random thoughts while my samples are running...
Drawing from 2016 on… I think
During my PhD, I was living most of the time on Helgoland and I moved to Bremen on the last stage of my thesis. Sometimes I needed to express my thoughts and I did drawings about it.
Here you can find some jokes and feelings I just find on my files while working in this website:
1- How can I work with this weather?
On Helgoland, you can have all the weathers in the same day. But in general, summer was always warm and nice to be outside at the beach. On the other hand, autum and winter was really rainy and I just wanted to be a burrito on bed… So when was actually a good weather to work? hahaha Maybe a cloudy day, but we always could find a excuse if we want to 😉
This draw I think I did around 2016-17, but I cannot be sure with that weather
2- Emotional tiredness after presentations
To deal with the impostor syndrome can be sometimes really hard. One of the activities I like to do but makes me super anxious is to present in small or big groups. It can be even hard to breath and afterwards I must sleep a lot, but I feel always happy to share my stories in STEM or tell the importance of viruses and other microbes in our ecosystems.
The tools I learned in the theater (yes, I was in theater classes at school and also working in a company) helps me to deal with this. To rehearsal, voice training and drawings in my presentations can increase my confidence. Although I already can said “I’m an expert in virus ecology”, I still feel I’m not worth for such a high level… but this is something I must learn and accept 😉
Btw. I would like to thanks to everyone who support me when I get anxious. And if you feel alike, you’re not alone <3
Let me know if you want more info or illustrations about Impostor syndrome in the academia.
3- Many ideas, but not the right one
Doesn’t happen to you to get super inspired with new project ideas when reading a great publication or article? Well, with me happens a lot! I wanna do comics about microbiology, or a manual about the techniques applied in phage ecology, but in my own way, or a project to go further the first research question of my thesis… but any of these ideas where the one I needed to write the thesis!
It was hard to focus on one single project, considering the whole potential and my motivation to explore the unknown virus world! But with time I could learn how to deal with these tasks and prioritize the main goals before start a new idea. An example of that is this website, which I wanted to do a long time ago but now was the right moment for 😉
4- The thesis Rapunzel
When I moved to Bremen in the last stage of my thesis, I was most of the time writing from home… so I almost didn’t go outside, only to buy groceries or have a drink sometimes. As most of my flatmates are outside during the day, I was alone at home, feeling like a thesis Rapunzel.
Now with the quarantine is feeling kind of similar, but now without dreads and all together in the flat.
5- not feeling fine
In 2018-19 I got tonsilitis really but really frequent. At the end, I got a surgery at the beginning of this year to take them out (I would write an essay about), but in the meantime I felt so ill while finishing the thesis and feeling the irony to work with pathogenic bacteria and be infected by another one…
In this case, my antibodies or my little viruses couldn’t kill the bacteria who infected my tonsils, but hard antibiotics helped me
6- Everything is fine...
A summary of the last stage of my PhD thesis process, no more explanation needed D:
7- Submission done!
After lot of struggle (and getting ill because of my stress), I finally submitted my thesis in August 2019! I was so happy and still couldn’t believe it was real. In October 2019 the thesis defense took place.
How did it finish? Check it in the Defense post. Also, I drew in the STEM squad and summer of STEM posts about my life as a PhD student.
