First Impressions

I have been hear for almost 6 days, and now I have internet. So far, I have used the ICGEB servers, but now I have my very own access to facebooks, email, and now blogs.

Let me say what I am doing, in case anyone finds this blog and wants to know:
I applied to the '54 scholarship at VT honors. I proposed to go to India and work with a research scientist named Dr. Shahid Jameel. His research subjects include HIV, hepatitus E, and SARS. He is a head researcher at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB). I did not win the scholarship, but the money I did recieve was more than enough to pay for my whole trip.

I arrived around midnight and Dr. Jameel picked me up and dropped me off at a guest house near the ICGEB. I cannot stay at the ICGEB guest house because the U.S. is not an affiliate county with the institute. Just about everyone else is - it is U.N. funded - but the U.S. must not want to cure infectious diseases. The guest house is for all purposes a hotel. I am continuing to search for a better place to stay.

In the morning I lock up my bag, stow all of my electronics in my backpack and walk to the ICGEB. It is safe to assume that it is over 100 degrees F all of the time, but it is so dry, I am fairly comfortable walking around. I have to sign in at the gate with the guards, walk for a few minutes down a shaded drive, and sign in at the front desk with the guards. Once inside, the labs look like every other lab I have encountered. It's kind of homey.

I am very slowly learning everyone's name. Many of them are hard to remember, but I can get it after I see it written down. So far: Rahul, Vivek, Miraj, Moin, Manjusha, Manjula, Dr. Druba, Sef, Abdul, Niha, Sika... getting there. There are 30 people in Dr. Jameel's virology group and many more besides who I have met, heard the name, and quickly forgotten.

Rahul is a post doc with whom I am working. I am getting aquainted with the lab and doing basic science thingys. Also, lots of reading.

I can see a broken New Delhi skyline from the lab. It makes me want to go out and wander this country in the heat of the day. I will try to spend my weekends seeing the local area.