No alcohol you say? I don't believe you!

Some of you eagle eyed chaps will have seen that I posted a link to my cancer research dryathlon page, you may have also noticed that I said I'd write a blog post detailing why I'm doing it, if you're reading this then that means I've stayed true to my word. Welcome to my justification for saving money, giving my liver a break and raising some cash for charity.

I guess this post might sound a little selfish but I'm not going to apologise for that in fact I'll ask you to hear me out and then judge me if you want to. I do not have a great deal of exposure to those suffering from cancer but then again I don't think that should be the only reason we partake in fundraising. Cancer is a b*tch. I guess that's one of my reasons for taking part in dry January, but it's not my first.

My first reason is to predominantly to prove to  a whole range of people I can survive without alcohol. This range includes my mother, my "friends", other family members and myself. I can't even count the number of times my mother has looked at me disapprovingly because I've tarted myself up and said "I'm going out", or the number of times she has worryingly expressed her thoughts that I drink too much. I'm twenty-three, it's not uncommon for someone of my age to be out at the pub or the SU every friday right? But, I guess she has a point, my liver is probably screaming out for a break "thank god she's come to her senses" I can hear it gurgling as I write this. So, mum, I'm taking a break to prove to you that I can live a life that doesn't involve getting pissed every weekend. (please excuse my language).

I mentioned I wanted to prove to my friends I can do it, this one is definitely linked to my insecurities. I worry I'm not that much fun, I worry people only enjoy spending time with me when I'm slightly pissed. Although I know this probably isn't true, I'd like to prove it to myself and there's only one way to do that. Most of my friends will agree that if anyone is up for a drink or a night out it's me they might question how easy this'll be for me. The answer is it won't, it's going to take a lot of willpower from my end but boy I love a challenge, so friends please don't stop inviting me cause I wanna party with you, but sober.

Kronenbourg you were my drink of choice for years but it's time for a break xx

My second reason is probably more selfish, I want to save money, I don't want to waste my time, I don't want to feel hungover!! Let's talk hangovers, sometimes I feel utterly crap the next day and it's a complete write off, other times I'm able to get up and be a little more productive but most of the time I experience what I refer to as hangover blues. I'm sure a lot of you may have heard or experienced hangover blues but I am fed up of feeling shitty and worrying about things I know I probably wouldn't if I'd had a good sleep and rested rather than enjoying a tequila slammer. Also know that feeling where you wake up andyou think "I know I had a really good night but I legit don't remember what happened after we go to ..." that's me probably after 80% of my nights out. Which is really f'in sad, I want to remember all the laughs, all the slut drops, all the smiles so I'll be embarking on some sober nights out - watch out I'll probably document that too!

Let's talk money -  I reckon I could save at least £100 a month if I didn't drink, I could spend that money on something much more enjoyable and worthwhile. I want to take this opportunity to enjoy myself without a bev, to really enjoy my friends company and to give my self a break!

As I've mentioned fundraising is a reason, even if lesser so than the other reasons, to partake in dry jan. In a world where I feel like I have very little input it's important to me that I do a little something to give back to the world, to help a little bit. So this January instead of thinking what's cheaper double vodka cranberry or splitting wine, I'm going to be thinking "this money will go towards a worthy cause".

So please if you fancy supporting me through what is gonna be an interesting yet challenging month head on over to https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/ursula-takes-on-dryathlon anything will be appreciated!

Enjoy your holidays and think of me whilst your nursing that baileys!!! Goodbye pints, goodbye shots, goodbye cocktails *tears streaming*

Ursula
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PhD to wannabe socialite...

Good evening guys!

So I'm aware it's been a few weeks since I posted, it's definitely been a busy few weeks so I'm sorry about that. I've been finding my feet and whilst it's all be such fun it's also been quite intense, I'm gonna give a little run down of what I've been up to and also how I've been managing my time! As time management can really make or break your progress.

What have I been up to I hear you asking, well here's the exciting stuff. Reading. I've been doing a lot of reading. And by that I do not mean casually skimming a book here and there. I mean true academic reading. I'm sure lots of you are aware of what I mean by that but for those of you that don't, what I mean by academic reading is the process of first of all finding relevant information, digesting that information, and making notes and processing such info. It's quite amazing how long properly reading something can take, it's easy to spend hours on a couple of papers because either they're majorly interesting or incredibly complex to understand. The process of passing your eyes across the words might not actual take all that long but note taking, recording what you read, how you found it, any comments you may have really does take a while. Most researchers will tell you they have a database of what they read, when they read, why they read the paper and any thoughts they had as a result of reading the paper. Notes notes notes. So important! What's also important is collating all your thoughts which I'm currently in the process of doing, I've read a fair amount and now I'm ready to let that spill out of my brain.

Other academic stuff, meetings, meetings, seminars, lectures, training, etc etc.

Aside from all that desk time what else have I been doing I hear you wonder. Not going to lie, I've probably spent far too long in the gym. It's just so easy to waste hours upon hours in a gym when you not only have a workout to do but also people to socialise with. I'm so glad I joined as not only do I benefit from a structured training programme but I also get to train with some awesome people. My lesson from this is always going to be about how matching hard work with socialising will always make for a well balanced life. I won't bang on about lifting too much as I'm still a novice but it's soo rewarding when numbers go up 🙌.

