even more excitement

yesterday was one of the most stressful days so far of my PhD career, one of my office mates had her viva in the afternoon; I had no idea how nervous I would be for her. Now this is making me worry even more about my viva which will be coming up sometime in the next year. I can't believe how stressful it was for us sitting there waiting for her to come out and tell us she passed, so I don't even want to imagine how stressful it was for her. But it was such a relief when she came out after three (!!!!) hours of examination with only very minor corrections. We all thought that a viva on a Friday afternoon wouldn't take the whole three hours, but it did, started at 2:15pm and she only come out at 5:15 but with such good news. I have to admit I am a bit jealous that she is done now... oh well, I will get there, after all she started a whole year ahead of me so I still have time to finish, plus I have until the end of September 2009. But first I need to concentrate on getting that conference paper done so it will be included in the programme for the Rome conference in September. It is so nice, people keep telling me about all the things I need to go see when I am there... I really hope I get some time to see some of the city during the conference and not just on the two extra days, but we shall see.

ok this will be the last change of the template for a while I promise... this is much nicer on the eyes, especially if the eyes reading this blog are feeling a little bit tired. Anyway, as I said in a previous post, I got accepted to present a paper at a conference in Rome, and today I went through and sorted out how much money I will need from the department, and somehow they approved it all by the end of the day I had the email saying yes it's fine. Now it is getting even more exciting, it is more real... even though it is still a few months away I am really excited that I get to go to Rome all expenses paid! Anyway, I think it is time for bed now...

Excitement

sorry for the constant changing of my template in the last few weeks. I just can't settle on one at the moment. But for now I like this dark one, it brings out the photos a bit better than some of the other ones.
But yes why am I excited you might wonder... well I just found out on Friday that I got accepted to speak at a conference held in Rome later in the summer. It will be nice to get away for a bit and see such an exciting place, but also I think it will be good for my professional development. Getting closer to the end of my PhD, I really need to start thinking about what comes next. At the moment I am favouring the option of becoming an academic more than anything else. The whole lifestyle that comes with it and the possibilities to be more flexible in my job just sound really good. But we shall see. I am going to apply for some post-doc positions and research jobs though, don't want to just bank on one thing and then not get it... So I wonder what this conference will be like. The last one was a bit strange because I didn't really know that many people there, and I felt a bit awkward for most of the time. Hopefully this one will be better. But it should, from what I can tell at the moment, there will be a number of people from Exeter there as well. Now I just have to see if the department will give me enough money so I can actually afford to go. But they really have to. I have not claimed for an international conference before and more other people get to go to multiple conferences in a year.
So Rome... if anyone has been before and can tell me where to go and what to see or has any other tips that would be good... Better get some breakfast now

and it is the end of another week

time seems to be flying at the moment. I can't believe it is already the middle the June, wasn't it just my birthday? Oh well, must have been longer ago than I keep thinking. Anyway, I have been trying to work on this one paper for so long, and now I am finally making some progress. Earlier in the week i got about a page and a half done in one day, with all the adding and taking away things so that was quite good. Today was a good day as well, I think I have got about 2-3 pages more done, and I think I may have found my flow. All of a sudden I was getting ideas and things seemed to sound OK whereas before it was always that I would write something and then have to delete it as it was pretty much just rubbish.
I've also been thinking about what should come next. A post-doc position would be nice, so I can write up a bit more of my thesis for publication once I am finished with the examination. I came across the ESRC Post-doc thing, which is exactly what I want. Get a year employment at a university and write up the PhD thesis with publications and also attend more conferences and learn a bit more before even attempting to get a job somewhere. At the moment my publication record is nowhere near good enough to get a job at a university... so that needs work in any case. The major problem is that I really don't want to move away from Exeter at the moment. I feel quite settled where I am and I haven't really felt settled in a long time, so this is very nice. So at the moment the only plan I have for when the PhD is done is hope for the post-doc in the business school in the marketing department. Yesterday afternoon I downloaded the notes to help you fill in the application form for this job, and it is evil. Well I guess you have to put in some work if you want them to fund you for a whole year for any research trips and other expenses plus a job... but still it is a really nasty application form, and you need so many supporting documents. Nightmare, but I will have to do it...
But the main worry at the moment is who we can ask to be my external examiner once the time comes. I am already terrified about the whole experience, but nothing I can do about it. We all have to go through it sooner or later.

walk by the Quay

It was such a nice evening on Saturday that we decided to go for a stroll by the river after dinner. It was a nice walk and we even got to see a swan with its signets. they were so cute! so here are a few pics from that walk

noch mehr Blumen

I've put up a few more plants on our window sill. Well, we'll have to see what happens with them anyway. the white pot in the middle should grow some herbs in a couple of weeks, and the brown one should hopefully grow an orange tree.

Neue Blumen auf der Fensterbank

here the new plants on the windowsill.

First a Venus Flytrap. I've been wanting one of those for a long time, I think they look a bit spooky and very cool at the same time.


Then this pink one, we have no idea what it is so if anyone does let us know. Neil just saw it and said "aww pink!" and that decided we were buying it...


And then also a spider plant which doesn't live on the window sill...

Ich hab beim letzen Mal ganz vergessen zu schreiben, dass ich den neuen Sex and the City Kinofilm gesehen habe. Der war echt gut, auch wenn nicht jeder mit dem Ende zufrieden sein wird, aber egal. Mir hat er gefallen und ich glaub Dee und Ilka fanden den auch ganz gut.

Ansonsten war die Woche bis jetzt ganz gut. Hab mich mit ein paar Freunden getroffen und war an der Uni. Arbeit geht ganz gut im Moment, die 4te Studie ist jetzt endlich am Ende. Ich muss jetzt nur noch alles analysieren und dann aufschreiben was es alles zu bedeuten hat.

Gestern abend waren wir mit ein paar Freunden in Bickleigh im Fisherman's Cot, das war echt nett. Erst haben wir gedacht dass es wohl doch nichts mehr wird weil es hier in Exeter so doll geregnet hat, aber dann auf dem Weg hat es gar nicht mehr geregnet und in Bickleigh sah es so aus als hätte es gar nicht geregnet, und so haben wir noch eine ganze Weile draussen gesessen und dann auch noch eine ganze Weile drinnen. Ich glaub am Ende waren wir dann erst so gegen halb 12 wieder zu Hause. Aber es war echt ein schöner Abend.

Heute wollen wir mal zum Gärtner fahren und uns ein paar Blumen für die Fensterbank kaufen. Ich hoffe wir finden was schönes dass zu meinen Sonnenblumen passt. Denen geht's ganz gut bis jetzt und ich hoffe es wird was aus ihnen werden. Diese Pocket Garden sets sind total super.