Becoming a Weekend Warrior - Jaynie Criscione

There are small victories here that I find in daily life: successfully saying Dutch words, finally discovering what PMD (Plastic/Metals/Drinks) waste bins are, and even finding where my mail goes when it’s not delivered (there’s a pick-up point at the grocery store). Adjusting to life here has been smoother than I imagined. But, there are small differences that you wouldn’t notice until they come up!

My lab work in these past two weeks has revolved around running experiments and analyzing over 1.2 billion data points from my experiments. The scripts we use are MATLAB and Origin. I fortunately know MATLAB, but I finally had to learn how to use the “debug” function to get my code to work. With Origin, I had to learn through trial and error. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to learn about new programs and I’m lucky to have great mentors to guide me!

Working in the lab. 

One weekend, Dante, Ayon and I went to Madrid. Spain is a very different country than Belgium, especially in their gorgeous architecture and time schedules of eating dinner at 10 pm and socializing past 6 am! The plane ride was a speedy two hours, yet countries that are close in Europe have significant cultural differences. I was able to meet with my boyfriend and his family and we enjoyed delicious Tapas. The food in Madrid is amazing, yet cheap!

Royal Palace in Madrid.

The next weekend, Dante, Arik and I traveled to Bruges. I went early to catch the free food and walking tour. One of the best parts of traveling is meeting new people and learning their background. I met a Hopkins alum, a UMD alum, and a Canadian law school graduate named Gwen. Gwen and I walked around Bruges for the rest of the day and had dinner together. Bruges has a romantic atmosphere with architecture like canals and bell towers.

Canal in Bruges

Though Leuven is a small city, the crowds are huge for the World Cup games! So far, we have watched all of the world cup games at the Oude Markt and it is one of the highlights of being here.

Celebrating the Belgium vs. England World Cup match in the Oude Markt. 

I’m excited to discover more about bacterial biofilm formation in competing strains, and also explore Paris and Amsterdam in the coming weekends. Stay tuned!