Lab Work

Hello! So, although photos of pretty castles and things are more exciting, I should probably explain what I'm doing here in Copenhagen! I summed it up in my intro post, but I'm working at the Centre for Geogenetics, a large genetics group at the University of Copenhagen, with a special focus on ancient DNA. I'm specifically collaborating with Tom Gilbert, who focuses on human evolutionary history and domestication - he heads the Evogenetics group. His students/postdocs work on everything from grape domestication to human disease resistance to the introduction of sheep to Denmark. It's all really cool research, and I love hearing about what other people study here!

Ancient DNA doesn't actually have to be that old to qualify as "ancient" - DNA from something that has only been dead a few weeks is considered ancient, too! When DNA is no longer protected by cells (ie through decay, for example), it's very vulnerable to damage. This can cause breaks in the strand, or even changes in the base pairs (for example, it's common for Cs to end up as As thanks to chemical reactions!) Sunlight, water, and heat can be bad for DNA strands. Over time, the strands break down into smaller and smaller fragments, to the point where they're too short to tell you anything useful. So, when you're working with remains of some kind, remains from dark, dry and cold environments (or from permafrost) are much more likely to have DNA that is still long enough to be sequenced.

This is why, when you're working with ancient DNA, it helps to have a protective environment for it. Mostly, we're protecting our samples from ourselves. DNA from a skin cell or a strand of hair is in much better shape than DNA from ancient remains, and it's easy to "contaminate" our samples with our own DNA. This is a much bigger problem in human research, but can be problematic when you work with other animals, too. When working with ancient DNA, people often wear full body-suits, multiple layers of gloves, face masks, hair nets, and more. Here's how we generally look in our ancient lab at Illinois - it's a little hard to identify people sometimes!

Our lab setup at Illinois is pretty nice - we have an anteroom where we store our suits and get changed, and another room devoted to working with ancient DNA. It has special air filters to keep the air clean, and there are separate spaces for the three main tasks - drilling bone (to powder it up), extracting DNA (to get rid of all the other junk in the bone powder), and amplifying (to make more copies of the DNA). Here you can see all three of the stations (Thanks to Amanda, my labmate and skilled photographer!).

The labs here in Copenhagen are on another level completely. First, they have separate labs for human and animal/plant DNA. Second, the labs are not just one room but several - the door into the lab opens onto this hallway, with a long row of freezers. From there, depending on what stage of the process you're in, you go to different rooms. There's a room for drilling, as well as two separate rooms each for extractions and amplifications. Each room is outfitted with all the equipment you need, so you can work in your own space without worrying about getting in someone else's way. The room at the end of the hallway above is an amplification prep room, and the next picture is of the drilling room.

The white walls and obsessive focus on cleanliness (we bleach everything we use and there are UV lights that are turned on at night to help reduce contamination risks) makes it a little hard to work long hours in the lab. I think I'd go a little crazy without the radio - there's one in each room. I've found Europop to be a great motivator! But also, there are some nice places to hang out in right by the lab. When I have to wait for something to finish, it's nice to walk around in the Botanical Garden right by the lab or in the King's Garden across the street. Between the beautiful weather and the pretty greenery, it's a nice break from the ancient lab.

And my favorite foodie market, Torvehallerne, is only 5 minutes away! I think it's going to be hard to *not* get lunch from that pizza place every day, especially when it's so close. Luckily, there are lots of other foodie goodies to distract me. :) Next time, I hope to have some more sightseeing photos for you!

Nothing but blue skies...

Look at this beautiful weather we're having! :) I was worried when I arrived home to snow on Sunday, but we have clear skies (clear enough to see the mountains on the other side of Lake Biwa) and decently warm weather - it was 2 degrees Celsius(36 F!) today. ;)

Monday was fun - I started my internship! We helped out with an English class for an hour, which was fun. Mainly we played lots of little games and then folded origami. And then the students gave us a bagful of origami figures. They're adorable! I'm kind of amazed by how interested in us the students are - they want to sit next to us and hold our hands and say hello and talk to us in Japanese and English. They're adorable, and all the teachers at the school are really nice. I really enjoy this internship!And today has been a really good day, too. I've biked all over Hikone, it feels like. We first went to lunch at a restaurant that is pretty much as close as you can get to Americanized Chinese food - I have never been so excited for sweet and sour pork and spring rolls. We also rode by this hotel - yes, it is a hotel - on the way and I had to get a picture. My second trip out of the day was to City Hall with a friend, then to the grocery store. I feel like I'm finally getting used to riding a bike around town - it's becoming less of a chore and more relaxing.

