The climbers of Mount Everest do not have it easy. The thin air, the altitude sickness, the frost bites, and the freezing wind usually pushes people to their death. However, these climbers look beyond these problems and instead look at the top. This is the reason why they can climb the world's largest mountain. The climb to the summit of Mt. Everest is just like the climb to reach your life goal. I myself had to endure many obstacles like the climbers on Mt. Everest but I am now seeing the summit. Last week, I finished two research interviews and they were amazing. My first interview went on for two hours! We spent an hour talking about the field of astronomy and next thing I know we are talking about black holes, white holes, gravitational waves, and a multi-dimensional universe. I walked out of that interview with so much insight into astronomy. The person I interviewed was amazing too! He gave me amazing tips and even taught me some astrophysics. My first research interview was definitely a great one. The next day, I had the big research interview with NASA, I was so nervous but the person I interviewed was beyond nice. I felt like I was talking to a long lost friend. We both connected so well and she understood my interests. She showed me all the labs they had at the Johnson Space Center and I got to see a gigantic electron transmission microscope. It blew me away. I felt like a kid in a candy store. She gave me a lot of useful advice and also offered to send me her most prestigious research paper. At that point of time, I felt like I was in heaven. Turns out, she was part of the team that discovered that there is a branch of astronomy called astrobiology. As a result of that, she was on CNN and ABC News. How amazing is that? As you can tell, last week was nothing but amazing. I learned so much and I also think I might have found my mentor but I am going to wait and see what happens with my other research interviews. After the first two interviews, I called someone at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the person agreed to do a research interview with me. This is my second interview with NASA. It is beyond amazing! I also got an interview with a professor at Baylor and also another professor at SMU. I have had a great year with ISM so far and I can't wait to see what else happens. I started at ground zero but now I can see the summit of the mountain.
