August 24: Took the train to Auburn Botanical Gardens, because there was a cherry blossom festival there! Apparently, the same train as Cailene and Cynthia, so when I walked up the stairs at Auburn Station, Cailene quietly walked next to me until I looked back and saw it was her, haha. We waited a long time for the bus that would take us to the festival. Sunny and Angela arrived later as well. The cherry blossoms were beautiful, but for a festival, I didn't think it was that great. It was more like a long street lined with trees, where you walk at a snail's pace, because it's naturally crowded in such a tourist destination (and it was the last day). But still beautiful. I think I prefer magnolia; there was a tree of them there too. They also had wallabies and kangaroos, which I didn't expect, but it was nice. Cynthia told me about rodeos in Texas, and Cailene told me about peacocks that just walk around in her neighborhood, haha. There are quite a few cultural differences between the Netherlands and the US, though. Took the train home with Sunny. Back home, I continued working on my guitar project. I've now got the lid open (thanks to Cailene's tweezers), but the problem was that some strings were rusted and wouldn't come out. After a bit of pushing with a thin hairpin, I finally succeeded, yay! The rest wasn't so difficult: a good clean, new strings, and I was ready to play! That evening, I looked into internships for when I get back; that needs to happen. Mom, Dad, and Arthur have plane tickets! It's crazy to think I'll see them soon, in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
August 25: Took a relaxing day. Worked a bit on my HIRAC for chem lab (that one safety form), played guitar, and called Lieve. She was decorating her new room, which looks great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
August 26: Genome lab was great, another fun time with my group. I finished a bit early, so I quickly popped over to the chem lab to have my HIRAC checked so I don't have to wait in line tomorrow. I worked a bit on my neuroscience project at home, talking about differences in brain signals between short-term and chronic pain. And Fenna called! She was at the beach with Imke, Tanja, Arwen, and Shayna in Palermo, so we had a nice catch-up with them : ) <\/p>\n\n\n\n