written by Eric Schneider

The past week has been a fantastic experience for me and not without its challenges. From the Lisbon airport being a strange mess of hallways to learning that the Spanish they speak in Asturias is not always the same Spanish as is spoken by the rest of the country. I imagine if I were Spanish and learned American English before going to study abroad in rural Louisiana that it would be a similar experience. I’ve begun work as well under Dra. Beatriz Martinez here at IPLA (Instituto de Productos Lacteos de Asturias) studying the genetic responses to antimicrobial peptides by the bacteria Lactococcus lactis. The people here are all friendly to work with and at least don’t appear to mind helping me better my Spanish along the way. So far this Summer is shaping up pretty nicely.