I'll get to it in a minute

So I have about three weeks left until the hazy transition period between handing in my masters dissertation and jumping straight into my PhD office.

Interestingly enough, I am not getting much done with my dissertation. This is quite typical for me and it's the reason I keep waking up in cold sweat wondering what I've signed up for with a doctorate.

You see, instead of working hard on my dissertation, which really is almost finished anyway, bar pretty much rewriting the text, I keep dreaming about my new apartment. It's the first time in five years I will have my own kitchen and suffice to say I am excited. So in between tweaking my results tables I keep wandering onto various websites with delicious recipes. In addition to this I also keep wandering onto websites with DIY tricks and tips, interior design ideas and storage solutions. I am clearly focusing on the wrong things seeing as I won't get to live in this apartment if I don't start my PhD, which won't happen as long as I'm STILL DOING MY DISSERTATION!

The end is nigh

I am shortly at the end of my life, as I will begin my PhD studentship. It is still a month away and before that I still need to finish my masters dissertation. I have clearly not thought this through and am jumping off a racing horse straight onto another one going full pelt in the other direction.

But it's not like I didn't ask for this. I did, I asked two professors at another university. And then by some twist of fate I ended up with an offer to continue with my current supervisor. So anyway, I did ask for this to happen.

However, I have friends who are inches away from finishing their PhD. I've heard the stories about extremely flexible working hours (around the clock), being treated like a slave by your supervisor (as a female student with a male supervisor I have disturbing visions of princess leia and Jabba the Hutt), off-the-charts stress levels and sleep deprivation and a balanced diet of ramen noodles and red bull. Suffice to stay I am in a decent panic about this PhD.

I am excited as well. I will shortly be choosing a new computer for myself. I will also be moving into my lovely new studio apartment. It is the first time in 5 years I will have my own kitchen(ette) and this is luxury!

The point of this blog is to examine the process of doing a PhD. I suspect it will be interesting, as I'm from Finland and already have encountered some strange ways of academics in the UK.