Trois….deux….un….launch reaction! Redo.

I’m on the less than two week countdown for my last rites of a quiche tartlets before hopping a trans-Atlantic flight bound for the lone star state.

…and I’m leaving France with a bang. Or at least that’s how my head kind of feels right now: BANG.

Ever since my dad left I’ve been completely engrossed in work. Aside from my escape to the convent Bastille Day weekend, I spend my evenings exhausted and taking care of business. By the time I leave work at 6 (or later) I go grocery shopping, ride my bike home, cook dinner, clean up from dinner, catch up with my parents or Adamo, take care of whatever needs to get done (such as shower, laundry, travel plans) and then hit my very uncomfortable bed. This boring recount of my typical after-work day explains the lack of entries.


Thank God it’s hump day? (or it was when I started writing)

Two weeks left means I need to start preparing to leave, wrap up business, eat as much French cuisine as I can, get in some last minute traveling, and then finish my entire project’s synthesis, make a poster to present at the conference in January, and write my report.

Last week I started what is supposed to be my second to last step of my entire summer of organic chemistry. My whole summer stipend/grant is based on the fact that I complete this project and if it goes well, fortune and fame will befall my career. If it doesn’t, I’m never EVER allowed to do chemistry again. Just kidding. Or am I?

I need these two molecules to bind together in a Suzuki coupling reaction by making some beautiful chemistry love in my 50 mL round flask at 122 degrees Celsius, and create the novel target molecule to send off for physical analysis in Switzerland. Piece of cake.

How it was “supposed” to go

I’ve spent the entire summer synthesizing (making) precursors (ingredients) for this reaction. Based on previous experiments I was supposed to throw some stuff together and BAM! magic would ensue. After this, I’d have time to wrap up everything else, write the report, and go home.

How it’s gone down the past week

There are moments where I think I’m doing the coolest stuff, like ever. Mad scientist chemistry.

There are moments – after standing on my feet all day making calculations and cleaning glassware – where chemistry makes me want to vomit.

There are moments where I feel really awesome about skills I’ve learned in the lab this summer. I can run reactions by myself, I know where most things are, and just in general I’m 110 times more capable than when I started.

Then there are the times were I feel like a bull in a Swarovski crystal store. I mess something up and someone has to come to the rescue to help me reconcile myself to the chemistry Gods. This usually takes over an hour to fix my moment’s fault.

For years people I’ve heard people blab about the nature of theoretical science – full of inductive and deductive tests of logic. As a science student, you never ever actually do any of this. I’ve spent the last week doing nothing but use these theoretical approaches.

I feel like I’m in the middle of actual research: because I am. We’re running test reactions, testing solubility in little vials, and answering questions nobody knows the answers to….other times when nothing seems to work I feel incredibly pessimistic.

I’ve set reactions like MAD the past few days; trying everything short of paying off the molecules to bind. I still don’t know where I stand, but before I left today things looked a bit more optimistic.

Here are a few themes I’ve noticed:

- Chemistry is like one continuous trip to Vegas, and it looks like I’m a high roller. When I dump in all of the molecule I’ve spent two weeks making in the hope that the reaction works (or else I’m SOL) it’s a bit scary/thrilling. I’ve been betting it all the past week.

- I’m driving Jean crazy because I test the progress of the reactions like I open Christmas presents. Instead of barging into the lab and doing it right away, I take care of the other things first before I work on seeing if the reaction is “crap or not.” For the readers who don’t know me well enough, as an only child on Christmas I’d take the entire day to open all of my presents. He keeps coming in asking “have you done it? does it work?! Aren’t you curious?!?!” I get to it when the lab bench feng shui is right.

- Chemistry epitomizes too many cooks in the kitchen; this time too many lab coats in the laboratory. I’ll be working on something and all the PhDs hold a different opinion of how it should be done. This makes my job interesting, but these differences in opinion will ultimately lead me to the right conditions.

