So the long and super busy week I was quite worried about is finally finished. I had to give a two-hour lecture (my first lecture ever!) from 6pm - 8pm Wed night, get up much earlier than usual to go to Spit Camp the next day (today), and somehow in this week also fit time to prepare for said lecture, teach my regular tutorial classes, do experiments, work on papers, and see students anxious about a soon-to-be-due assignment. You can imagine why me thinking about all this was getting me a bit frazzled.
What ended up happening though, was that I gave myself permission to work only on the things that were immediately important this week. This meant no experimenting, and no paper writing. I ended up being a lot less stressed, and I have to say that it really ended up being an enjoyable week. Yes, I was nervous about the lecture, and spent a huge amount of time preparing for it, but that preparation paid off I think. Although it finished a bit early (which I doubt the students were all that sad about), I found it fun and the students said nice things about it. You end up feeling very important when everyone is listening to you and thinking you're an expert on something (if only they knew...)! My tutorials turned out to be fine, and actually quite amusing. Also, while I was not looking forward to getting up early and finding my way to a foreign university - SPIT CAMP WAS GREAT! The other attendees said it was fantastic and we all learned a lot. I felt very science-y learning this technique for my cortisol analysis - it's called Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay - how science-y does that sound (yes I do know it's actually a very commonly used technique and many people learn it in undergrad, but why must you always try to bring me down man?). Another plus of the day: morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea (caaaaake) was all catered. Free food always impresses the PhD students!
Additionally, I have to give mad-props (is that even how you say that!?) to Husband for being so understanding this week, and doing extra cooking and cleaning while I fell into an exhausted heap each night.
I know all my PhD work is waiting for me next week, but I have the Easter long weekend to look forward to before that! YAY!
P.S. Unfortunately I gave up on my no-caffeine attempt for a couple of days... but it was justified I feel.
"SPIT CAMP WAS GREAT!"
ReplyDeleteI got stuck on those four words for a looooong time. My brain just couldn't process them together as a complete thought. For some odd reason it thinks that "spit" and "great" shouldn't be associated. Sorry :P