Week Four: When I grow up, I want to be...

I have become a master of the metro. After I leave DC, I'm definitely going to have nightmares of a robotic voice saying, "This is a 7000 series train". I've been thinking a lot about what it's going to be like when I leave DC. Come August, I will be starting graduate school for meteorology and atmospheric science at Penn State. Going from DC to State College is going to be a HUGE adjustment.  

I spent 10 weeks at Penn State for an REU last summer, and although Penn State has an exciting, party-school reputation, State College is very boring in the summer. Penn State is essentially in the middle of nowhere; my travels from central NJ to State College entail a little over 200 miles on Route 80. State College itself is a cute, fun, little town, but there is literally nothing surrounding it. Once you get on Route 80, there often isn't even a rest stop for over 30 miles. It's going to be a big change to go from a busy, vibrant city where you can get anywhere in a matter of minutes on the metro to the center of PA. 

I've been thinking a lot about last summer compared to this summer. Although I'm very grateful for my REU experience and I'm excited to do research in graduate school, I'm especially grateful for this internship because it's making me realize that there are so many different careers I can pursue with a physics degree other than solely research. For a few years now, I've envisioned myself being a research scientist for a living one day, and it's eye-opening to be exposed to a range of physicists every day that are doing so many different jobs. Adria has a PhD in atmospheric science and works for FYI, and I even had lunch with a TCNJ physics alum Andrew who works for Physics Today. I have a lot in common with Adria and Andrew based on the degree I have, the degree I hope to obtain one day, and my choices in schools, and neither of them are research scientists. But they both have awesome careers that I can potentially see myself pursuing in the future.  

When people ask me what I want to be when I grow up, I still don't know. But I'm truly thankful for all the physics exposure SPS is giving me to help figure that out.