I had a Cell Biology unit about 2 years ago with a few first year students mixed in my lab bench group at University. I was 3rd year at that time since I was allowed the entire 1st year of my Biological Science course to be exempted but was still required to undertake the Cell Bio unit to progress into Microbiology. I was use to 2nd and 3rd year laboratory work and associating with students who not only dressed appropriately for a lab but also acted mature enough to conduct the experiments.
I recall, and it still makes me cringe to this day, this one particular practical. The basis for the prac was simple - culture two different strains of E. coli in various nutrient mediums to figure out which medium produced a more concentrated culture of each strain and which essentially retarded growth. Straight-forward enough. But this was not the cringy part.
The prac went on for 5 hours, one hour longer than expected due to a little misunderstanding in the required materials by the lab technicians. Not a problem, but it was a tiny bit annoying hunting down LIVE cultures of gram-positive and gram-negative E. coli. Everything completed in the end, I gathered my things before signing off with my prac demonstrator. Walking past the lab bench before mine, I saw and overheard the most face-palming dramatisation (the cringe).
Three (and I'm not lying) blonde 1st year students in short shorts, T-shirts and ridiculous shoes; one in heels and the other two in ballet flats, were discussing the prac in high, giggling voices and dramatic hand gestures. I rolled my eyes thinking "Bloody 1st years; can pick them from a mile away. Who wears that during a lab?!" Everyone I was use to seeing in labs sported comfy sneakers, jeans and various amusing, mostly nerdy, T-shirts.
They didn't look particularly bright, but they didn't appear to be particularly stupid. I mean, they had made it this far into their first year of University. They started talking about amoebas. Totally off-topic from the practical. And this is where things got weird. I was about to leave after signing off, but instead headed back to the bench to grab one more sheet of graph paper to aid in my lab report. I looked up to the other bench to see the tall, leggy blonde doing all the talking stopped in mid-sentence to emphasis her point on how amoebas communicate with one another.
It went a little something like this:
With her arms outstretched on either side of her she proceeded to make slow mesmirising waves that rippled from her finger tips to her shoulders and made the rest of her body sway slightly. She then uttered in a soft, cartoony voice as she swayed,
"I'm an Amoeba"
I recall, and it still makes me cringe to this day, this one particular practical. The basis for the prac was simple - culture two different strains of E. coli in various nutrient mediums to figure out which medium produced a more concentrated culture of each strain and which essentially retarded growth. Straight-forward enough. But this was not the cringy part.
The prac went on for 5 hours, one hour longer than expected due to a little misunderstanding in the required materials by the lab technicians. Not a problem, but it was a tiny bit annoying hunting down LIVE cultures of gram-positive and gram-negative E. coli. Everything completed in the end, I gathered my things before signing off with my prac demonstrator. Walking past the lab bench before mine, I saw and overheard the most face-palming dramatisation (the cringe).
Three (and I'm not lying) blonde 1st year students in short shorts, T-shirts and ridiculous shoes; one in heels and the other two in ballet flats, were discussing the prac in high, giggling voices and dramatic hand gestures. I rolled my eyes thinking "Bloody 1st years; can pick them from a mile away. Who wears that during a lab?!" Everyone I was use to seeing in labs sported comfy sneakers, jeans and various amusing, mostly nerdy, T-shirts.
They didn't look particularly bright, but they didn't appear to be particularly stupid. I mean, they had made it this far into their first year of University. They started talking about amoebas. Totally off-topic from the practical. And this is where things got weird. I was about to leave after signing off, but instead headed back to the bench to grab one more sheet of graph paper to aid in my lab report. I looked up to the other bench to see the tall, leggy blonde doing all the talking stopped in mid-sentence to emphasis her point on how amoebas communicate with one another.
It went a little something like this:
With her arms outstretched on either side of her she proceeded to make slow mesmirising waves that rippled from her finger tips to her shoulders and made the rest of her body sway slightly. She then uttered in a soft, cartoony voice as she swayed,
"I'm an Amoeba"
This whole story was brought about because directly after that lab, I told my boyfriend, Ben, about it and he has never let me forget it. If I'm having a ridiculously blonde day he imitates Amoeba girl to annoy me. I happened to see if I could find something on YouTube with the title "I'm an Amoeba"... there are a few but nothing fantastic. I did find this little gem of a website though. Enjoy.
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