Introduction, Bradford Woods, and Move In

Greetings all, I’m Ciabhan Connelly, a local Hoosier and student at Indiana University. I’m going to be in the pro-health REU this summer, meaning that I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to be researching just yet. I’m a political science major currently, but am considering switching over into a four plus one to get a masters in data science.

The first few days of the REU program have been intense. After picking people up from the airport we went to Bradford Woods for a fun weekend before the real work started. The retreat was jam packed with trust activities and ice breakers. This was both good and bad; while it helped us to get to know each other, we didn’t have much time to breathe. Had we cut down on some of the activities I believe we would have ended up talking and bonding a little more naturally. It’s also worth noting that many of the activities felt like they were more geared towards children than adults.

I personally had the most fun with the alpine tower and canoeing. The tower didn’t facilitate bonding so much, but was just a very well designed climbing and obstacle course. The canoeing on the other hand, did. It was really fun to work with a couple of others in order to steer (especially since we didn’t know how to canoe and were learning on the fly). At some point we got competitive and started racing another group, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

After returning to Bloomington we moved into our dorms. Thomas, Disaiah, and I decided to be suite mates (Thomas was insistent on the distinction between roommates, since roommates are forced to really deal with each other, and some conflict is almost inevitable, whereas we just had to be happy coexisting in the same general space). We bought a lot of groceries and useful items for our apartment, and then wound down for a calm end to the day.