Delta

Nice! Sachem village was easily my favorite of the housing when I went on the tour. Plus... one of the students (and her sister) gave us freshly baked sweet breads during our tour of SV. Yummy!

Oh! I don't remember if I saw you during the first recruitment weekend; did you attend the 2nd one? If so, what was it like? Did they take you guys out to steak dinner as well?

Nice. I remember studying everything about different antibiotics back in undergrad... made my head spin! I liked learning about how pathogens evolved to evade certain antibiotics though. Super cool.

Also, I'm getting so much spam after posting my e-mail to the housing listings. Currently, I'm playing around with a scammer. Thank god for the internet: I've already read their conversations with others. I'm hoping to get them to run around after I "wire" money to them.

On that note, are you still interested in renting? PM'ed you my e-mail in case you're interested.

Whoo hoo! Got a house; now to look for a housemate..

Oh! What company do you currently work for and what type of research do you do (if you can disclose)? I haven't much insight into what working for a biotech/pharmaceutical company would encompass, but you seem to love it, so I'm curious to hear your take. I interviewed with a PI at another institution who went into industry and then came back into academia. He said that he realized that he wanted to go back into academia because, although it was exciting to work in industry, he wanted to further pursue ideas whereas the company may suddenly say, "that's not viable, we'll try something else."

Yes, the prices plus taxes are very high. But... so is the renting. In Sachem Village, a 2 bedroom is $1400+. Some other housing near the Hanover campus are about $800+ for 1 bedroom. The dorms are $800, but you have to share with 3 other random graduate students. Since my girlfriend will move and live with me, it limits the options a bit. Must... save... money! Which reminds me, our class should organize carpools to save on parking fees and gas.

Ooh, what kind of pets do you have? We personally have a cat, some tropical fish, and some mice. Pets are so relaxing to be around... unless they're being bratty and scratching the walls viciously. !

PhoenixForce: I'm glad you're joining!

CayBaySea: Nice! Cholera, S. aureus, and biofilms, huh? Microbiology and pathogenesis is really interesting to me as well. The only thing turning me away from it is the sheer amount of work you have to do to get published (at least, my impression). I spoke with some people in microbiology at the DOC, and they said that on average, a microbiology student will take about 6 years to graduate vs. 5 years for immunology students.

Look forward to meeting y'all as well. Any idea on picking housing in the area? I'm thinking about purchasing a home (they're expensive up there!) and sharing/renting it out to fellow grad students or undergrads. Maybe is a good idea, maybe too risky. :/