Things I wish I had known...

Oh yeah, there's lots I wish I had known before I moved to the other side of the world to start this PhD almost a year ago. Here's one of my top ten: being a phd student is lonely! Before I started the program, I had read about the sense of isolation that most PhD students feel, but I ignored the warnings because I like to think of myself as immune to all those wussy feelings. Well, turns out those PhD blogs and websites were right, and it is indeed an isolating experience, especially if it's something you're doing full-time, like I am.

Here's a picture of the post-grad room, where I spend most of my weekdays reading and writing. My desk is the one in the left corner by the window, with the heater in front of it. Sometimes there are one or two other students in the room with me, but we're all working on our own thing, hence that isolation thing. The other six or so students that have desks in this room are MIA, which is not unusual in PhD by research programs.


Gone are my public servant days of working as part of a team, and consulting with everyone and their grandma before taking a step. Now it's just me and my research, which is sort of free-ing, but also a little scary.

Here's some of the stickers on my filing cabinet left behind by the last student. Is it any wonder that I'm feeling a little off meat these days?!?