Paige Nolan, 2026 STScI Research Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: University of Maryland – College Park
Hi! My name is Paige Nolan, and I am an incoming junior at the University of Maryland double-majoring in Physics and Astronomy. I am excited to participate in the SPS Internship Program as the STScI Research Intern while living in D.C. this summer! I am very interested in galaxy formation & evolution research, as well as exoplanet and planetary systems research. Outside of my studies, I love going to concerts, exploring new places, working out, and reading. I am so excited to meet everybody and share my experience as an intern throughout the summer!

Internship

Host: Space Telescope Science Institute

Internship Blog

Week 1: Settling into My New Abode

My summer adventure began on my birthday as I made the trek down to DC to move into my new abode. My day was filled with shopping in Georgetown, dinner at Olio e Più, Georgetown cupcakes for dessert (of course), and finally, unpacking for an exciting 10 weeks of DC living. As a lifetime Maryland resident and student at the University of Maryland – College Park (UMD), I have always lived close to DC, visiting every now and then by Metro. However, I never thought I would have the opportunity to actually live in such a gorgeous city! I’m ready to explore what this city has to offer over the summer---hidden shops, new cafés, interesting museums, and much more.

(Spaghetti alla carbonara from Olio e Più.)

Monday was Memorial Day, so all of the interns were free to explore the city and get settled before our first official day of work. Maddie (my roommate) and I spent some time bonding as we ventured to TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack to look for professional shoes for our first day of orientation. We also decided to hit up the local Whole Foods to grab some other necessities, like salt and pepper (I ended up visiting the Whole Foods three separate times that day because I kept forgetting things (whoops!)). I ended the day with a long, scenic walk along the National Mall with a few of the other interns. I think that’s when the realization set in that this would be my daily view during the summer, and I couldn’t be more excited.

(The view of the Capitol from the Washington Monument.)

Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with orientation, HR training, a Trimble Lecture, and, of course, more exploring. Some of the other interns and I wandered around Georgetown for a while and made our way down to the Potomac River, where we had a gorgeous view of the Kennedy Center and Arlington, VA.

The Trimble Lecture, in particular, was a noteworthy event for the week. Science writer Dava Sobel hosted a lecture about Marie Skłodowska Curie’s life as a chemist and physicist during a time when female scientists were often dismissed. Curie had a major impact on the role of women in science---she mentored over forty female scientists, including her own daughter Irène, who became a Nobel laureate herself. You can view the full lecture here !

(The atrium of the building where ACP is hosted. It looked even more beautiful in person!)

(View of the Kennedy Center from the Waterfront.)

(From left to right: me, Maddie, Nora, Jahanvi, Bailey, and Daniel in front of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.)

The exciting work began on Thursday afternoon after I met virtually with my mentor, Dr. Nimisha Kumari. We began discussing the project I would be working on over the summer, in which I would be utilizing the integral field spectroscopic technique to perform research on star-forming galaxies (specifically NGC 625). Basically, it is a technique that combines imaging (essentially taking pictures of objects) and spectroscopy (the scientific study of how matter interacts with light). This is such an exciting opportunity for me because although I’ve gained research experience through my coursework at UMD, this is the first time I’ll be doing a project like this outside of school. I am excited to keep you all updated on how the project is going and what I am learning from it!

For work over the next week, I have a lot of preliminary reading to do, as well as installing new software on my laptop. On Friday, I explored Capitol Hill & the Folger Shakespeare Library with some others and got right to work (this included a lot of waiting for my downloads of PDFs, installers, and more to finish).

(Interns at the Library of Congress. The line to get inside that day was extremely long, so we decided against going in.)

I am so excited to see what this summer has in store for me!

Week 2: Good Morning, Baltimore!

After getting my preliminary reading assignments from my mentor last Thursday, this week has been filled with exploring DC to find new places to do remote work. The Tatte in Foggy Bottom has been a go-to workplace for me this week because of their extensive menu and chill vibes (or “chibes”, the portmanteau of “chill vibes” I have been using non-stop). I have especially been enjoying their iced lattes and iced chai as a fun drink to enjoy while I work.

(Tatte in Foggy Bottom.)

