*Reads blog post title off of slide*

When I first saw the assignment I thought it wouldn't be too difficult, but oh man was I wrong.
It wasn't so much that I procrastinated, but unfortunately, I got the flu and was really sick all throughout spring break and the first couple of days coming back to school. When I started to feel better I attempted to read the research article-- I say attempted because basically the first time you read a research paper you retain like 1% of what's actually going on.
So basically, I had to read the research article over and over again and look up a lot of words until I had an idea of what was going on. Then I had to start unpacking the figures.
To be quite honest, I didn't sleep the night before the presentation. I spent every waking hour working on the slides and understanding the data-- and even then I didn't know everything because the paper did leave some things out (I guess they expected me to be science-y and know things-- who do they take me for an academic?!?!). Either way, it felt amazing to actually understand a research article that at first looked like a sacred text written in a foreign tongue. I was even able to talk to my UROP supervisor about it and get a sense of how it related to the research I am currently conducting. I thought understanding the article was enough and I was feeling okay about the presentation, but I had another thing coming.
As you can guess from the memes my downfall came from the powerpoint. I had only given simple presentations in the past, so I really had no idea what I was in for. I didn't know that so much work went into giving a presentation and honestly I didn't have enough time to prepare with the flu etc. I tried my best with the time I had, but my powerpoints were way too wordy. I tried to make flashcards in hopes that it would help me stick to the most important things, but I realized that having flashcards hurt my presentation more since I ended up losing my place in the flashcards. I think one of my main issues was with anxiety because it was really scary having to present on something I really cared about in hopes of getting others to care too.
But in the end, I was happy it was over and it was a really good learning experience. I really resonated with birds and the feeling they have when they're thrown out of the nest and expected to fly. While I didn't really fly and more like fell and hit a bunch of branches on the way down, I think next time, knowing what I know now, I will definitely be able to fly. 


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