it comes to heat and humidity? Also yes! I did drag Brynn to Safeway to get a cold bottle of water, and we both stuck our heads in the beer cooler. No regrets. When we got back to the flea market, we met my friend from school, Evan. The two of us got matching permanent bracelets (so cute!) and we all poked around a little bit. After a while, I was simply too hot to have flea market stamina, so Evan, Charlotte, and I braved the 45 minute trudge back to Shenkman where I promptly collapsed in my bed. Later that night, I watched the first Spider-Man movie with some of the other interns. I had never seen it, and it is definitely a strange movie. My two main takeaways are that Toby Maguire doesn’t blink enough, and that the Green Goblin is a freaky freaky dude.
Even though it was a busy week, and definitely a little out of the ordinary, it was still a good one! However, I am definitely excited to be back in DC, back on my routine, and ready to see what the next week has in store for me.
Amanda Maeglin