Other than Tatte, I’ve explored a few other places with some of the other SPS interns, including the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) library. It was quiet and beautiful, with ample seating, making it an ideal place to work!

(DAR library. So stunning!)

Now, onto the main event that my extensive reading had prepared me for... my Friday meeting at the STScI! I had never been before, so I was excited to visit for the first time. However, an in-person meeting there meant I would be making the infamous trek up to Baltimore from DC. Taking inspiration from MJ Keller, the 2025 STScI intern, I am going to walk you through the steps I took to get there.

Step 1: Figure out how ticketing works. I wanted to make sure I was prepared and wasn’t wasting time on the day of travel, so the night before, I downloaded the official mobile ticketing app for the Maryland Transit Administration, CharmPass. After figuring out how the app worked, I finally bought my train tickets and bus tickets for my commute.

Step 2: Begin the commute with the Metro. This step is pretty simple, as it only requires a short walk to the Foggy Bottom Metro station to hop on the Orange Line to New Carrollton.

Step 3: Figure out how to get on the MARC at the New Carrollton station. This step took me some time to figure out (as well as some panicking, thinking I had missed my train... luckily, that was not the case!). After a few minutes of wandering, I found the platform for the MARC Penn Line and waited for its arrival.

Step 4: Board and enjoy the train ride. My pre-purchased tickets were definitely worth saving the time and stress of having to figure out how to purchase a ticket at the station. Once aboard the train, I spent my time trying to finish as much of my book as possible, while taking breaks to stare out the window at the passing scenery.

Step 5: Find the bus that will take me to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) campus. Luckily, I have the Transit app as well, which helped me figure out which bus to take and where to get off.

Step 6: Walk to the STScI. After getting off the bus, I meandered through the JHU campus and eventually found myself in front of the building. I had never been to JHU before, so it was fun getting to explore some of the campus.

Although the journey to get there was long and treacherous (not really, but I think the word adds drama), I enjoyed all the new experiences (and the time it gave me to read my book)!

After arriving at the STScI, I went to my meeting where I finally got to introduce myself to Dr. Kumari in-person, as well as the PhD student she is working with, Oskar. I learned about the research they’re currently working on, and I presented what I learned in the reading I was assigned as well. They sent me off with my next assignments, and I went on my way back to DC.

(Collage of my trip up to the STScI. Shout out Maddie for the collage idea---so cute!)

I enjoyed many other non-work-related events throughout the week as well! On Tuesday night, Maddie and I hosted a Love Island watch party in our apartment with a few other interns. Surprisingly, we were all invested in the first episode, watching intently while we chowed down on a variety of snacks.

(Love Island USA watch party with other interns!)

On Thursday, I went home for a doctor’s appointment, and my mom drove me back. We decided to stop by Georgetown for lunch and some shopping. Osteria Mozza DC was our lunch restaurant of choice, and I will say right now that it was definitely a great one! The rigatoni carbonara was delicious, and so was the orecchiette my mom ordered. They also have free matchboxes to take home, which was an exciting discovery for me since I had been wanting to start a matchbook/matchbox collection for the summer! We hit up Georgetown Cupcakes (again, of course) and poked around a few other stores before she dropped me off at my apartment.

(Lunch with my mom! I got the rigatoni carbonara & NA Amalfi Spritz, and she got the orecchiette & Negroni.)

After my commute to and from Baltimore on Friday, I made my way back onto the Metro to venture home to spend time with my boyfriend! He took me out to watch the Backrooms movie, which I had been wanting to see for a while now. It was such a fun time, and we went to Dave & Buster’s beforehand to kill time (I love Skee-Ball and the basketball Connect 4 there). I was a little disappointed after watching the movie, though, giving it a rating of 5/10. I think the way the story played out wasn’t my favorite, but to each their own!

(AMC movie theater after watching Backrooms.)

Overall, this week was exciting and fun-filled, and I am excited to see what the next week holds for me!

