nutella and bananas and a few good friends

So I know I haven't updated on this thing in a little while, and some of you may think I'm a failure...but honestly I would have updated if there was anything to update about. Aside from classes, rain, running, and making a few delicious meals...this week has been pretty blah (or I guess as blah as life in a foreign country can get). Classes are really starting to pick up, and I'm now spending about 15-20 hours a week in the lab as well.

---Tribute to this weeks food.--------
So basically this week i ate a LOT of greek quinoa salad. It was a recipe that I've been curious about for weeks cause I really had no idea what quinoa was until I bought it. Who knew it was pronounced "keen-wah"... heh. It's soooo good, super high in protein and delicious. This pic looks pretty gross cause I took it of the last of the leftovers (4 days later? ha...i'm a struggling college student, if its there ill eat it.)
Anyways. Other meal highlights: it's butternut squash season. yum-o (i really hate myself for saying that. so that was also a lot of dinners. Especially butternut squash, cottage cheese, and raisins. Some haters may not appreciate this dream meal (cough RENOIR) but I think I could eat it every day and be happy. mmm

That's about it for the meals that I ate on my own. Anna Anna and I have gotten pretty good at making excellent feasts together. After a long day of classes/working/reading it's fun to chill with friends over good food and wine (of course). French Anna always goes wayyyy above and beyond and this weeks prime example:
Chicken, Asparagus, Rice, and Cab Sav

followed byyyyy CINNAMON ROLLS :)
It's good to have friends who like to cook.


Yep.


To finish up the week of awesome food, we were going to go back to the market today for crepes again. However, the weather was looking gloomy and we wanted to save a few bucks ...so we decided to bring the crepes to us baybay.


We got all the fixings you could want: bananas, nutella, honey, ham, cheese, cream cheese, tomatoes, and lots more I can't really remember












Of course, nutella and bananas is the no fail winner, and we each had..a couple. ha.
Doesn't get any better than that suckers.
Enough food.

-----LAB!-----
So I spend a pretty significant amount of time in the lab every week without pay or credit. However, it's an awesome opportunity to work on some of my lab skills and to be a part of some real pharmaceutical genetic research.
So this is what I'm working on: warning..science....
So there is this liver parasite called Fasciola hepatica that can infect both livestock and humans (although it is a pretty big problem in the UK with cows and sheep). Anyways, this liver parasite enters the body and then causes a disease cause Fasciolus, which can ultimately kill the host. Tthere is a drug (triclabenzadole) which can treat this disease in many cases. The lab I'm working in has found that there are 5 different genetic variations of the beta-tubulin protein, which triclabenzadole is expected to react with. Our goal is to find out WHICH of these variants the drug binds to. So that is what I do.
Yesterday I was in the lab for 10 hours, trying to purify the beta-tubulin protein from some cells that I had grown last week. I literally watched this thing drip for 6 hours. (on top of the 4 other hours I was doing other stuff. Man I better somehow get some kind of credit from NU for this..)
It was not glamorous, sexy work. It was actually boring as all hell. But it is what it is.

----OTHER---
I did end up getting a lot done while watching the stuff drip away. I contacted about 80 bazillion potential sublets in Boston. I managed to find a few cheap/promising ones on the hill. Marie Awesome Defer is even going to tour one of them today for me. Hopefully I will not be homeless in January in Boston. Yay!

Speaking of Marie, I GOT A POSTCARD TODAY. Now I have a lovely reminder of the glorious Red Line zooming over the Longfellow bridge to look at everday. :)

Also- my family comes in less than a month now! I am excited beyond words...there is just too much fun that the O'Neill family can have in Europe..only good things can come from it.

Special good luck to Bill on his FE Exam today.
and special CONGRATS to ehud who finished the army this week!

Alright, well I should head to the gym. This mornings crepes were out of this world, but now I am feeling pretty ugh. My running has gotten much better, but my knee has gotten much worse. :(

Oh yes, I think I'm going on a day trip to Derry tomorrow, so maybe there will be a more exciting 'travel-esque' post by tomorrow night.

6 days until Amsterdam.
Peace