This post is long overdue. In all this talking about PhD, I've left something else behind. Like the imposter, this is one of the main points I want to discuss. Probably the most important skill I acquired as a PhD student. Resilience. The ability to start again if things go wrong, to not give up,… Continue reading The resilient side
This conversation is taking longer than I was expecting, but there is one thing I have purposely left behind. It was something deeply embedded into myself but that I'd never heard before. Never. It was the imposter.
If you go back and read the whole PhD and then what series, you can find plenty of hints on how important doing a PhD abroad has been for my personal growth. But what is that I am most grateful for?
So far, I've been talking a lot about why I decided to do a PhD, the issues I've encountered and what's my job now that I've left academia. But I've not really mentioned my actual research. Thinking back to my PhD, it's almost like the research I've carried out sits the background of my personal growth. On the contrary, it was one of the main actors, forcing me to step up my game, leave my comfort zone and learn something new every day.
This is the third "episode" of my PhD journey series. Where I go a teensy bit into moving abroad. Where did I go? What was so difficult about it? What did I learn? What is that I will never let myself forget?
For those of you that do not know me, I come from a relatively big town in the suburbs of Naples, in Italy. One of those overpopulated but very sad places where there is not too much to do, or many jobs to find.
This story begins from its end. Or somewhere in the middle. It starts with the end of a PhD, with long months spent trying to understand my next move. What was I doing? Where was I going? So many doubts. Among all of them, one thing was sure: my PhD was not going to define me.
After months of energy draining job search, I have found an amazing one! And I could not be any happier.
What's happening now that I got my PhD? And most of all, how does the future look like?
You will think that a Ph.D. is a difficult journey. I am not here to contradict you. And in a different country is maybe even worse, but mine, just changed my life.
RosAnsia 