This is kind of a weird week - we don't actually have class on Friday! Normally we'd have a test, but we're visiting an elementary school instead so our exam of the week is tomorrow. So we have a listening exam during the end of second hour and an exam during third hour. To make things more confusing, our test is on chapter 15 but we've been covering chapter 16 stuff ALL WEEK. Last week we didn't have a test due to our vacation day so we're a week behind on testing. I think it should turn out okay, though! Plus, tomorrow night we're having tacos, thanks to a friend's care package and a professor's trip to Costco. Mmmm, tastes like home.

That's all I know for now. :) Have a wonderful week! Before I go, though, have a music pick-me-up: it's my homestay sister Kana's current favorite song. It's so cheerful and everything. The song may be in Japanese, but it's actually by a Korean girls' group - there's a lot of crossover between K-Pop and J-Pop, as it's called (but no Japanese person has ever heard of J-Pop, as I discovered a few days ago!). Enjoy!

Shojo Jidai - Genie

Back to Class!

Let's start with a fun subway icon. :) These are on the special reserved seats you're required to give up for the various people on the squares.

I have more kanji fun for you today as well, though it is a little morbid. The characters for euthanasia are 安楽死. These characters are in the words 安い(inexpensive), 楽しい(fun/enjoyable), and 死ぬ(die). So, together it means "cheap fun death"! In actuality the first character can also mean "to ease" and the second can mean "pleasurable", so it really means "to ease death/make it more bearable". Kanji is fun, right?

On Monday I met with my internship supervisor and went to the elementary school to get a weekly schedule figured out. The school I'll be working at is called Johoku Elementary (which literally means 'north of the castle'), and I'll be working on Mondays for 2 hours a week. The internship actually only lasts 4 weeks as classes end for students in March (and the new school year starts in April!), which is sort of a shame but it should be a fun few weeks. Another girl is doing the internship with me, and we're going to be at the school for 2 periods: one period in which we help teach English, and another in which we participate in club activities. I'm joining the science club. ;) I'm a little nervous about starting on Monday because I really don't know what's going on besides when I should show up, but it should probably all work out in the end!

As far as interesting adventures, not much has gone on this week. We've mainly been watching shows (my count of shows-in-progress has now reached 7) and studying (because preparing for class every day is becoming lots of work!). However, we did make blueberry bread on Monday. Fruit is expensive here, but it's totally worth it because the bread was so very tasty. I now am master of the convection oven, and have figured out that a half-batch of bread (ie 1 American loaf pan-worth) makes 3 Japanese loaves - great for sharing and using as incentive to get kitchen helpers. :D My friends and I have decided to make this a weekly thing! I think we're going to give apple bread a try next.

I also had Indian food today! The main shopping thoroughfare in Hikone is called Bell Road - it's about a 15-20 minute ride away. They have lots of stores and restaurants along it, including an Indian place called Sapna. It had the best naan and chicken curry I have ever tasted. I'll have to get a picture the next time I go because it's so so so good.

As far as life in general in Japan is going, it's going well. It's amazing how quickly the weeks fly by. I can't believe tomorrow's Thursday! The weather is starting to warm up a bit...we haven't had snow in almost a week! This is making it a lot easier to get around town, so I'm biking more. I'm getting used to classes and hanging out with people lots(42 and study parties - almost feels like home). I was a little homesick earlier in the week, but it's easy to not worry so much about that with so much going on! It sort of feels like life at home is on hold while I'm here - I keep forgetting I have to worry about things like class registration for next semester and figuring out grad schools when I'm here in Japan. I'm sure it will hit me once I'm home again. :)

Anyway, I hope you're having a good week. I know there's a "snowpocalypse" blanketing the US right now, so stay warm! Also, in case you've heard anything about the volcano eruption in Japan, don't worry! Kyushu(where the eruption is occurring) is a completely different island, and very much south of us. Take care!