Week 3: Train Terminals vs. MacBook Terminals

This week has been filled with long battles with my MacBook terminal as I try to figure out how to run the standard GEMINI reduction pipeline written in Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF). I have the tutorial data organized on my MacBook, but I feel the need to change the way I am going about running the reduction pipeline. The way I have been doing it so far was running an entire script that the example on the GEMINI website provided. However, because of its size, it takes a very long time to run, which means it takes a very long time to detect any errors in the process that I may need to fix (speaking, unfortunately, from personal experience). No worries though---I have a new plan! I am going to break the scripts into parts this week and try running each part separately, while incorporating some manual intervention here and there when errors occur. This will hopefully allow the pipeline to run faster and smoother!

I realized I also have yet to talk about the galaxy I will be researching! NGC 625 is a Magellanic barred spiral galaxy that experiences an exceptionally high rate of star formation (A.K.A. a starburst galaxy). I’m excited to share what I find through my research, and I will make sure to keep my findings updated here as well!

(NGC 625 imaged by the Legacy Surveys Sky Viewer.)

Other than work, my week has been filled with more exploring, coffee shops, and reading! I went to the National Portrait Gallery courtyard to do some work on Monday, which I had been wanting to do for a while! It’s a quick Metro ride away, and the inside is beautiful (not to mention entry is free!). On Tuesday, I went to Georgetown (can you tell I love it there?) and decided upon a cute donut/coffee shop called The Salty Donut. Wednesday, I attended a potluck dinner with the other interns. I made an elote-inspired dip that I found online, and it was pretty good! I’m still tweaking the recipe a bit though---perhaps more lime? On Thursday, I started the prequel to the book series I have been reading. The novel series is called Throne of Glass, and the book I am currently reading is called The Assassin’s Blade. On Friday, my day was filled with commuting and meetings at the STScI. Although the commute is long, I typically look forward to it because it gives me time to read (however, this week I used that time to mess around with my reduction script)!

(Collage of my week!)

Over the weekend, I went on a bowling date at Pinstripes! When I first walked in, it looked like a very upscale restaurant that just happened to offer bowling. It even had a chocolate fountain with various items to dip! I ended up winning only one out of the three rounds we played, but that was fine with me because at least I ended up actually winning one! Sunday was filled with grocery shopping, laundry, meal-prepping, and resetting for the week ahead of me.

Up next this week: AIP dinner cruise, a tour of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Juneteenth, an orchestra concert at UMD (go Terps!), and Father’s Day. I’m looking forward to such a fun-filled week!

Week 4: Exciting New Places!

This week was an exciting one! There were a lot of events stacked on my calendar this week, so I knew there would never be a boring moment.

On Tuesday, AIP hosted a three-course dinner cruise aboard the Odyssey. It was a great night filled with networking, good food, dancing, and enjoying the views as we coasted along the Anacostia River.

(Me and the other interns on the cruise.)

On Wednesday, I had the exciting opportunity to tour NIST in Gaithersburg! Dr. Brad Conrad showed us around the campus, taking us inside to talk to employees who worked in many different buildings. We got to speak with members of the Forensics department that work on firearms and toolmarks. In addition, we got a tour of the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), which was also really cool to see. Overall, it was a great tour, and it satisfied my years-long curiosity about what the inside of NIST might actually look like.

(A direct descendent of Newton’s apple tree. The apples are actually edible, but they’re not ripe yet!)

(Radiation Area sign from the NCNR.)

On Thursday, I met up with my school friend, Aashreya (she actually works at AIP as well!), for coffee after work. It was great catching up with her since I haven’t seen her since we studied together for my last final. We visited a cafe called Maman near Gallery-Place, and I ended up getting the iced chai and a Nutella brownie (soooo good!).

Friday was Juneteenth, so I enjoyed the holiday and spent the day doing whatever my heart desired! My boyfriend & I went to see the new movie Obsession at a nearby movie theater, and it was pretty good---I think I’d give it a solid 8/10! Much better than the Backrooms movie in my opinion. We also grabbed dinner at this fast-food-like Vietnamese place called RollPlay in Arlington.

Saturday we went to Gwenie’s Pastries x Lapu Lapu in Arlington because I have been wanting to try it out for a while. I have been looking for a good Filipino place where I could get some of my childhood staples, such as lumpia, ube pandesal, Spanish bread, and more! I will be returning, of course.

