back home

Finally back home from China and almost fully recovered from jet-leg after sleeping heavily the last two days.  Feel glad to relax and be back, but miss many of the friends I've made this summer in our group and in China.  I think it will take awhile to feel a sense of normalcy in Michigan after being in Beijing with non-stop activity every day.  Recently, I've been trying to fit myself back into mainstream US news and popular thought by reading "Time" and "Newsweek", my two favorite magazines, which has helped to acclimatize me back into American culture.  I think the toughest thing for me to get use to while being back home is using a fork and spoon on a regular basis. Although my mastery of the Chinese language is far-off goal right now, my "chop-stick" fluency is enough to make me look Chinese while I eat.

I hope my trip to China is not my last, but my first of many to come.  Also, the research I did this summer at Peking University revealed to me that my interest lies in biological research, rather than physical chemistry research.  Nevertheless, I believe many of the techniques I learned in conducting physical chemistry research will aid me as a biochemistry scientist, since the two fields are becoming intricately woven together in this coming age.