So my mentor, Amy, has been gone since July 21^st at a conference in Michigan and left me with a to-do list for my time alone. Although I was secretly terrified at the prospect (I’m an intern all alone in the wilderness) this week was incredibly fulfilling. Not only did I not screw anything up (fingers crossed) but I was able to get through all the tasks and start playing with the data we’ve collected so far this summer. Stay tuned for all the earth-shattering announcements to be made at the final symposium. I also learned how to use an oven-furnace this week; Katie, an EPA GRO intern, was kind enough to teach me and showed me how not to burn down the building. I also started teaching myself the stats program R using an online tool called Swirl. Super fun stuff. My week rounded out with a quick trip back to Boston for a funeral in western MA. Despite the circumstances it was great to see my parents and brother again (I haven’t been home since December so this was long overdue). The plane rides also gave me plenty of time to perfect my mad-coding skills in R. I’m not entirely sure what this week has in store for me but I’m looking forward to playing with some more data and getting my poster ready!