My job this summer has been the exception. I had no expectations for the internship, but it has turned out to be the best job I’ve ever had. And it’s not the particulars of the job that make it so wonderful. While it’s true that I love science, fly olfaction probably would not have been my first choice to study. What makes my job so wonderful is that I have responsibilities, great people to work with and a real idea of what it is like to be a scientist in the lab. It’s not about the prestige of the internship or any recognizable name of the organization. The important part was to dive head first into a real job. And, for the first time, I’m not yearning to go back to school. Who knows? I may even wind up being a scientist after all.

Robert J. Fenster ’03, a philosophy concentrator in Eliot House, is associate editorial chair of The Crimson. He is living in New York this summer, although he doesn’t know it, because he never sees the light of day.