I've been meaning to write this post for a while now.
It’s now been about 6 weeks since I handed my thesis (The coral
Cladocora caespitosa as a high resolution palaeoclimate archive)
in after three and a half years working solidly on it at UEA. All the work,
years of my life, stress and swearing that went into it all fit into about
45,000 words – which doesn't seem like a lot when you realise it’s only 35
words per day of the PhD.
There was no grand finale, no fireworks, no celebrations,
the copies of the thesis were printed off, bound and handed in with no more
than a ‘Well done, that must be a relief.’ from the office staff. After so long
working on it actually finishing and handing in was a great anti-climax, and I
actually felt a little bit sad that it was over rather than any kind of relief.
It was almost some sort of Stockholm syndrome, I’d developed some sort of dependence
on working on the thesis at the same time as hating the damn thing.
Now the thesis is done and the funding is all gone I'm now
back in a part time, minimum wage job (retail assistant at Go Outdoors, Norwich)
like the last three and a half years never happened. It is nice to have a break
from science but I do feel that if I stay there too long my brain is going to
shrivel up and die from complete lack of use, it seems as though I've already
gotten stupider in the last 6 weeks (having managed to miss a few shifts, lose
things and, most of all, write a car off).
It’s now a case of waiting for my viva (thesis defence) in a
month’s time, hoping that they don't completely rip the thesis apart and I only
get minor corrections to do so I can start looking for a ‘real’ job. I still
have lab work to do for a clumped isotope paper that needs finishing off but I
can’t get on the mass spec. for a couple of months yet as there’s a queue of
people desperately trying to finish off their own PhD’s. And I’m still waiting
on the proofs for my stable isotope paper and the reviewer comments on my trace
element paper (both on the coral Cladocora
caespitosa). So all in all it’s just been a period of quiet waiting; not
really the great celebration I always thought would be waiting at the end of
the thesis, but maybe it’ll get better after the viva. Maybe…
This post might sound pretty negative but I don’t regret
coming to Norwich and doing a PhD at all. It’s been a great (although
frustrating at times) experience, these have probably been the happiest few
years of my life so far. I've met many great people (including the amazing
Charlotte who got me through a lot of the shittier bits of the write up), had
some great experiences – mostly with the UEA Fell and Mountaineering Club, and
discovered (hopefully lifelong) passions for running and climbing, while doing
all of the science.
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| It's not been all bad |
