Fiesta Latina

Last weekend was super fun! We played volleyball on Friday and almost won our first game (shucks!) and then went to a Latino dance party in Gamboa!

Gamboa, Panama. Picture from the STRI webpage, linked above. 

It was a lot of fun. There were DOZENS of really amazing scientists everywhere, dancing to Latino music, drinking Abuelo, Balboa, and Panama, and talking in a variety of languages about where they're from, what they study, and why their work is so important and so extremely awesome. At one point in the night, a PhD student I'm friends with exclaimed something along the lines of, "Do you even realize how many amazing people are here right now?! Like, really, do you? Because I don't think you do!" He then proceeded to point out various people he considered amazing, like a famous photographer from National Geographic and a handful of other accomplished scientists. His comment really made me appreciate that I am here, sharing these experiences with professionals in my field, whom I aspire to be like one day. And here they are, dancing salsa right in front of me! 

When we finally were all latino-ed out, my roommate Cassie and I walked through Gamboa with her friend to his house to sleep. We ended up getting to bed around five, had to take a 40-min bus back to the city at 10am, and then after spending hours getting lost and frustrated in the mall where the bus drops us off, we made it back to our apartment very tired. All I remember after that is sleeping for 5 or 6 hours, waking up at midnight, eating a meal, and then working on my research project for three and a half hours. It was a weird day. We had wanted to go back to Gamboa to hike to the canopy tower,

but we weren't really feeling like getting up at 6 am the next day to take the bus out there. When we do go, though, I will take lots of pictures!

Other than that, this week I am taking a free course in R offered by two experts who are scientists at STRI. It's a really useful class and I am really lucky to get to interact with such knowledgeable people. All these experiences are making me even more excited for my PhD work! Which still hasn't even remotely started yet...! But it will, soon...ish! 

This weekend we are going to try to go to an island on the Caribbean side of Panama called Isla Grande, and I will tell all about it! Until then, hasta luego!