Adjusting to CSHL

[Charles Kopec]

I did my undergraduate at Rutgers and the campus went through a lot of changes while I was there to make it more beautiful. When I got there the entire thing was concrete, concrete buildings, concrete courtyards there was no architectural sense to it and it was really just a depressing place. All you would really do was sit in the library, there was nothing for your mind to wander through, no enjoyable environment. Then I came out here to Cold Spring Harbor and that was completely the opposite, there were boats and yachts sailing and places to wander through. It was this quaint little New England community on Long Island. Everyone says "Ah. It's so beautiful and so relaxing." Yeah, it could get to the point where you want to just stare out your window. Very often it was too distracting and I began to long for a concrete wall to focus my thoughts. Be careful of what you wish for.

Well after spending my summer here, I had to go back to Rutgers for my senior year. As a funny coincidence they ripped up the courtyard and installed grass that year. It finally felt like a college campus, Frisbee on the lawn with your toes in the grass. Sitting on the roof of the arts building, watching the sunset reflect in the skyscrapers, I realized I will miss this place, but off I go to CSHL for the next 4 or 5 years. You never know, maybe I’ll be back in the future to do a postdoc. Fate has a funny way of working like that.