Sunday was Father’s Day, so I went home to spend the day with family. Love you, Dad!

Now, as for what I was working on this week, I was still wrestling with the GEMINI reduction pipeline tutorial for two or three days this week. I was getting frustrated because I had no idea what I was going to do if I couldn’t get this to work. After a lot of messing around with the script, however, I found out that a major reason it was taking so long to work/wasn’t working was because the data that the tutorial had me download was taking up all the space on my virtual machine (VM) that I have the script running on. After figuring that out, I decided to scrap the whole tutorial and just adjust the script to run the data for NGC 625 instead, since those files were much smaller. After making that transition, I noticed that my script was running faster (and was actually working). I was ecstatic! That means I was one step closer to actually working with my data. Although that took up a majority of my time, I also fiddled around with the data to learn more about it, like the wavelength range of the data and which interesting emission lines I could find within that range. This would help me determine what I can find out about the galaxy later on once I actually start looking through the data. Overall, I am really excited about my progress this week, and I am looking forward to working on it more next week!

Fun plans for this upcoming week: Washington Nationals baseball game, Moulin Rouge at the Kennedy Center, and dinner with the AIP board!

Week 5: Halfway... Already?!

I can’t believe I’m already halfway through this internship--where did the time go? I’ve had so many great experiences so far, and this week was definitely packed-full of them!

On Tuesday evening, my dad came down to DC to attend the Nats vs. Phillies game with me for his Father’s Day present. The last time we attended an MLB baseball game was probably over 10 years ago! We had a lot of fun watching the game, and they even had a special promotion going on where they gave out free basketball jerseys! Unfortunately, the Nats ended up losing, but it was so much fun regardless.

(Nationals Park.)

(Me & my dad!)

On Wednesday evening, I met my aunt and uncle by the Georgetown waterfront, where we ate a delicious dinner at Founding Farmers Fishers & Bakers. During our dinner, we spotted several fighter jets flying above us, presumably in preparation for America’s 250^th birthday. It was an insane sight, and a few of the jets even hit the afterburners! There had apparently been more flyovers that day, and the next, but I had missed the rest of them. Such an exciting experience, though!

(My uncle, my aunt, and me!)

Thursday evening was also packed-full of excitement! After work, me, Maddie, Bella (Maddie’s friend), Faith, Sierra, Amelie, and Bo got ready and headed over to the Kennedy Center where we enjoyed a night of music, laughter, and more during a showing of Moulin Rouge! This was my first time ever attending a show at the Kennedy Center, so of course I took at least a billion pictures while I was there. I really enjoyed the show a lot, and I would definitely see it again sometime!

(Moulin Rouge! pre-show.)

(A group photo before the show started!)

Friday was also a very exciting day for everyone since we had a wonderful dinner with AIP’s Board of Directors at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore (more specifically, at The Bygone). I had the exciting opportunity to network and connect with many members of the board and learn more about their different backgrounds. Having the opportunity to speak with everyone made me realize how diverse careers in physics could be, and it opened my eyes to many new and interesting pathways. In addition to the great conversations, the view of the Inner Harbor and the food were amazing! Overall, it was an 11/10 experience, and I am so grateful to have had it!

(SPS intern group photo on the balcony overlooking Baltimore!)

(The creme brulee---probably my favorite dessert of all time!)

(A photo of me on the balcony overlooking Baltimore.)

This weekend, there was a lot going on in DC, so there was never a boring moment. On Saturday, my boyfriend and I made our way down to the Wharf to go watch the Red Bull Spin Off! It was so cool actually seeing the contest in person since I had only seen clips of it online. There were staff members giving out free Red Bulls and other free merch around the entire Wharf, and it was crazy seeing how many people has actually turned out to the event! We also ended up going to a pop culture art expo event near the Wharf as well, but I didn’t end up getting anything. It was fun to look around though!

(Javi & I in front of a Red Bull car.)

(Me with the inflatable Red Bull arch in the background.)

(Javi & I with another Red Bull sign for the Spin Off).

