Dont' Cry Over Spilled Media

Going into 20.109, I really didn't know what to expect. I tried to be optimistic and disregard the fact that I would be spending 4 hours in the lab every Tuesday and Thursday and that it is a 15 unit class, which meant that it was probably going to be a ridiculous amount of work if 12 unit classes are already a struggle. 

However, my frustration with 20.109 started early. As a perfectionist, I really don't like making mistakes, even though I know mistakes are inevitable. I soon found out just how inevitable they were. I made mistakes during every lab session. At first, it didn't bother me so much because I knew that it was a new class, and I would need some time to get used to a new environment. When I kept making mistakes, even minor ones, I got really frustrated because I felt like I wasn't improving and that all the lab skills that I had previously learned had gone to waste. Even when the instructors insisted that they had seen students do far worse, I couldn't help but be embarrassed. Now that we have reached the end of Mod 1 and are moving forward into Mod 2, I think I have come to terms with the fact that I'm going to make mistakes and that it's ok to make them because that's exactly what this class is for. The other day when I had a spill in the tissue culture room, I just thought to myself, "I'm sure they've seen worse."  

 A list of other stressful things in 20.109:
1. The lab notebook: I was not prepared for how much work it was going to be and, admittedly, left it all for the last minute. 

2. Understanding all the data analysis and statistics: I've never taken statistics so I didn't even know what a p-value was.

3. The fact that our data wasn't the best: Nothing was significant and that was beyond frustrating. 


A lot of days I leave lab at 5 and think about why I put myself through so much stress. But there are special moments, like when I looked at the DLD-1 cells under the microscope and got so excited as if it were my first time seeing cells, that I really value the work that I'm doing and the skills that I'm learning. Although I frequently complain and get frustrated and want to give up sometimes, I really do like 20.109. 

And I'm proud that we finished that data summary. On to Mod 2...

-Athena Ortega

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