- Chemistry makes cooking look like so much fun and SO much easier. When cooking, you can just “fudge” your way through…literally. This will be how I’m spending August in Texas: fudge chemistry.

- If you want to understand colors, such as the difference in blue dye blacks and red dye blacks….go into porphyrin chemistry. Last week I would go from working with green-blacks, to red-blacks, and then BAM! it turned into the most complicated deep red-purple-pinks I’ve ever seen in my life. Kind of thrilling, and I felt like a magician. Also, I discovered I have a pink thumb. After working all day with the porphyrins, I literally had pink colored thumbs.

I think I’m going to add another entry later about the basics of what I actually do all day long. But not now.

Current Plans

For a last hoorah in France I’m taking a three day weekend in Paris. I believe I’ve done my traveling in the opposite order most people do – Paris last. After a rather fortunate (for me at least) series of events, Jeremy in the lab needs to spend the weekend in Paris after moving out of Strasbourg. His grandmother lives there, so he invited me to come and stay with him and said he’d show me around since he never really does any of the touristy things anyway.

We went to the train station Monday night for our tickets and since he obviously can speak French, ended up getting us first class tickets to Paris on the high speed train for cheaper than second class costs!

I’ve found the French hook-up.

We’re also going to be in Paris for the end of the Tour de France, so I’m pretty excited. It’s going to be an awesome weekend. We leave tomorrow and I come back on Monday night.

Go Lance Armstrong!!!.....wait….

Everyday Life

Here are a few random busy nothings regarding daily life in France.

Last week I treated myself to a pair of tartlettes fraise (strawberry tarts). It was wonderful and I don’t do this often. Not only would I end up broke, but I’m convinced living in France takes all the will power in the world. Bakeries on every corner make it really hard to stay thin.

I buy random things at the grocery store and experiment with my limited cooking utensils. I’ve sautéed zucchini, made teriyaki chicken, various pasta dishes, and a lot more.

On Sunday I bought an all day tram pass and went shopping in Strasbourg. I went to Auchan, the huge store in the outskirts. My goal of the day was to find French cooking (such as a crepe pan and spatula) to bring home.

Naively, I thought as an American this would be nothing. I’ve spent my life maturing with 24 hour mega- superstores. Walmart, Target, HEB; they’re all super.

It was arrogant to think Europe couldn’t overwhelm me. Perhaps I’ve been shopping in small boutiques for too long, but Auchan was like WalMart, Target, SAMs, Best Buy, and a full size American grocery store all in one.

I could be exaggerating but not only did it contain everything & everyone in France but this was just the happening place to be on a Saturday afternoon. I figured out this is also where the French make a pilgrimage to for buying things in bulk. The lady in front of me bought 7 cases (yes, cases) of wet cat food, the lady behind me had 5 bars of gourmet chocolate, 10 bars of blankly wrapped generic chocolate, I’m not kidding 15 baguettes, and then she loaded up a stack of “personal feminine napkins.” I stopped asking questions at this point.

There were too many kids, too many random people, and too many people talking to me in French. One lady figured out I spoke English, and while I was standing with my crepe spatulas and fluted tart pan (with a removable bottom) looking at cook books pointed and asked me if this was all because I had a child.

Now picture me in the eyes of this unknowing French woman: flicker of horror on my face, grabbing my tart pan etc, leaving the book on French appetizers open on the shelf, and making a bee line to the checkout.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around Strasbourg in pursuit of the perfect crepe pan and Madeleine mold.

Weather in Strasbourg = wtf face

Like a simple girl psychologically conditioned to PMS, Strasbourg never fails to be moody. It started on Sunday then progressed to very cold, depressing weather all week. There isn’t any heat on anywhere and even the natives walked around in coats. Made me miss Texas.

Random nothings of note

My current obsession: TED talks.

http://www.ted.com/

I’ve been eating these up.

Time to pack for Paris….