Marco and Polo Say Goodbye... To "Free" Therapy

Marco and Polo here,
   Seven more days come and gone and we're still here.  This week we take time to reflect on all the "free" therapy we have had access to over the last four years (tuition aside of course).  We like to think that we have assembled our very own Faculty Therapy Team.  They cover all our bases, from career, to stress, to life, and although the advice isn't always welcome it is always exactly what we need to hear.
   In an attempt to widen its horizons the department has begun an applied biology program, just in time for Marco and Polo's graduation :( ...  As a result the department family has welcomed two new victims...  Er we mean faculty... One of which has quickly become the newest member of Marco and Polo's "Faculty Therapy Team", we'd say we took a vote but it was more like she shangheid the whole damn boat out from under us... The Cultured One has been the swift kick-in-the-pants that we have needed to begin planning our lives post-graduation.  Barely two weeks into knowing us she gave Marco and Polo deadlines for job applications, the deadline is today in case you were curious, and became an unsuspecting business consultant for The Helix (for more information on how you can become a consultant yourself read Marco and Polo Make Life Decisions... Again).  It's not all nose to the grind stone with The Cultured One though, she supplements her drill Sargent ways with a slew of witty quotes and an easy laugh in Microbiology:

• “Carbon knows he’s cool, if Carbon were in this class he would be sitting in the back corner and yet we would all want to be his friend”
• “If you get a Nobel Prize for it, it can be described as sexy”
• “There’s no magic in micro”

Marco, Polo, and The Cultured One

   Kilo's office has become Marco and Polo's very own white padded room...  Having a bad day?  Visit Kilo for some rant time and candy.  Have a ten minute break from class?  Visit Kilo for some 'pick-me-up' candy.  Marco's doing research or Polo's in P-chem?  Visit Kilo to pass the time and candy.  Kilo not in her office? Hunt the department until you find her for some candy.  You may notice the theme here...  Kilo's pretty awesome!  Between her sheer awesome factor, the candy, and fun nerdy toys (like bobble-head-Einstein, Schrodinger's Cat, and the ACS Mole) she has to put up with a TON of Marco and Polo. We have spent many a days losing track of (precious) homework and study time in the vortex of Kilo's office.  Kilo stars primarily as our "stress" therapist, listening to and even joining our ridiculous rants when being a biochem and dealing with people (usually not-biochems) is just a little too much.  Hidden (or maybe not so hidden) among the irrational rantings of Marco and Polo we've participated in a variety of discussions ranging from our favorite TV shows (Kilo's got excellent taste) to where mermaids come from (cause you know the stork doesn't do underwater deliveries).  In recent events Kilo has finally agreed to, or rather has conceded to the immovable logic that is Marco and Polo, the idea that we will be living under her desk for the rest of our lives.  [Want to read more?  Read Marco and Polo Spread Christmas Cheer]

Marco, Polo, and Kilo (with the ACS Mole)

   The most veteran member of our therapy team, La Catedratica, was there to witness the beginning of Marco and Polo and has been right there Gibbs-slapping us (only when necessary) everyday since.  From the early days of O-chem freak outs, to the final days of graduation freak outs (cue the tears people...  We need tissues) La Catedratica has been there holding our hands, kicking our butts, and making us laugh when we may have wanted to cry.  What do you write about someone who has been like a mom, a mentor, a sister, and a friend for the four most stressful years to date?  We can tell you one thing, whatever we manage to write will never be enough to express how we feel and who La Catedratica is to us.  Just today we spent a good hour having a patented 'Life Chat' with La Catedratica in the chem labs.  It is a nice change of pace from our everyday lives because she simply wants us to be ourselves and be happy, or as happy as anyone can be.  The passion La Catedratica brings to class and to chemistry in general, will always serve as a reminder to us of what it's all really about... Being nerdy (of course)...

Marco and Polo with La Catedratica in her natural habitat (the Organic Lab)

 With that we'll leave you with one of the many life lessons we have learned from La Catedratica:

“The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know anything.”

