I have decided to take this weekend and not do (too much) work. I have been totally busy and overwhelmed at work. I guess you don't get to the last 3 weeks of your PhD without being a little busy, and I not only have to write a thesis and prepare a defense talk, but I have to arrange to do all of this half a world away, since I am in Zurich and my defense and committee are all in Minnesota (except Kris, my advisor, who will be going back to Minnesota for my defense). Not only that, but I have a Master's student to advise who is also writing her thesis. And I will go from my defense to a conference to field work in Alaska. I have been developing all new methods in the lab for this field work in Alaska, and I have an undergraduate student arriving this weekend, who I am supposed to train in our field methods for two weeks, before we both head to Alaska. Except these methods aren't quite... working yet. Which means I can't order all of the supplies that I need in Alaska (because I don't exactly know what we'll need, because I don't exactly know how the experiments will go). But these supplies are supposed to take 4 weeks to deliver, which means they might not be there when we get there. And I'm getting a cold.
So, basically, there's a lot going on. But I am going to Ticino this weekend to visit my former flatmate, Stefanie, who works at the film festival in Locarno. Ticino always feels like a vacation land to me, so I'm pretty excited. However, the weather in Zurich is supposed to be lovely:
While the weather in Locarno is supposed to be... not so much.
There is something wrong with this picture! On almost any other weekend, the opposite would be true, since Ticino is further south and tends to get better weather.
But, I'm still excited to go and maybe take a day or two off and rest a little. Because, after this weekend, I have the feeling that there's not going to be many breaks before I'm back in the US and defending my thesis!
So, basically, there's a lot going on. But I am going to Ticino this weekend to visit my former flatmate, Stefanie, who works at the film festival in Locarno. Ticino always feels like a vacation land to me, so I'm pretty excited. However, the weather in Zurich is supposed to be lovely:
While the weather in Locarno is supposed to be... not so much.
There is something wrong with this picture! On almost any other weekend, the opposite would be true, since Ticino is further south and tends to get better weather.
But, I'm still excited to go and maybe take a day or two off and rest a little. Because, after this weekend, I have the feeling that there's not going to be many breaks before I'm back in the US and defending my thesis!
