Monday 20 August 2012

PhD begins this week!

Friday, 24th August begins a new era. I called the Prof. almost two weeks ago (yes I have been too busy to come here and write about this), to explain why my master's certificate was late and to see if there was any chance of being able to extend my PhD application instead of having it rejected for being late.

In all honesty, I did think it would be rejected. I mean I had one extension when my supervisor was too busy to mark my work so I could finish for my original June deadline. So, I called the Prof. and he said that they had been discussing me a lot in their meetings, somehow this made me think "OH well, this isn't going well", then before I could complete the sentence in my mind, he said "congratulations, welcome to the team"... that was it, I was shaking and I lost for words... shocking for anyone that knows me as losing words is not something that happens to me!

He repeated a few times, and I said my thanks for the opportunity. Then was the next shocking turn of events, when could I start? I thought it would be October as time is getting so late and my master's certificate still isn't here, but alas I start on the 24th August, with or without the certificate. It will be there soon, at least!

Then, the chaos begins, booking a hair cut and colour as I currently resemble a sheep dog crossed with a poodle. My mom says your hair can't get curlier as you get older, I have to disagree based on the evidence my hair is getting curlier!! straightners all the time is coming soon! Along with the continuing shock of Finnish hairdressing prices, 130€ to get my hair cut by a stylist and coloured.... oh my days... Eero jokes that along with my 100€ dentist cost last week he will soon have to replace me with a cheaper model... in his dreams! Wednesday afternoon, is my hair luxury time.

Then tomorrow I am going to meet my new friend Marika, in the city who wants to speak mostly Finnish so this is a dream! finally someone who wants to help me get the hang of this language all the time! Whoohoo though I know it will be slow to begin with as I am used to speaking English with random Finnish inserts at home =)

I was shocked at the rate of pay for the PhD, I am earning almost twice as much as I did working full time in the UK and I am only a research scientist! I have designed my normal business cards for this new position for conferences, but not ordering them until I get my works email sorted out! =)

So what am I a research scientist and PhD candidate in, you ask? Well, I am hoping to finish in 3 years and I will be researching in the field of industrial energy efficiency =)

Yesterday, we painted half of the living room ceiling and this morning it looks awesome, I am having problems finding any bits we missed so that is really good!

So, that's one of the things now Facebook official, for the others I am afraid you just have to wait and see!

No doubt I will be posting about my first day on the train home from Espoo on Friday =)

Monday 6 August 2012

Time sure flies when life is choatic!

We are here in August and I don't know where the summer has gone, well I do. Most of it was spent stressed and writing my thesis, trying to get feedback and left waiting for almost 7 weeks, trying to second guess what he wanted and try to make my own corrections but finally on the brinck on insanity and a few angry emails, I got some feedback, not as complete as I think it should of been but time will tell if it was enough as my supervisor wouldn't even predict a grade. The most annoying thing was after my Phd interview, successful completion of my application and the set up of a thesis completion deadline. The first deadline was extended as I was still awaiting feedback from my supervisor, then I had to submit within a week of having those corrections. Terrible way to conduct a thesis, poor communication. I am just glad it's over now. Though there is a high chance my phd application will get rejected as my certificate now won't reach there in time. Not a happy summer. time will tell what will happen. On the plus side, I know my Prof. is backing my application.

The house renovation however, is going well, we have ceiling paint, wall paint, wallpaper (some of it) other is ordered but awaiting stock and dispatch. Now, I am free from school work I can spend all day stripping the wallpaper off the walls upstairs!!!

The raccoon dog and the hedgehog are still regular visitors to the garden, both gardens are now finished (almost) back on we get the new barbeque tonight, need to remove the old deking and dispose of it properly, trim the trees and put up the post for my bird feeders! =)

Still have not received the mosquito nets, that is annoying and now I have to wait another week and a bit to complain again!!!

I have found a Finnish course, water aerobics, russian course and a zumba course I need to sign up for next week!

A lot of secret stuff going down but I am not allowed to post any of it yet!! keep posted though! i don't think it's far away from becoming public!! <3 br="br">