As for work done this week, I have continued reducing the data for my galaxy. I was almost done with the process, and all that was left to do was put the data cube together. However, I ended up getting an error that needed to be fixed very early on in the process, so I need to go back and fix it up some more. In addition to that, I have downloaded MUSE data from the ESO Archive of NGC 625 to create moment maps and analyze the spectra within a region of my choosing. Since the wavelength range for the MUSE data is different than that of my data from the GEMINI South telescope, the spectral lines I see in the MUSE data may not all be seen in my data.

(Some of the lines I’ve labeled.)

Next week, I’ll continue reducing the data and creating more moment maps for the emission lines I’ve labeled.

Overall, this week was a really fun one, which was fitting for the halfway mark of this internship. I can’t wait to see what next week brings me!

Week 6: Happy 250^th Birthday, America!

This week was very exciting with Independence Day coming up! It’s America’s 250^th birthday as well, so there were events everywhere in the city to celebrate. In addition to America’s 250^th birthday, it was the Metro’s 50^th birthday as well! In honor of that, there was a pop-up Metro gift shop in L’Enfant that I, of course, went to. I ended up purchasing 3 pins for my favorite Metro lines (I know, that’s so nerdy of me, but I love it).

(Metro pop-up gift shop.)

On Tuesday, we had a virtual lunch and learn event with AIP’s Hannah Daniel & Jessica Sansarran on their career journey. It was really inspiring and refreshing to hear about their realistic and exciting career journeys. It made me think about how I envision my future, and how I plan to get there. However, I also learned that sometimes life happens, and it’s okay if things don’t go exactly as planned.

On Wednesday, the other interns and I made our way up to AIP – MD in my beautiful college town, College Park for a tour of the Neils Bohr Library & Archive. We got a tour of the different parts of the library & archives, and they even pulled out some interesting books, zines, and more for us to look at. In addition, they also described the process of oral history interviews, including the interesting confidentiality rules. After the tour, I spent some time looking at the books on the shelves, and a biographical dictionary caught my eye: Who’s Who in America. I remember my grandpa showing me those books when I was younger because his name had been mentioned in it as an organic chemist. I started flipping through one of the volumes, but I couldn’t remember exactly which one he was in. I decided to also look at American Men of Science just in case, and I ended up finding him in there! It was really cool, and inspiring as well!

(Supplément à l’histoire naturelle by Georges-Louis Leclerc. I thought they looked really pretty!)

(Letter from Einstein to Schrödinger.)

(Educational photobook about Hiroshima.)

The rest of the week I spent at home for the 4^th of July weekend. I spent time with friends, family, and my boyfriend! On 4^th of July, I went tubing in Antietam Creek with my boyfriend and his family!

In terms of work this week, I continued working on the Gemini reduction pipeline. I determined that there were missing fibers from my data that I had to inspect. I found 13 missing fibers, and followed a tutorial from a paper to fix it. I learned that this is why I was unable to cube my files during the last step of the process.

(Close-up of fibers 677-700 of aperture 1 of one of my flats. You can see fibers 690 and 692 are missing.)

Week 7: TLDR: Made abstract.

A majority of this week was spent focusing on creating the abstract for my presentation. I made a plethora of plots and maps from my MUSE dataset, then used them to come to conclusions about NGC 625.

(Metallicity maps derived from indirect methods (N2 and O3N2).)
Other than work this week, I spent time with my sorority little, Maura, who came down to visit me for the day. She had never been to Georgetown before, so of course I had to show her my favorite spots and shops. We got pizza at il Canale for lunch, grabbed matcha at Blank Street (I’m hooked now---I love matcha!), and then went on a fun shopping trip.

(Margherita (top) and Georgetown (bottom) pizzas from il Canale.)
On Saturday, Sierra and I ventured over towards DuPont Circle for a fun morning filled with puppies and yoga at Lūneh Yoga. It was absolutely worth the $60 I spent, and I will be doing it again!

(The puppies! HOW ADORABLE! So many puppy snuggles and puppy kisses!)

This week was pretty much just those three things (along with some cafe-hopping throughout the week to find spots to do work), so keep an eye out for the final abstract, and come back next week for more fun things!

Week 8: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...

