This week has been rather hectic! So many fun and exciting things have happened. I currently have tested my experiment on five participants and have two more scheduled for next week. I am hoping that I will hear back from a few other people I have emailed about scheduling so that I can continue to be productive. The testing itself has gone very well. There have been no issues thus far other than a slight delay in starting one day because the experiment kept automatically shutting down. While this was stressful, it stopped happening fairly quickly and I was able to resume my testing.
I also discovered this week that the gates of the university building that the lab is situated in closes much earlier than I anticipated! Thursday, after I had tested a participant, I decided to finish up some lab work before I went home. I was so focused that I did not realize the maintenance crew went around and locked all of the gates. When I finally left the lab around 6 o’clock, I realized I had been locked in. I ended up waiting at one of the gates until a kind guard walked by. I was able to communicate with him what happened and ask if he could find someone who could open the gate. Thankfully, there was still one maintenance person on campus who was able to come by and unlock the gate. I am glad that the people on campus were so helpful and understanding while all of this was going on.
Outside of my research work, I have started to make a few friends. On Tuesday night, I went to a poetry open mic where I was able to listen to many talented artists share their work. On Thursday, a friend of mine took me to a climbing spot right on the coast. It was so fun getting to climb in an environment I had never climbed in before. I am grateful for the opportunity to continue meeting people at the climbing gym during the week. It is such a good spot to meet locals with whom I share similar interests.