Oh, and of course I can't forget to mention my fave thing foooood, I've eaten out waaay too much lately. I can't help it as I absolutely love spending time with my pals and especially when it's over a good meal. In the last couple of weeks I've been out for Thai multiple times, pizza, tapas, chinese, steak, and a good burger to mention a few. Shit. Sometimes I wonder why I'm not lean then I remember ha ha. 

Always remember that work life balance. Read a good paper? Have a glass of wine. Wrote a few hundred words? Grab some sushi. Delivered a seminar? Treat yo self to a long gym session. Whatever works.

The most important thing I've learnt about the way I work is that I need to manage my time very carefully and also to plan it! Every Sunday I spend a little time thinking about commitments I have scheduled during the week, the main research goals I want to achieve and how I'm going to compliment that with down time. Then, each evening I have a flick through my diary check whats going on the next day. This is so important to me as I'm able to mentally prepare myself for what's coming up, my diary is easily my best friend atm (love all u other besties too). Of course not every hour of my day is scheduled, although sometimes it feels like that. One thing I observed whilst working and I've noticed it here to, is the scheduling of "desk time", this is great for saying okay I'm going to be at my desk for a solid amount of time, this is great when you're an extremely busy person and need to reserve your time. Whilst I'm not that in demand it's still a good concept, I can mentally say to myself okay I'll spend two hours at my desk followed by a 20-30 minute break. I try my best at the start of each session to spend a little time thinking about what it is I exactly want to do and boy does it help. No point mindlessly opening google scholar if you don't know what you want to discover!

Lists. Lists are also the other key enable to me getting all ma stuff done. Whether it's a list for personal life stuff, such as "register to vote", "book haircut" or more specific academic stuff, lists are so useful for putting into perspective things that need to be achieved immediately as opposed to actions that are a little far into the future.


Hope one of you lovely lot found that enjoyable to read 😊 xx

Enjoy a cheeky pic of me and some friends I met the other weekend.

Undergraduate to PhD - what's new?

Hey pals,

Welcome to the next installment of "my PhD journey"!

As you can imagine I've had a range of responses from people when I tell them I'm doing a PhD - from "Wow, you must be so clever" to "You're just avoiding work aren't you?" I guess I wanted to address these, by saying that no I don't think I'm super clever, but I do enjoy research and the academic environment. Read on for some more of my thoughts and reflections on my PhD journey so far.

Lots of people will argue that a PhD is just an excuse to stay in academia and hold off entering the real world. Well let me say it now, they're not entirely wrong but there's so much more to it than that! As an undergraduate you are experiencing the beginning of what's possible within academia. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love studying. Being able to read and immerse myself in knowledge is just rather rewarding. I've always been an advocate for reading, I still have a shelf full of Jacqueline Wilson books next to my bed (along side some more gripping stuff like the Belgariad series). So imagine having a whole academic library at your finger tips! One day you could be reading about modelling carbon footprints in supply chains and the same afternoon you could have a cheeky read up on the effect of cortisol in the body.

As an undergraduate student, most people are starting to deepen their knowledge of a particular field, I appreciate for some students a degree is the means to a particular career however you're still investing in your knowledge of that area. So why continue studying with a PhD? For many people an undergraduate degree and the university experience is enough to set them up and instill a desire to begin their career outside of academia, but for some - like me, it's enough to say "I want to contribute to this body of knowledge, I want to be an expert in a field so I can pass that expertise on to those studying in the future".

So I guess what I'm saying is that whilst a PhD is an extension of postgraduate taught and undergraduate study it's got some major differences. Firstly, there is no such thing as a syllabus, this can be both a blessing and a curse, on one hand you have the freedom to study whatever you wish but on the other hand you can lose so much time to reading irrelevant papers! It's a mentally resource intensive journey, I've only been at it for three weeks but from my experience and from observing those around me I can say it takes commitment and drive. For the first few weeks I'm trying to establish good practices now so that when I'm slightly further in my journey I don't have to force myself out of bad habits (if you're interested in reading about such habits check out my earlier post - Old habits die hard).

Besides being less guided study what's different about a PhD from undergraduate study? Well for one, the opportunities to work collaboratively with researchers from other disciplines. This isn't something I have personally done however I have witnessed multiple exchanges where researchers have discovered someone else in a different discipline looking at similar areas of research. Totally furthering my love for knowledge sharing, it's great to see how people are open to communicating and sharing their ideas! One of the other pluses is the ability to check out what else is happening as in other departments, I reckon this is true for most universities but I'm not sure how many undergrads would take advantage of this - as a member of the university you can attend any lecture you wish. I've toyed with the idea of attending lectures probably not directly related to my field of research but are in areas I find myself interested in. Obviously my research comes first but I read some advice somewhere (don't worry if this was a legit paper I'd reference this 😏) that mentioned how it was important to read and study things other than that directly related to your research.

Sorry if this post has been super boring and less emotionally intensive than you were anticipating! I do hope this isn't the case and I hope someone out there is enjoying this and getting some insight into PhD life!

Ursula x