I can’t believe I only have two weeks left of this internship! Time has flown by so fast, and I’m going to miss living in DC so much.

I just submitted the draft for my final presentation, so things are feeling even more real now! I included most of the important plots that I’ve created so far, but there are a few things I need to tweak with them over the next two weeks. Everything seems to be coming along well, though, and I am excited to see what my finished presentation ends up looking like!

(A sneak peek of one of the sections of my final labeled spectrum. This looks much better than what I had before!)

As for the fun stuff this week, we had an informal lunch with the AIP Foundation Team on Tuesday, complete with catered CAVA (yum!). It was great to be in a more relaxed setting to get to know everyone a little bit better. On Thursday, us interns went as a group to see Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theater Company over near the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro stop. I remember having to read the play in my AP Literature class during my senior year, which ended up being useful during the show since they had been speaking in Early Modern English, which was sometimes hard for me to understand. The puppetry was great, and so was the acting! It was a fun experience overall, and a nice change of scenery.

(Us interns in front of the theater after the show.)

On Friday, my boyfriend came down to visit, and on Saturday, we met up with my parents, aunt, and uncle at The Capital Grille near the Archives-Navy Metro stop. It was a beautiful dinner, and I really enjoyed spending time with everyone! I ended up driving back home with them for the weekend as well.

(The front of The Capital Grille.)

On Sunday, I spent most of the day with my boyfriend and his family at their World Cup watch party! I usually don’t watch soccer, but since it has been the World Cup, I had recently been getting into it more. Everybody there was rooting for Spain, so it was really exciting when they won!

Overall, it was a fun and busy week. These final two weeks will definitely be keeping me busy as I finish up my final presentation, so stay tuned!

Week 9: Finishing Up!

It’s crunch time here in DC for us SPS interns! With final presentations coming up next week, I have had a very busy schedule getting my presentation ready. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to finalize and “beautify” my plots this week so they will look nice on my presentation. I also have started to love the DS9 software and all of the new features I’ve been finding out about. For example, I learned how to overlay the FOV of an image taken using one telescope onto an image taken by another telescope using DS9.

(Overlay of MUSE FOV onto HST image of NGC 625.)

On Thursday morning, I introduced myself at the AIP All-Staff Meeting and briefly did an overview of my summer project. It’s possible that I will be writing a paper on the work that I’ve done over the summer since there is yet to be literature of NGC 625 published using MUSE data, so that’s exciting!

As for outside-of-work activities this week, I did a lot of fun things! On Tuesday afternoon, us interns were invited on a private tour of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, led by Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony. It was so much fun, as I hadn’t been to the Air & Space Museum in years! Dr. Muir-Harmony was a great tour guide as well, giving us in-depth information about each of the exhibits.

(Apollo lunar overboots.)

(Astronaut suit.)

(Cover of a novel written by Jules Verne.)

(Sidereus Nuncius by Galileo Galilei.)

(Cute display of a ship orbiting the moon.)

(A cute Hello Kitty space-themed blind box I got from the gift shop because it was just too cute!)

After the museum tour, Jahanvi and I walked over to Dolcezza because they were giving away free gelato for the store’s birthday. The line was really long, but honestly, it went by pretty fast. Shout out Amelie for letting us know about this fun event!

(Free scoop of Dolcezza’s Chocotorta gelato!)

Jahanvi and I then walked over to Bar Chinois DC for their $4 dumplings, which were delicious! I got the pork dumplings, and she got the vegetable ones.

(Pork dumplings (top) and vegetable dumplings (bottom).)

On Wednesday afternoon, the DC office building (District Center) hosted their annual barbecue lunch on the rooftop. Sierra and I headed up and sat on the rooftop while we enjoyed music, lunch, and other fun activities.

(Free Mission BBQ they provided. It was delicious!)

(Charm bracelet-making station! It was very busy, but me and Sierra managed to make one.)

(Photobooth picture of (from left to right) Bo, Sierra, and me.)

On Friday night, a bunch of us interns went all the way to West Falls Church, VA to enjoy All-You-Can-Eat sushi! We ordered at least 20 plates of sushi, along with some other appetizers as well. Safe to say, I think we got our money’s worth!