As always Stay Nerdy,
Marco and Polo

Marco and Polo Say Goodbye... To Good Friends

Marco and Polo here,
One more crazy week down of term and one week closer to the end...  We are using this week to say goodbye to all the amazing, funny, and insane friends we have made over the years, some of them you already know like the Kid, Tex, and Nestle, others this will be your first time hearing about.
The Kid has long been a part of our duo (or is that trio?).  She started as Marco's freshman mentee and lived in the same hall as Marco, Nestle, and our friends Creeps and Duckie.  Although the Kid is in biochemistry Polo really didn't get to know her too well until they spent a term working in the department together, the term after Marco and Polo became Marco and Polo.  Since those fateful days the Kid has become a reoccurring character in the story of our college lives.  We have spent many an hour studying, plotting and ultimately corrupting the Kid.  We have done such an incredible job with this that there are more than a few professors who make it sound as though the Kid will seize to exist upon Marco and Polo's graduation in December.

Marco, Polo and The Kid making fluorescent nanoparticles!

Tex wormed his way into Marco's life as her much needed, 'not-gay-gay-best-friend'.  For those of you who don't understand 'Marco-speak' this means Tex performs all the stereotypical 'gay-best-friend' duties without actually being gay *please note Marco and Polo have no problems with any sexul orientation Tex just happens to prefer the ladies*.  Although Tex has remained Marco's 'not-gay-gay-best-friend' he has morphed into so much more in the crazy lives of Marco and Polo (tune in in three weeks).

A Comic Tribute: The Many Hats of Tex 

We wish we had the time, energy, and brain capacity to adequately tell the many stories of Marco, Polo and their band of Merry Misfits but there is not enough time in the word let alone in this term to do them justice. So here's to our band of Merry Misfits:

• Nestle: Marco's college 'twin' and her 'dorm-days' roommate
• Creeps: Our closet-hiding, dirty-minded, goofball of a friend
• Duckie: Marco's "My Drunk Kitchen" co-chef
• Judgement J: Marco's AGD big who lives life unfiltered
• Kitty Wrangler: Polo's kitten-loving 'dorm-days' roommate who was always willing to share her family for a long weekend or holiday
• Boot-leg: The one who taught us to do as he says and not as he does
• Fiery: the antagonistic Old Spice wearer

There are so many more we wish we could mention and thank for their small and big parts in the most recent chapter of our lives.


As Always Stay Nerdy,
Marco and Polo

Marco and Polo Say Goodbye...To Clubbing

Marco and Polo here,

  As second week rolls onward we bring you the second post in our 'say goodbye' series, saying goodbye to clubbing. It's probably not the kind of clubbing you're thinking of though... we're talking about the kind of clubs you join because you're interested in something.  Whether your interest is in rock climbing or anime or anything in between, there's a club here for you.  We happened to find a few clubs here on campus that have peaked our interest in the past four years such as Pre-Med Club and the Green Engineering Organization.
   The Greener Engineering Organization (GEO) was in its second infancy when we first started school four years ago.  The term we started school GEO in b-section did not have enough students to remain a club.  Our first summer working in the department, the term Marco and Polo became friends (believe it or not there was a time before Marco and Polo), we kept running into the A-section GEO-ers.  When we returned to our school term we helped to revive our own GEO.  In the last three years we have done the Flint River Clean Up (see Marco and Polo are the Voices of the River), helped to build a garden for a local homeless shelter, made self-watering planters with the Flint Children's Museum, and held several Battle of the Bins.

Marco, Polo, Tex, and Nestle after helping with building the beginning of a garden  for a local homeless shelter

Polo helping kids build self-watering planters

The GEO crew helping teach about going green at the
Children's Museum

An aerial view of commons during Battle of the Bins (look at us and all our recycling power!)

   At one point or another Marco and Polo had high aspirations, in other words we were both pre-med.  Although these dreams were quickly destroyed...  Er we mean traded for even better dreams...  We have continued to attend and participate in the pre-med club.  There are many opportunities we would never have had if not for being members of this club.  We have gotten to hear at least a dozen professionals in an incredible variety of specialties within the medical field, we have helped with Doctor for a Day (an event inspired and plotted by our very own Mr. Dr. Bones), shadowed a medical examiner, and last but certainly not least this is where we first learned about the Mexico trip that would turn into Marco and Polo's Great Mexico Chronicles (see Marco and Polo Ir a Mexico).
   Marco and Polo don't always go clubbing together, sometimes we do change things up and pretend we are our own people.  Marco has done this through joining a sorority, AGD, while Polo has tried her hand at several different clubs.
   Marco:  It came as a shock to pretty much anyone who knew me prior to college, but I decided to join a sorority. Not just any sorority, the best sorority (in my unbiased opinion), Alpha Gamma Delta.  Joining AGD was one of my best decisions because I met some incredible people who became my sisters and will forever be my lifelong friends.  Along with the friendships and the great memories, AGD gave me the opportunity to improve my leadership through the two positions I held, Ritual Coordinator and Vice President Scholarship.  The lessons I have learned, the memories I have made and the sisters I have gained through AGD will forever be a part of who I am and what I will become.
   Polo: I decided to try my hand at several clubs, I spent a few weeks attending the fencing club, another term was spent in the aquaneering club, and this term I have endeavored to try the cliffhangers.  Fencing was fun and certainly a work out, I wasn't very good at it but I enjoyed it.  I spent the several weeks trying it and would have continued had it not interfered with my classes and homework schedules.  The Aquaneers are a club for scuba diving, once again I truly loved doing this and had the chance to earn my scuba license but being on a limited air supply and taking off the mask underwater was a little panic-inducing.  As for the Cliffhangers (our rock climbing club) Tex is the former president.  I promised him last term that I would try to go to a few of the climbing events this term.  Looking back I really wish that I had stuck with and even tried more things while here but I will never regret any of the decisions to dip my toes in these different waters.

