Flexibility, Confusion and Sleeping In
I think that adequately describes the first week and a half of honours for me.
Honours is the research component of an undergraduate science degree where you spend most of a year doing real lab research on a topic of interest. It’s quite a change from the typical undergraduate experience though, which unfortunately I’ve gotten used to for the past 3 years.
Normally uni is go to lectures, get spoon-fed, go to pracs, get told what to do, fudge results, sit exams, go on holidays. Now with honours it’s sleep in, come in any time you want, sit in office/lab reading papers (no, not the SMH), get confused, drink lots of water because there’s nothing better to do and it cools the overheated brain down, get confused some more, go to the toilet because of all the liquid intake, go home. And repeat the next day.
I must say that I like the flexibility of it all. It’s a bit hard getting used to - ‘unlimited’ lunch breaks (well, as long as you get your work done), no set time to come/leave, not much direction provided by superiors. This last thing is a mixed blessing - it means I have control over the direction of my research but it also means that because I don’t know much at all, it’s largely directionless for the time being.
Meanwhile I see other honours students in the building already donning labcoats and walking around doing experiments. What’s going on?!
The lab I’m working in is nice, the 3 supervisors I have are great - they’re thinkers and know their stuff well. Unfortunately the lab is a bit empty, and there’s no-one else in the lab doing similar things to me which makes it hard to get help when I need it. Empty lab though means that there’s lots of office space available and I get my own office, which is cool. It’s got a cork board and a laptop security cable.
Anyway, feeling slightly stressed amongst all this confusion. Okay, more than slightly. Sara reminded me last night of something I often forget in times of high stress and confusion and brain overheatedness - God is still in control. That’s quite a comfort.