Reporting to you from Marseille

So this is my fifth week in the lab, and I can't believe my time here is almost half done. I've been having such a great time! This week I was finally assigned to one definite project. This is really just an issue of timing. I came into the lab when there were two projects going on, both involving in situ hybridization, and my mentor here wanted to know the preliminary results of both before deciding which one I should join. So I now officially have a project. I'm studying the effects of deep brain stimulation on neuronal activity in the basal ganglia. It might sound worrisome that I'm in my fifth week in the lab and just officially starting on my project, but the in situ technique is very fast and I will be able to get a lot done within the next few weeks. I have found that, since I've been mostly following people in the lab up until this point, it has been difficult to establish some level of independence in the lab. I am thinking that this will get better now that I have my own project.

It sounds like others are really putting in the hours. Things here have been slow. We ran out of some supplies a couple weeks ago, and that really slowed things down. I had quite a bit of downtime then. I think everyone here is just expected to get their work done, but the environment is very relaxed. And the whole day revolves around lunch. An experiment will have to wait until the afternoon if it is too long and would make it so that we would eat too late.

There are a few people in my dorm that I have met and spend time with during the weekends. They are very nice. One of them is hispanic, has been here since the fall, and has learned French just by listening--no classes! Needless to say, I was very impressed.

So I really like it here. I did some travelling a couple weeks ago. Took a train to Geneva, and thought it was great. It's very small but it has everything in it, or so it seems.

A bientot,

Cosby