Hello everyone,

I can't believe that it's Monday morning and I am sitting writing my blog again! Time is going too fast and I only have 10 more days left in the QC Micro Lab. After thinking that I had all the time in the world, I have not had the opportunity to observe all of the different techniques performed in the lab and am therefore making a point to see everything at least once before I leave! I still need to observe Bioburdens, ELISAs and chemical testing, so I am going to read the SOPs for these techniques today and hopefully catch them in action sometime this week! The past week has been busy as I finally feel comfortable enough to come in and know exactly what my day of work will be without having to check with somebody else! I have been trained on two new reviewing procedures, a process that is crucial to the daily running of a GMP regulated lab. There are strict regulations on how this work is to be performed, so last week a supervisor was checking over my work before it was distributed around Genzyme, and this week I am on my own! During my time here I have not only decided that I would like to work in the biotechnology industry, but also that I would prefer to work in an area that is GMP regulated, as although there is a lot of paper work and reviewing, it means that the process runs a lot smoother and the liklihood of getting rogue results is a lot slimmer! Last week I observed suplhate testing and conductivity, the former being a process to identify organic waste in samples that obviously shouldn't be there! It seems strange that before I came here I didn't even know that any of the techniques performed in this lab existed, and now I know exactly how to perform them! It's only when I sit back and think about my time here do I realise just how much I have learnt about not only the lab, but the way the industry works, and that I certainly want to be a part of it!

Outside of work has been a little calmer this week, mostly due to the fact that I was going to bed as early as possible to catch up on missed sleep from the weekend in New York! However of course we still managed to pack in the final activites that were on our initial 'Boston To Do' list. On Thursday evening we went to Cirque du Soleil, an acrobatic circus show detailing the daily life of an insect. This particular show was called 'Ovo' and is all about the insects finding an egg and being very excited by it. (I am aware I did not describe that in the exciting light that the show deserves - but it was difficult to put into words)! Although the vocals were a little much at 10pm on a Thursday evening, with no sound other than what can only be described as 'noise' portraying the insects' emotions, the show displayed some amazing gymnasts that made their work look almost easy it was so graceful. Friday night saw my first proper nights sleep since my arrival 6 weeks ago which set me up nicely for another busy Saturday! At 9am, Christine's (very loud) alarm rang through the house and we were up to go whale watching! After some free ice-cream we got on the boat at 10.30am and despite being warned by many people at work, chose to sit outside without a jumper on where we quickly became hit by a FREEZING wind out in the middle of the 'ocean'. Unfortunately also, the sun was still as strong as ever behind this wind..and I have been suffering the sunburn consequences ever since. The boat trip took around 1hour 20 minutes to get out far enough and it all became a bit much for poor Christine who became sea sick! It was all worth it though, as when we finally saw the whales they were amazing. One came right up to the boat with it's mouth open and then dipped back into the water, spraying water out it's back and flipping it's tail right out into the air. I couldn't believe how big they were, it was almost scary that these huge creatures were swimming just metres beneath the boat. Another whale jumped right out of the sea and did a flip in the air and literally the whole boat cheered. We made it back onto dry land, much to Christine's gratitude, a little while later and had to make a quick turn around in order to get the train to a ROLLER DISCO! It was something straight out of a movie, with music playing, baseball on a large tv screen at the back and roller skates that lit up when you moved! After a shaky first hour I soon became a pro and got a little too big for my boots whilst very enthusiastically performing 'The Hokey Pokey' (successfully) and then the Birdie Song (not so successfully-I fell over in the middle of everyone). It was great fun and we were both suffering from sore muscles/bruises yesterday whilst we took a trip to The New England Aquariam. This is somehwere that we had been meaning to go to for the past 6 weeks, and since it was such a rainy day we took the opportunity (after waiting in line for 25 minutes outside to get in)! We saw penguin feeding, seal training, touched a star fish and saw a shark. I also spent a large proportion of my visit filling up my brain with fun facts and trivia, and even attempted to do an educational exercise with some penguins and a beam of light..however instead of following it they just ignored it and stared at me instead, so I admitted defeat just this once. Last night Christine and I sampled our first taste of American Chocolate and it was beyond disappointing! So that is one thing I am looking forward to getting back to the UK for!

Make the most of the last 2 weeks everyone, I think we should all refuse to leave and stay having fun forever!

Steph x