First Post!!!

Hello! This is my first post on my new blog! I've been in Switzerland working for almost a week now and have had a ton of interesting, fun, and unexpected experiences. It's much harder than I thought it would be living in a new country in which you don't speak the native language. Even though most people here speak English, many don't and many of the signs and machines are in French only. I had some trouble at the grocery store for example because I didn't know you had to weigh your produce before you got to the counter, and of course the instructions are in French only! At the post office too I had a hard time trying to pay my rent, something I've never done before, but I think by now I've gotten past most of the major road blocks. At least I hope I have. Work has gone great so far, I absolutely love the people in the lab and they've made me feel so welcome. The project is fascinating, I'm learning new techniques, and building extremely valuable experience here. It's much more tiring than I expected, working in a lab all day instead of just for a few hours like I am used to. And sometimes days are quite long. But I'm really enjoying myself. I saw a mouse dissection for the first time, which affected me more than I thought it would, and I've gotten hours of practice in cell culture already, and learned new analytical methods as well for DNA and RNA analysis. Haven't had much time to explore yet but I'm sure I will soon. That's all I have so far, stay tuned for new updates on my progress!!!