This first week of my first REU program at Rice University has been exciting because I have not done anything as academically important as this. Going into this REU experience, I knew it was going to be hard, and I wanted to really produce some good work to impress my student mentor, but more importantly, to show myself what I’m capable of doing. This REU is heavily rigorous in coding, and since I have barely any experience coding, I’m using this project as a time to force myself to LEARN Python once and for all, so I’m prepared to code for my upper-level classes in college.

On Tuesday, May 28th, it was the first day of my REU program, and it started with me parking at Greenbriar lot and walking 1 mile (20 minutes) to Rayzor Hall, in which I didn’t realize there were shuttles to take me over there. At Lone Star College, we don’t have shuttles to give us rides because our campus is so small compared to Rice. I was greeted by the program leaders, Dr. Faizar and Dr. Clay, and I was running late, so I had to eat breakfast while everyone was already heading into the room. I wasn’t stressed because I was sure I wouldn’t miss much, so I quickly and calmly ate and headed in. We started by setting up our Rice Canvas and submitting our pre-assignments. I didn’t have my laptop because I left it at my girlfriend’s house, so I had to use my phone, which wasn’t too much of a problem. Orientation was just like any other orientation: a lot of sitting, listening, and it was like listening to Friday forums or workshops at my home campus at Lone Star College Kingwood. Halfway through orientation, we ate lunch at a big dining hall, and it felt so bougie, as if we had deserved to be there, a full buffet prepared for the students at Rice University. I suddenly realized why the cost of attending the university was so high: they pour the money back into the school. I sat at lunch and was delighted by how interesting the conversations were with my newly befriended REU peers. After orientation ended, I took a shuttle back to Greenbriar, where I waited in traffic for about an hour before I got home.

On Wednesday, May 29th, I got to enjoy lunch with my project mentor, Sunny Kim, and my partner, Avey. We conversed and talked about our educational interests and our current occupations. I told Avey and Sunny some of my life story, like moving from place to place, and about my experience at Lone Star College thus far. I was surprised to hear that my partner Avey was transferring to Stanford University and that she had been accepted to other great schools like Rice prior to the REU starting. I was interested in how she had such a great acceptance rate into these top schools, and it made me inspired that if I could just write some great college essays, I could also get into a top school with my qualifications. I was truly inspired. Afterwards, I got to go to a meeting with my project mentor and partner, where we discussed our project. It’s focusing on epigenetics and DNA methylation, and it sounds like it’s going to be SO interesting to learn about for the next 10 weeks. The computer science building, named Duncan Hall, was SO ODD; it was like a maze, but it was really interesting and colorful. I’ve never seen a building designed like that ever before!

And this wraps up my week. It was exciting, long, and gives me hope for the next 9 weeks.

Thanks for reading,

John Paul Marconi