Today I went to my first Chem Lab. I was terrified. I thought "What if I don't know enough about density, and Millimeters?" Or worse yet, "What if my partner doesn't know anything either?!" Or what happens if I completely mess up my experiment? Huh? What then? Yup, I was definitely freaked.

We all sat down when our professor walked in the room. He handed out the pre-lab quiz that he expected us to complete in five minutes. I saw the first question and freaked. "I need a calculator!!!!" I wrote my name, Mary Lou, at the top, than proceeded to write an equation out for the problem. Then I skipped down to the next question and calmed down. All I had to do was explain a procedure from our experiment that I had read the other day. I'm writing it out when out of the corner of my eye I see my professor going down the row collecting papers up. "Nooooooooooooooo!!" I start scribbling fiercely now,...He gets closer, madly,...He reaches my side and stops, speedily... He reaches for my paper. One-last-word. Aghhh. I can't think. Um...-amount! Done!!!!! You can have it sorry. Whew!

Than he explains the experiment to us. Than he started telling people who weren't wearing long sleeves to leave the classroom. I looked down and reassured myself I was wearing a jacket. Than he says "okay, I excuse you this once." That's when I discovered my partner had no goggles, also required. We in turn began to wig out, that's when our professor offered to lend goggles/glasses to those with out. Whew! Safe again. How fortunate can two people be? Thank you God! Than he leaves the room.

Come to find out, I knew more than some, and was actually helping others out. My partner also had it all together, and gave me some tips. We were the second to last group to leave, but hey we did a good job! He came back towards the end and gave us our quizzes back. I got two points out of five. He took a point off for not putting my last name down, another for not completing the equation, and a third for putting down "amount" instead of "mass". All pretty lame things I could have corrected. I found out I'm no good under pressure. Not a good thing for a person who is aspiring to be a doctor, hum? I will get better, I will work on it! I know I can do it. (Yeah! That's the spirit, Lou!)~Louly