I’ve finally submitted my Ph.D Thesis for examination!!! *cue party music*

This means I’m one step closer to obtaining my Ph. D and becoming a Doctor (but not that kind of Doctor). I wrote about what’s next for the Thesis in a previous post. Hopefully my Thesis gets examined and accepted quickly.

Microsoft Word tells me the compiled thesis is around 43,000 words, and the PDF is 261 pages. It’s certainly very dear to me and I’m very proud of it. It’s been a roller coaster-like four years, but if I had to do it again I would do it in a heartbeat. I’ve learnt a lot about how to science, but also about how to work together with so many different people of all sorts of backgrounds. I don’t need to go into the lab every day anymore, so I’m sort of confused about what to do with myself until I find a job. I’ll miss my lab dearly. 🥺

Unfortunately life has a way of throwing everything at you at the exact same time, so while I was in the midst of finalising my Thesis and all my manuscript revisions for my second paper, it turns out my beloved Grandpa had passed away. 😞 I wasn’t informed until last Wednesday, as both my mum and my Grandma had thought I wouldn’t be able to function and get things done if I’d been told.

They were right. I definitely wouldn’t have coped. He was a brilliant Grandpa/surrogate father figure to me, and I had been looking forward to telling him that I’d submitted. It was all very sudden for all of us, as he was still pretty energetic and mobile. His last words about us were that he, too, was looking forward to hearing about my submission, so it’s all a bit bittersweet now. I’m sure he would have been very proud.

Still, life continues. I’ve had this weekend to properly grieve and celebrate everything. There’s some uncertainty ahead with the COVID-19 outbreak, which thankfully hasn’t reached us properly in Melbourne (yet), but I guess on the plus side I don’t have to commute every day anymore. Happy to binge watch television shows I’d been meaning to check out and get back into gardening again.

Categories: Ph D posts

Tagged as: academicchatter phdchat PhDLife Thesis

ABugsLife

A Ph. D graduate in Microbiology, residing in Victoria, Australia. Currently working in multiple locations but still in the STEM field. 👀 🦠 🧫 🧬