I can tell I am going to like my organic chemistry lab ... I never liked general chem labs, as they were always about seeing and understanding reactions, and they were long. And boring. Physics labs were not too exciting either, but they were thankfully short. My bio labs were in fact long, but interesting when we were dissecting cool stuff, like sharks and snakes. The only other lab that was as interesting was microbiology, because we got to grow stuff, like mutant bacteria.
But organic chem lab ... sure it was long, but it was really interesting ... we get to make stuff. Last night I made acetanilide crystals. Acetanilide is an analgesic (pain killer), like aspirin or acetaminophen (Tylenol).
It's much better knowing beforehand how reactions work, and how certain compounds react with each other, and then, instead of focusing on the intermediate reactions, actually using that info to create something tangible. Sure, getting the proper reaction is necessary, but to actually make something useful, especially medicine ... now that's cool!
In a future lab, I get to work with chloroform -- you've probably seen it in the movies: It's an anaesthetic that's used to render people unconscious by evil villains. (No, you can't have any.) Whee!
I can't wait to see what we make next .. heh heh. (Deb may have to start hiding the chemicals in the house.)
My plans for world domination are starting to fall into place ...