extended acknowledgements

Final Summer Fave: being done

While washing out all the samples I had left in the fridge, it struck me how... pretty it actually looked.
And then I burnt my thesis draft. Which was just a beautiful site to behold.

I remember just before graduating college, Niva had said something like, "I've just never met people I liked so much." Such a true sentiment.

*****

They warn you that you'll be floundering on your own for most of the time. They say you won't know what you're doing, but you'll have to figure it out by yourself - whatever it is. But they don't tell you that it takes the support and guidance and encouragement of everyone you meet to get through the x number of years of graduate school.

In just two years, I've met a lot of people I need to thank for getting me to the end of this thesis. 

Well, I didn't just meet him, but thank you to my dad for reluctantly and skeptically letting me move out of your 10 mile radius to pursue food science. Thank you for always making sure I'm successfully keeping myself alive. Thank you to my baby brother for sending my random pictures of our puppy and Buzzfeed article links.

Thank you to the friends I've made in Madison for keeping me as unwound as possible. Thanks to my fellow grads for sticking with me since that random orientation event. Potlucks will never be the same. Thank you to my food science "frands" - you know who you are - for silly game nights, venting with me, feeding me snacks, too many inside jokes, and making me stronger...literally, thanks for being my workout buddies. Thank you to my College Bowl teammates for three hours per week of stress free shouting about food facts - everyone needs this. 

Thank you to Amy Lin and Audrey Jacobsen for being my emotional anchors throughout.

Thank you to the Department of Food Science for assisting me with all the little school and lab errands that come up. Thank you to Bingqing Cai, Jeehwan Oh, Yanjie Lu, and Luis Jimenez-Maroto for taking millions of seconds out of your day to help me with foreign lab instruments. EDIT: And Abbey Thiel for helping a girl out with unheard of post-defense and post-thesis deposit experiments.

Thank you to my lab mates, past (Dan Zhu and Yan Li) and present (Lei Zhao and Indra Tanidjaja), for teaching me all the protocols and for reminding me that it will, in fact, be okay.

Thank you to Dr. Rich Hartel and Dr. Shinya Ikeda for serving on my committee and your instruction, insight, time, and patience. These meetings can't be easy to sit through.

And finally, I want to profusely thank my advisor, Dr. Srinivasan Damodaran, for selecting me for this opportunity to work in your lab. I am so grateful to now be able to pursue the career I had eagerly envisioned for myself four years ago. Thank you for always being enthusiastic about discussing my questions and progress, especially when we ran into many many science speed bumps. You've taught me a lot about what it means to be a master of food proteins, and though I still have a ways to go, I look forward to carrying that with me to San Francisco.

*****

I'll probably start crying when I drive out of Minny. That'll be my last last goodbye.

I was telling Audrey the other day I didn't think I'd be this sad to leave Madison. The elusive and bland Midwest was just going to be a pitstop between college and the real world.

Two years in life limbo turned into a collection of the fondest memories with the greatest people, and it blows my mind that there are people who are actually sad to see me go. People care?! I'm not sure how to process these emotions. And I wish I could take everyone with me. Just shove them in the crevices in the back of my car between all the clothes I didn't know I had.

Madison, you definitely surprised me. Such a charming, lively, picturesque, little family and college Wisconsin bubble town. I'm a fan of you. I just wish you were easier to fly into.

  

My last days in Madison were filled with food and goodbyes. Goodbyes over food. Last drinks and late night fries at the usual bars. Last housewarming brunch which was just the perfect amount of lazy homey cabin feel (where I contributed olive oil dill scones ^). Last potluck dinner where I learned that all my friends are more interesting than they lead on - I just have to pull it out of them in a competitive game. Last easy night where we ended up doing dance fitness routines for hours. Last pass through Babcock (okay, I won't necessarily miss that place..). How appropriate that I should have just learned about hygge. Because this was it.

I'm so excited to move on, but I'm a little terrified this cozy summer sentiment will fade and I'll never reclaim it again. Maybe I'm just going through another bout of nostalgia. Or maybe I just didn't know relationships could be this way.

On to the next place. Until next time, Madison.

Heartbreak is the national anthem//The best people in life are free

-Taylor Swift