(AYCE sushi (photo courtesy of Nicole).)

My boyfriend came down again after dinner on Friday, so we spent time together. On Saturday, we traversed all the way to the Ebisu in Falls Church, VA. It’s a cute Japanese-life store that happened to have my favorite blind-boxes to collect---Smiskis! I had been trying to get a specific Smiski for a long time, and I finally got it on this trip! Between me and my boyfriend, we got 4 Smiski’s total, and they were all worth it.

(The Smiski I have been trying to get for ages. I’m so happy I have it now!)

Later that day, we also went to Costco to see if we could find the frozen lumpia rolls I had seen online. However, we were unsuccessful, and we ended up just getting some other snacks instead. For dinner that night, we went to Hook & Reel to try our first-ever seafood boil! It was so good, and the seasoned garlic butter sauce it came in made it 10 times better. We crushed it, and it’s safe to say I would definitely go back again!

This was such a fun week filled with many exciting activities! I can’t believe next week is my last week already, but I know I’ll make it a fun one. Stay tuned!

Week 10: Fin.

Wow. What a ride! My final week in DC was so much fun, and also a little sad since I’m not ready to leave yet.

This week, I mainly focused on finalizing my presentation and practiced presenting it many, many times. It was nice presenting it to my friends because they were able to give me honest feedback on what I could improve, and also what was already good.

(Me and Aashreya after final presentations.)

(Me and Maddie after final presentations.)

(2026 SPS Interns after final presentations.)

In terms of adventures in DC this week, I explored a bunch of coffee shops, and my friend (and AIP FYI intern) Aashreya stayed over at my apartment with me so she could watch our final presentations.

After exploring so many cafes in DC, I think I need to share a list with my honest opinions on them:

• Maman: 6/10. The coffee is okay, but the pastries are much better. It’s also a chain, so not really a “local” DC cafe (Tik Tok made sure I knew that, haha!).
• Tatte: 5/10. The drinks weren’t great, but the breakfast sandwiches are decent. Good study spot as well. This one is also a chain.
• Childhood Cafe: 8/10. I like their matcha better than the coffee, and the pastries look cute.
• Morena Cafe: 9/10. I LOVED going here! I might be biased because it’s a Filipino cafe, but it was great. The rice bowls are delicious, and the bibingka latte I got was also delicious.
• Dua DC Coffee: 7/10. The coffee was good, and so were the bagels. It was a good spot to do work as well.
• The Salty Donut: 6/10. The coffee I got wasn’t that good, but the donuts look great. This place was also a good spot to do work, then you can stroll around Georgetown afterwards.
• Emissary Cafe: 7/10. I got the blueberry matcha from here after doing puppy yoga, and it was pretty good! The chocolate muffin I got was also delicious.
• Blank Street: 10/10. I know it’s a chain, but wow do I love this place. The matcha from here is actually what got me into drinking matcha, and I couldn’t be happier. Shout out to the vanilla bean matcha and the strawberry shortcake matcha.
• Bluestone Lane: 8.5/10. The strawberry matcha from here was good! It’s attached to a library as well, and it also has its own space for you to sit down and do work.
• Dolphin Cafe: 7.5/10. The drink I got was pretty sweet, but it was still great! It was presented in a very aesthetically pleasing way as well, so bonus points for that.
• Cafe Georgetown: 7.5/10. They have that machine where you can get a picture on top of your latte which was really cool, so I got one of those! The picture turned out really good, and the coffee was good as well.
• For Five: 7.5/10. I got the matcha from here and it was also good! It was gone like 15 minutes after I got it.
• Coffee Republic: 6.5/10. It was okay. Not great but not bad.

(Morena Cafe review in pictures.)

To close out, I am so thankful for this opportunity. I had such a great time living in DC over the summer, getting to meet and become friends with my cohort, and working on an exciting project with my mentor. I feel like I have learned so much about research and the professional world through this experience, and if given the chance, I would do it again! Thank you to everybody that helped me on this journey, and thank you to everybody that I met along the way.

Thank you for following along on my journey. Until next time!

(2026 SPS Intern Cohort.)