Time flies when you are having lab fun

It's crazy how fast time flies. Three weeks have passed and whenever I look at my calender, I’m shocked to see that I’m almost halfway done with my stay here in Europe!

On a work-related note, I've now officially trained for all the biolabs and equipment I have to use and - after several days of not getting the experiment to run - I've gotten pretty good results and data! Right now, I'm focusing on increasing the efficiency of the surface coatings of the micro-channels so I've been in the lab, constantly coating new devices and running experiments. But, working in the lab is fun - more so than sitting in an office cubicle all day.

This past weekend, I went to Antwerp with Gwen, and it was beautiful! I loved being able to relax and walk along the river, then go straight into the shopping district. One thing that was awesome to see was MOMU, a fashion museum for Belgian designers, which isn't something I get to see often.

I lost my all my keys on the train, leaving me temporarily homeless (well, actually I was just staying in the room across from mine. I just didn't have any of my things), but fortunately someone turned them into Leuven Station so I was able to pick them up on Monday. Lesson learned: always check if I have my keys, wallet, and phone before leaving the train.

I'm planning a lot more trips the following weekends until I get back home so I'll definitely be updating as I go along.

---Rachel Bang