Well here we go. After toying with the idea of doing a blog for a while, I decided, well why not. I'm not really sure what's going to end up here; probably just some random reflections about things in general I would have thought. Mind you, people who know me think I can talk the hind legs off a donkey so maybe it won't be a problem...anyway we'll see...
But maybe a bit of background would be a good thing to start with. Well I'm a British (or should that be English given the current debates about the UK’s future back in Britain) expat living in Paris. I am currently working as a researcher at a lab just outside the city. It has been an interesting experience that has allowed me to improve my initial rather paltry French skills, but I must admit that I think the lab is no longer for me. Oh don't get me wrong, I'm still geeky enough to admit to liking science but let's put it this way, I'm no longer enamoured with the lab. To be honest I felt like this for the final part of my long, tortuous, character building/destroying (matter of perspective that) Ph.D. and my brief stint back in the lab after some time out while I was moving has only served to confirm that.
Why don't I want to carry on despite all the time and effort to get this point? Well, first of all I don't regret doing my Ph.D. "Pas du tout" as they say here. The only way to you know if research is for you is to try doing some and the only real way to know if one is going to enjoy or be a good scientist is to do it and that means in lots of ways a Ph.D. I did it and came to my conclusions, but I thought I'd give it one more go in a completely different setting just to see if my gut feeling was correct.
So the future, well, who knows? My job allows me to stay here and improve my linguistic skills, so I had been thinking that I should see out my contract and jump ship after, hopefully with better language skills to boot. But things have been tricky recently; the commute on the Paris RER is a pain in the arse, I genuinely dislike lab work now and the attitude of a lot of the people I work with stinks...but then again physicists and social skills are sometimes (?) two things that go together as well as ice cream and marmite.
Well enough drivel for now...j'espère que nous nous parlerons très bientôt.
A plus
DWiG
But maybe a bit of background would be a good thing to start with. Well I'm a British (or should that be English given the current debates about the UK’s future back in Britain) expat living in Paris. I am currently working as a researcher at a lab just outside the city. It has been an interesting experience that has allowed me to improve my initial rather paltry French skills, but I must admit that I think the lab is no longer for me. Oh don't get me wrong, I'm still geeky enough to admit to liking science but let's put it this way, I'm no longer enamoured with the lab. To be honest I felt like this for the final part of my long, tortuous, character building/destroying (matter of perspective that) Ph.D. and my brief stint back in the lab after some time out while I was moving has only served to confirm that.
Why don't I want to carry on despite all the time and effort to get this point? Well, first of all I don't regret doing my Ph.D. "Pas du tout" as they say here. The only way to you know if research is for you is to try doing some and the only real way to know if one is going to enjoy or be a good scientist is to do it and that means in lots of ways a Ph.D. I did it and came to my conclusions, but I thought I'd give it one more go in a completely different setting just to see if my gut feeling was correct.
So the future, well, who knows? My job allows me to stay here and improve my linguistic skills, so I had been thinking that I should see out my contract and jump ship after, hopefully with better language skills to boot. But things have been tricky recently; the commute on the Paris RER is a pain in the arse, I genuinely dislike lab work now and the attitude of a lot of the people I work with stinks...but then again physicists and social skills are sometimes (?) two things that go together as well as ice cream and marmite.
Well enough drivel for now...j'espère que nous nous parlerons très bientôt.
A plus
DWiG
No comments:
Post a Comment