DELANE ESPINUEVA, Undergraduate
JS: Okay, let’s warm up with something easy. Tell me about a plant that played a significant role in your life.
DE: Is this a trick question? Does plants vs. zombies count? No? Well my name supposedly means “From the Alder grove” in Old English. (or “black, dark and defiant” in Gaelic/Celtic). So I’m going to go with Alder.
JS: I can’t believe you’d think any of these could be trick questions! Anyway, that’s pretty good, having a plant name for the plant question. So, how do you like Vancouver? Where did you live before coming to Vancouver? Vancouver’s better, right? KIDDING! There are no wrong answers here! Please, go ahead.
DE: I love Vancouver! Gorgeous in the sun, but even its gloomy days have a distinct beauty. Especially when it’s foggy. The best part is the easy access to all the water and the mountains. I was born in the Philippines, and my family moved here when I was about 10 or 11 years old.
JS: Classic fun interview question: What’s your worst feature?
DE: It doesn’t show up in a lot of things anymore, but I do have a perfectionist side in me. I end up spending a lot of time on unneccessary things trying to perfect them. I also have the tendency to bite off more than I can chew. But it ends up being a good thing, because the busier I am, the less time I have trying to perfect things, and so it forces me to be more of a team player. yay!
JS: Heheh. Tell me about your first experiment. Not from your first lab experience, school etc, but your REAL FIRST experiment. If you have amnesia or if your first official experiment in a lab is particularly memorable, that’ll work too.
DE: Nothing particularly interesting is coming to mind right now, but I very vaguely remember throwing water on a bunch of things. I don’t remember what I was doing that for or what I was thinking. I just remember the act and feeling really curious at the time. What I can remember is experimenting with food. I used to throw a bunch of things together and see how they’d turn out. If it didn’t turn out well, I just threw more things in until it was somewhat acceptable food that came out.
JS: The throwing water example is pretty funny/interesting. Certainly when you’re little the concept of solids vs liquids is pretty perplexing, and I’m not surprised that the process of figuring it out might involve throwing! So, what are you up to when you’re not in the lab? WHAT? YOU’RE NOT ALWAYS IN THE LAB? Just kidding, do tell!
DE: It’s pretty dependent on the weather. During the summertime I’m usually out by the water, or frolicking in the forest, or rollerblading around the city. Camera in hand, unless I’m on wheels. Here and there I like hiking up mountains too, and camping. If I’m in a different city, I’ll probably be found wandering about with a sketchbook and of course, a camera. If the weather isn’t too permitting of outdoorsy stuff, I’m at home painting, or scrolling through my photos for something to upload on Tumblr. AND that’s all if I’m not studying. Or if I’m not on Netflix.
JS: Classic interview question #2, really sorry: If you were stuck on a deserted island and you had to choose one type of animal that would invade the island and completely overpopulate it and be around you day in and day out until your life’s end, what would that animal be?
DE: Puppies that magically smell like flowers all the time!
JS: Last question: if you were to come into the lab one morning (it’s ok to leave the lab to sleep at night, sometimes) and find that someone had brought in your favourite edible treat to share with the lab, what would that favourite edible treat be?
DE: Donuts from Cartems. Especially their honey parmesan donut. drooooooool