Iowa State University, United States
In the UK, when you’re 16, you choose 4 subjects to study for the next two years before choosing what you study at university. When I was 16, I didn’t choose physics. My physics teacher at the time was surprised that I hadn’t chosen physics and so found me in the hall and asked me to go to her class. She told me that if I enjoyed it then she would have the subject change form at the end of lesson. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up taking physics at university, and I’m so glad that I did. I love the planning stage of an experiment like DUNE, where you get to let your brain loose when figuring this stuff out. I’ve also met great people and had amazing experiences. One time my friends and I drove to a DUNE meeting in Rapid City, South Dakota. After we left, one of our other friends flight plans got changed and so we ended up driving 3 hours out of our way to Minneapolis and had an impromptu night out. The next day we drove to the Badlands, which are just amazing, by the way. That road trip is one of my favorite memories.