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Published: September 7th 2014
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Campus map
4 is the guest house and office. 3 and 2 are the research buildings (mine is in 2). 9 is the cafeteria/pool table/foosball table/library and other things I may never use. 8 is the "bar." 13 is IEO. 5 is reception. Not sure what the rest are! As in the name, the institute I study at is IFOM, which stands for (in english) the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology. FIRC stands for the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (again, in English). So, really, IFOM is an acronym that contains an acronym.
Anyways, the institute is very small in comparison to campuses of other institutes I have visited. IFOM shares a campus with IEO (the European Institute of Oncology), which is a more medical oriented (as opposed to basic science) research campus. There are 17ish labs on the IFOM campus, and some labs that are technically IFOM labs but operate elsewhere. For example, my PI also has a lab in Pavia, a city south of Milan.
It's really an exciting place to be! So far I have met people from Brazil, India, Spain, Germany, the UK, Nigeria, Japan, and Poland (and obviously Italy). I am sure I have met people from elsewhere and just not realized it, though, as everyone speaks English very well! The few Japanese visiting scientists also currently staying in the guest house don't speak English as fluently as the rest of the campus, so it is a bit of a struggle to talk
to them, but still fun. Many of my Italian lab mates, as well as the Japenese scientists that In meet in the guest house kitchen frequently, have asked me to correct their English pronunciation and grammar, which I do in return for their correcting and tolerating my Italian. It all works out in the end!
The campus (a map is the first picture) is really built towards making researchers feel comfortable there, and I assume to encourage us to spend long hours there. For example: lunches are paid for 5 days a week on campus, where you can eat at the cafeteria (food is pretty good as far as cafeteria food goes, but nothing to rave about). Or, on weekdays and weekends, you can bring a little slip that you get from swiping your ID card on certain card readers, to a nearby restaurant called "Barrio Alto" that has just about everything - pizza, pasta, other typical Italian dishes, burgers, beer, coffee, etc. There are also food vending machines throughout the campus, granted, not great food, but food nonetheless. If you want fresh coffee, you can either get some from one of many vending machines that serves ~16 different
coffee drinks, or if it's the right hours, you can go to the "bar." Apparently, bars here are mostly for coffee and sometimes serve alcohol. This confused me at first as everyone always says "I'm going to the bar, want to come?" right after lunch. I mean, I'm all about a beer at lunch, but going to the bar seems a bit excessive. Now I understand they are just getting coffee. Back to the institute.. There is a ping pong, as well as a foosball table, for entertainment. If you are going to be running an overnight experiment (time course for example, where you need to gather cells every three hours) you can get a room at the guest house (where Im at now! More on that later) which is literally a 30 second walk to any lab. Also, if you want to go home between the hours of 10 and 12PM, you can get 8 (or 10? Dont remember the exact amount) euro for the cab ride home.
The three floors of the research building are all identical. Each floor has two wings, which each house at least 2 labs. Whereas most labs (at least that I have
IFOM campus - ground floor
What you see here is pretty much the entire campus. To the left and in the picture is the cafeteria, and to the left and behind where the picture is is the bar and the IEO part of IFOM. Straight ahead in the picture is reception. worked in or visited) have their own supplies, pipettes, machines (PCR, gel stations, fridges, etc..), glassware, everything that multiple researchers may need is owned by the Institute and is shared by labs. I was shown to my desk and bench space the second day I was there. As a researcher in the lab, apparently I am also entitled to my own spots in the fridges, freezers, and incubator are, and am given all the supplies I need to get started (eppenderps, tips, pipettes, pipettman, notebooks, pens, etc) before I get going and realize what vital thing I am missing. So, again, the institute (and maybe my lab in particular?) really caters to the researchers to make them feel at home.
Finally, the guest house. Each scientist is given 30 days in the guest house at IFOM. Afterwards, there is a second guest house north of Milan that is also free, but is an hour commute with public transport. Or, if you will be staying much longer (such as I will be) you find a new living situation. Im in the process of house hunting now (as in starting it tonight. shiiiet). I think each room has a different layout,
as mine only has a single bed that is really just a couch, but I saw inside of another during cleaning when a door was left open, and it had a full bed and a different layout. In my room there is a large armoire, as well as a few drawers for personal belongings, and a desk with a small TV. The rooms are cleaned daily as long as the key is downstairs at reception (which we have to do whenever we leave the room? Sort of annoying if I just want to be in lab, then have to go down to reception to get a key, then come back up. WAH. It only takes 2 more minutes but still...) Of course all of my clothes and belongings are still in boxes/on the floor/in organized piles, and I've only started to throw things in the armoire because the cleaning ladies complained that my shit was everywhere and they couldn't clean (woops). I have two cool beach pictures in my room that would be pretty awesome if they weren't the same picture. Still, better than white walls. I have my own bathroom with everything one would need, including a bidet! I
have just been using it to wash my feet in the evenings, feelsgoodman. The shower is actually tall enough for me! Unlike the shower in any house I have ever lived in... Hopefully where I move to will have a tall shower as well. The view from my room is pretty nice! The buildings are all different colored, often red, yellow, or green, and there is a beautiful, new apartment building straight in front of the institute. Apparently, a Prada fashion museum is being built right next to the institute? The surrounding area is not the greatest, but I guess gentrification is coming! Not sure why one would want to go to a Prada museum, but then again have you seen how I dress?
The halls of the guest house are lined with pictures that say "Cancer research is..." Followed by different quotes for each, as well as a different immunofluorescent picture, presumably of a cancer cell probing for some important protein or marker. To be honest, I dont really understand the quotes, even after googling the meaning. For example the one included here (roughly) translates to: Cancer research is a roll back in your hands. Granted, this is
me using google translate and looking words up, but still, no Idea what it could mean unless there is some idiom I am missing. I'll have to ask about that now that I've actually looked up what one means. The guest house kitchen is functional, yet small. I have plenty of stuff in the fridge for breakfast and dinners. It works. Obviously not for a long stay, thus the 30 day limit. There are also laundry/dryers on the same floor that apparently are closed on Sundays, as I just found out when I tried to do laundry.
That's all for now! Thanks for reading. Ciao!
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