5 Reasons I Know I'm In Japan, Not Texas

1. The doorsThis is the entrance to my room! It's separated from the rest of the apartment with sliding glass doors. And the quilt on my bed is made entirely by my mother, who is fantastic and knows me all too well. :)
2. The kitchen
This is all the kitchen I have, which is a little depressing. As you can see, it consists of a stove with 2 burners and a tiny broiler for cooking fish. Off to the right is a fridge and a convection oven/microwave. Which means if I want to bake, I have to get creative. And I will! Just...not tonight.
3. The signs
Obviously, all the signs are in Japanese. This is on our bathroom door (the Japanese is "Otearai", which means washroom. The two characters are te, meaning hand, and arau, meaning wash). I will get more pictures of the city at large later - too much rushing around today!
4. The food
This was my lunch today! It was ramen - the real kind. It was delicious! I don't actually know what I ordered...I just pointed at something on a menu and hoped it would turn out okay. I believe it had a soy-based broth (as opposed to salt or miso) and had some kind of meat and green onions. Not sure what the orange stuff is - the theory was some sort of fish roe but it was spicy, so I have my doubts. Also, the little white and blue thing that looks like a tamagotchi? It's the order button! You press it and the waitress comes to you. :) So you can take all the time you want to decide.
5. The snow!
It's the view from my window! I didn't encounter any snow, but there was a lot of snow that fell on New Year's that has yet to melt completely. So cool. :D

I've accomplished a lot today! :) And last night - I totally unpacked so my room feels a little more homey, if lacking in wall decorations. Definitely should have brought my Nightwish flags. :) Here's a picture of the nifty closet thing on the other side of my room. I also have a desk, chair, lamp, and a bookshelf. It's all pretty empty right now! Also, the little gray thing on the bottom shelf is my space heater. We don't have central heating in the dorm, and keeping the room heater on is expensive, so the space heater is the cheapest way to keep things warm. I don't mind the chill too much - it just means I have to snuggle up under a ton of blankets, which is fine with me!I also met my roommate - her name is Amanda, and she's a visual studies/Japanese/political science major at Michigan State (MSU). She's really cool, and we have so much in common it's frightening. The same shampoo, toothpaste, and deoderant, the same winter coat (in different colors), and we like the same authors (including China Mieville) and bands. I think we'll get along really well! I also met her friend Jade, who is a Japanese major at MSU also (at least 40% of the students here are from MSU). I think I'll be seeing a lot of them both. :) I've met plenty of other people, too - we've been mixed up with a lot of different people so I'm starting to get everyone's names.

Today was orientation day! We learned about all the rules and regulations, which was a lot to take in. Mr. Kanagawa then talked to us, praising the glory of Shiga prefecture. It's apparently responsible for 43% of all of Japan's manufacturing though it's only 1% of Japan in terms of land mass and population. What's even more impressive is the fact that the lake nearby (Lake Biwa) is so pristine. This area is really environmentally-conscious, so they put a lot of work into keeping their cities clean.

After orientation, we received our bikes and checked out a lock and helmet. Mine is named Angevine. :) We then went on a bike tour of the city. I was a little nervous because I hadn't ridden a bike since probably middle school, but it ended up coming pretty naturally to me. We were out on the town for a total of 5 hours, including stopping for lunch and getting groceries. It was probably 2.5-3 hours of solid biking, so I am sore and exhausted, but triumphant. I didn't crash or cause others harm, and I kept up with the rest of the group! And I managed a Japanese grocery store pretty well. They're huge! It's hard to tell at first glance what an aisle has because all the packaging looks the same. I really just need an afternoon to wander around. I did, however, get some of my staples - garlic powder, Golden Curry mix, and gyoza. And Frosted Flakes. XD

I'm not sure how much of the map knowledge I'll remember from the tour, but it was nice to see everything(or, glimpses of it, at least). Hikone is gorgeous, and the weather was clear and not too cold! And by not too cold, I mean I was in jeans, tights, tall socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and a coat and wasn't freezing. XD And now I'm back inside and relaxing for the night - made curry for my roommate and her friend, and had a bit of a music exchange party. I'm sharing my symphonic metal knowledge in exchange for some J-rock. Good times. :)

We have our placement test tomorrow! I'm hoping to test into Level 3. Interestingly enough, the books JCMU uses are the same as the ones at A&M, so I've already covered most of the Level 3 book. But I have a feeling I've lost a LOT of the language skills I had at the end of last year, so I'm just hoping I held onto enough. :)