I was originally going to write a post about the new Opera browser that's coming out and how shiny it is, and possibly something about the scientists petitioning for more areas of the ocean being allocated as national parks / conserved areas (along the lines of the coral reef near Australia). Then I got on the bus (came home early to organize things and make lists) and saw one of my classmates that I haven't seen in a while. Turns out? Her lab moved to Germany. She didn't advertise the information and all, so most of us just assumed that she's banging her head against a manuscript or something (given that she's one year my senior academically, it's about the right time frame to start doing that), but that is very much not the case. She had the option of either staying on campus or moving to Germany and chose to move, which meant that she had to accept a terminal masters from our program and is now starting a PhD program in neuroscience at a university in Germany.
She was back for the SfN conference and is staying until just after Thanksgiving, since her family is here. Germany, I was told, is cold. It's already started snowing there. (Admittedly, after south Cal, weather anywhere else in the world is going to be worse in comparison.) I was also told that I should take advantage of the lovely whether here and do something, such as go to the beach. (This was said with no irony of whatsoever, despite of the downpour last weekend, so I am proven once again how utterly spoiled I am by the climate here.)
Mostly I'm still trying to process that she is now attending grad school in Germany. This is the sort of thing that, in our grad program, has the status of being the story that you heard from someone who's heard from someone. Encountering it so directly, as it happens to someone I occasionally hang out with during the program gatherings, is very disconcerting.
No comments:
Post a Comment