The Wild Flowers of Argonne

I spent the summer of 2019 on an internship at Argonne National Lab in Chicago land. On Saturdays the student services program scheduled a school bus that would take all the interns from the lab to right in front of the Art Institute building for the day. On Sundays no such bus was provided. Having no car I was stuck on cite.

Argonne is at the center of a large nature preserve meaning it's security gates are a mile or so from the burbs of Lemont. It also means that creeks, undeveloped/reclaimed land, and deciduous forests dominate the space between the various technical areas. As I had nothing better to do long walks around the historic and beautiful control area became a much needed Sunday ritual.

All around the lab wild flowers seemed to be in constant bloom throughout the summer. Fields of flabbergasting glorious things that where new and unrecognizable to my Oregon eye. A creak flowed near the old condemned and derelict student hosing (we where placed in a nice new hotel on campus) where some of the best could be found.

While security was pretty tights (tho nothing compared to the NNSA labs) a small heard of dear crossing in and out of the control area was frequent. While my armature photography skills are exclusively limited to stationary things, colorful birds diving and swooping in and out of the fence was also common place. The cicadas, crickets, and frogs ensured that there was never a moment of silence as the forest went it about it's work riding waves of entropy.

These types of internships (quick 10 week programs with a massive number of interns from all over) can present a challenge in making friends. Especially when coming from school on the quarter system (due to scheduling you really only get 6 weeks of other people being around). Lots of time when I wasn't walking through the streets of Chicago or mincing through the forest where spent working alone, eating alone, watching tv alone, and just being alone.

Isolation when working on is difficult technical projects with no clear solution is far from recommended, but I always was able to recollect myself and find strength in the lighting bugs and fungi located just outside.

My time at Argonne was important to my professional development. My experiences that summer in Chicago, has made it my favorite American city. But the time I spent in the interstitial areas of ANL gave me moments of quite reflection and even occasional bouts of serenity when insecurity dominated my day-to-day.

This maximum has remained true for me (tho often I don't head my own advice):

Seek comfort in the world around you, when isolation from your fellow men is a fact know that you are never alone when trouncing through the glory of the natural world