As Always Stay Nerdy,
Marco and Polo

Marco and Polo Say Goodbye... To Being Co-op Students

Marco and Polo here,
   As we begin our final term of school we have endeavored to write at least one post a week about saying good-bye and 'moving on' from college.  This week marks the beginning of the end of this chapter in our lives and as such needs to be properly mourned and remembered.
   As of last week Marco and Polo had our last days at the jobs we loved.  These looked a little different for each of us as our jobs themselves were.
      Marco: I've spent the past three years learning the ins and outs of a molecular biology lab at a food safety company.  Alongside with working on project involving organizing and identifying around 6,000 strains of bacteria, I got the incredible opportunity to work on R&D for a new product able to detect Salmonella and other pathogens in food commodities. Spending entire days in the lab and always learning something new, I was truly in my element.  Between all the hours spent in lab and the countless learning experiences, I met and worked with some inspiring and incredible people, not to mention hilarious. I can't come up with the words enough to thank every coworker, every friend that taught me something new (especially the Molecular Bio group Baby Gorilla, The Brain and Magellan).  At this point in time, I can't even begin to appreciate all that I have learned from my experience but if I had to pick one thing that I will never forget it's that if you don't love what you do, it's not worth doing.
      Polo:  I have spent the last 2 years working at an optometrist's office (Doc's for those of you who remember him from Marco and Polo's Mexico Adventures).  A unique part of my co-op was that the practice was home to two wonderful behavioral optometrists, this means that they offer vision therapy (VT) and sensory learning at our office.  The education I got working there is priceless, I had the opportunity to work in an office setting, learn about optics, work directly with 'normal' vision patients as well as those with vision problems.  I got to work with children, parents, elderly, autistic, and people suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI).  Not to mention the incredible staff, therapists, and doctors in both the main office and the VT office.  I cannot express the thanks I feel to all of my co-workers and friends for helping me on this part of my journey.  To all the patients and their families who have touched my life, thank you for letting me be a small part of your own incredible and promising journeys.
   It is with sadness that we close this chapter in our lives, a chapter that has taught us more about ourselves as people then it did about our careers, as Doc always says 'Never let school get in the way of your education'.

Stay Nerdy,
Marco & Polo

Marco and Polo See Mexico in Panoramic

Marco and Polo here,
   It's been almost 6 months since our trip to Mexico, and with the prospect of our final school term on the horizon we really wish that we were there.  This post comes to you with us wishing to relive our unforgettable Mexico experience before we don't see sunlight for the next several months...

From our hotel balcony at night [see the lack of sun in the sky?]

The view from the top of a baby mountain.  It was a fun little hike

The same view from the balcony [note the sunlight this time ;) ]

Continuing to try and find the perfect angle from the top of the baby mountain

The other side of the hotel

Perfect angle found!  All those things that look like rocks?  Well most of them are rocks but lots of them are shell bits washed up from the Sea of Cortez

Our first three days...  Yup that was what we did, all day long [Polo even got a tan! (a little one anyway)]

We were trying to capture an amazing sunset...  Not quite a success but the view was still breathtaking

   We hope you enjoyed our flashbacks from Mexico!  We're hoping some to the sunshine we absorbed in Mexico will have clung to our cells for this long and we will feel a little of that relaxation in the coming months.

Wishing we were there and that you were too, stay nerdy,
Marco and Polo