Greetings from Boston

Here's my overdue update!

I moved to Boston about a month ago. This is probably the best decision I've made in a long time. I really like the city, the Institute and the YSA ward out here are great, and there are about a million choices for food (except there isn't any good Mexican out here... but that's a story for another day). The only downside is a slight mouse problem in my apartment. I'm pretty sure whoever lived in this place never cleaned while they lived here. It was disgusting. I also put out mousetraps and have successfully caught one of those little critters. I'm hoping its death sent its other mouse friends a clear warning to stay away. Far, far away.

My program is going well. The workload isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I decided that I'm just not going to do homework after 8 pm. I haven't had a problem getting everything done so far, but I have a feeling my life is going to get busy soon.

My favorite class right now is an emerging infectious disease class, specifically because we have guest speakers from CDC that video conference with the class. It's really interesting to hear what these people do on a day to day basis and the challenges that they are very aware of. In contrast to the bureaucracy and inactivity of another organization that I worked in (think fieldwork), I think CDC actually does things. And by does things, I mean they actually are good at getting things done.

Above all, I think I'm just accepting the fact that I am a total nerd that's been keeping it at bay. As much as I try to integrate myself into normal social situations, I can't hide it. Someone joked about a professor being able to publish without reporting p values. Sad thing is, I understood the joke and may have laughed a little. But just a little.

Hope everyone is doing well.