5 a.m. emails

Twice I have recieved emails at 5 a.m. Twice these emails have forever changed my life.

I received an email in early August. My application to Royal Holloway University of London had moved on to the interview phase. I could be leaving the country. I remember how excited and scared I felt. I had given up on obtaining entry to the program. In the week and a half before the interview, I prayed and contemplated my future. After the interview concluded, I knew I was going to get an offer and I knew I was going to accept.

On Friday September 21 I received an email on at 5 a.m. in the morning. It was the missing piece of my visa application. In the 24 hours that followed, I sent in the form to the visa agency, received my visa, booked my flight for the following day, picked up my visa and prepared to leave the country.

As of Sunday morning, I now live in the United Kingdom.

Waiting at Newark Penn Station

Yesterday I turned 27. Yesterday I biked up the side of Manhattan. Yesterday I was stranded in Newark Penn Station with my bike. Yesterday I was supposed to be in London.

Yet here I am, still in the United States.

I have been accepted to the University of London Royal Holloway for a PhD in physics. I will be doing a research project in astroparticle physics focusing on noble gas based dark matter detectors. My flight was scheduled for Monday September 17th. Then a little more than a week before my flight, I was informed my visa application was missing an important sheet of paper, something called an ATAS certificate. Something needed for all science PhD students in England. Then the fury of phone calls and emails to bureaucratic organizations began. I have called every one I could and now all that is left is to wait and pray for the certificate and then the visa. I can only hope that it will arrive before my classes begin. I am stranded on a bench waiting for someone to let me on a train.

I started this blog a while ago with the intention of writing science based posts. I have realized instead that I would rather tell my story. The tale of going through grad school. The tale of sweat, blood, tears, and pencil shavings. There are others who will write science blogs, and I will leave them to it. So this is my adventure. Most start stories with a journey. I am starting this one waiting for a journey and with faith that all will be well.

little science girl

she wanders through life

asking question of everything

curiosity entices her mind

inquiry is her plaything

she is an eternal child

though her body may age

her delicate, strong hands are always at play

a whimsy of a lifetime is always maintained

"science is not a profession" she says

"it is a passion, a calling"

"i do science, because i can do no other"

do you find her beautiful?

Being Mentored

There are many options before me and I stuck here in eager anticipation of much desired results. My graduate school applications are nearly complete and now I am resigned to state that those in analytic professions despise. I must lay still and let fate decide.

While I am waiting, I ponder the question, what type of program will be best for me? I want to have the opportunity to do the best physics that my being is capable of. The question is what type of environment with induce these results. The answer is a place where I can be mentored. I seek a professor who will not only give me research assignments, but will sculpt me into a scientist. I am searching for a master who will let me be an apprentice.