Growing pains

Greetings from the corner of Progress and Nostalgia.

My time at UCR is coming to a close. I'd known this day was coming for a while, but it's just starting to hit me how monumental this is.

I came to UCR in the Fall of 2004 as an undergrad fresh out of high school. I had no idea how the world worked. I really didn't have any idea how to be my own person. During my undergraduate years I did a lot of growing; some of it was hard, some fun, and some utterly ridiculous, but it was my first opportunity to really experience life on my own terms. It was also where I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.

Growing up, I was always convinced that I was going to be a scientist. It never really got more specific than that, just "a scientist". In high school I first started to fall in love with biology and genetics, but in college I was exposed to such a huge array of specialized fields that it at first blew my mind, then eventually let me find a niche that I enjoyed and could carve out a future in.

After graduation, UCR gave me my first research job. There, I learned how to design, execute, and analyze experiments. As the years progressed, I grew from a green college graduate washing dishes for other people into a competent researcher running my own experiments. It was sort of like a post-doc for the window between college and grad school; research with training wheels.

When the training wheels finally came off, I was ready to start grad school. The two years of my Master's degree went by in a flash. One minute I was excited to be getting back to school, the next I was walking across the stage at my commencement after having written and published a hundred-page thesis. But even after my Master's graduation I couldn't quite say good-bye to UCR. I've been spending the summer finishing up projects here and there, and honestly just looking for an excuse not to leave, I suppose.

But now I'm staring down my last couple weeks, with no recourse but to follow through on my commitment to move on to that PhD in Ireland. And, as hard as it is to admit, when I really, critically consider it, it is time for me to move on. I've grown a tremendous amount at UCR, and been given experiences for which I'll be forever grateful. But for as much as I've grown, I've reached the limit of that growth at UCR. Now I need to go somewhere else, somewhere new that pushes me to learn new things instead of relying on the comfort of the familiar workplace and familiar coworkers.

UCR has been a part of some of the greatest things in my life. I found my research interests. I experienced D&D for the first time. I was advised and mentored by great professors whom I hope to keep in contact with throughout my professional career. I met my husband and some of my best friends.

I don't mean to wax too nostalgic (there's plenty of things I won't miss about UCR), but leaving the place I've spent the last 11 (very formative) years of my life is starting to hit me hard. I've been at UCR in one form or another longer than any apartment or house I've lived in since I moved out of my parents' house (and nearly as long as I'd lived in my parents' house before I moved out). Packing up our house for the move doesn't feel too much different than moving to just any other place, except it might feel a little more liberating. Packing up my desk and deconstructing my lab equipment? That almost brought me to tears yesterday. But again, it is time to go. Even though I'll be an ocean away and forging a new path at a new university, UCR will always hold a special place in my heart.

Keep on doing what you're doing, Highlanders. And don't for one second let anyone talk down on UCR. It might not be Ivy League, but it's still a damn good place to call home for a while.

Just a jump to the left...

And then a step to the right.

Greetings from the middle of a Time Warp!

I could swear it was just August 1st. Or June 1st, for that matter. Our trans-Atlantic move draws ever closer with each passing day, and time is seeming to accelerate the closer we get to our move date that is the centerpoint to this insane vortex. We've given our move-out notice. We've submitted resignation letters. We've bought plane tickets. One way plane tickets. Just about all of the advance preparations that can be made have been by this point, and the only tasks left to us are to finish sorting through the material possessions that comprise our lives here and pack what we deem worthy of taking. These are not small tasks, admittedly, but most of the brain work is done for now.

I know that, looking back, these next few days really will be the calm before the storm. And I'm grateful that we still have four weeks to dedicate almost solely to packing. But I also know that in just a few short days our moving timeline is going to reach terminal velocity, and everything is going to happen at blinding speed until the tornado finally sets us down in Oz. Or Dublin, as it were (both places have munchkins and rainbows so the analogy holds up, deal with it). Then, once we finally make it over to Galway, things will be even more frantic for at least another week while we house hunt, set up bank accounts, and fill out kilometres of paperwork.

And that right there is some scary shit.

With this in mind, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I'll probably need to retreat to my happy place many times before September is through with me if I want to maintain what little sanity I still possess. But hey, that's what wine, Tim Burton movies, and The Ricky Horror Picture Show are for.

Peace out, Transylvanians.

Real-life adventuring 101

Greetings from the legendary land of Middle Earth! Or, to some, Los Angeles International Airport.

The illustrious JRR Tolkien wrote, "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." As wonderfully foreshadowing as this profound bit of prose is in The Fellowship of the Ring, I always felt as though it was lacking a practicality for one's everyday life. Now, a mere couple of hours before we transplant our lives to a new country, I realise just how fitting it really is. When I was first going back to grad school, I had no idea that it would turn into a round-the-world adventure. I wasn't watching my feet, and all of a sudden I find myself travelling inexorably down this new road to Galway.

Right now, waiting in the airport to board our first flight, I'm awash in so many emotions I can't make sense of it all. I'm excited for the new adventure, anxious because we still don't have a house, sad to be leaving friends and family, and utterly exhausted from packing and sleepless stress-filled nights.

Leaving California for Galway will certainly be an adventure, though I haven't decided if that's necessarily a good or a bad thing. Maybe a bit of both. At any rate, like Frodo's epic journey, it will be a transformative experience. One that will force me to grow in many ways rant remaining in California never would.

So here's goodbye to California. We had 28 spectacular years together, and I hope to see you around sometime. And I take solace in the fact that though I'm currently wandering, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm lost.

Six-month recap

Greetings from beyond the veil of graduation!

Yes, that's right, another spectacular 6-month lapse in blog maintenance (sorry). In those six months I have single-handedly:

1. been accepted into a Microbiology PhD program
2. survived my final two quarters of classes
3. written and published a Master's thesis
4. graduated
5. submitted my third manuscript for publication
6. agreed to write a blog post (not this one) about a species I've been working with for my boss's invasive species blog
7. started writing and analyzing data for two (yes, two) additional manuscripts

Also, did I mention the PhD is in Ireland and I start October 1st? I've been told this is kind of a big deal... So now I'm completely occupied with finishing my UCR projects and arranging moving our entire lives across a rather large and chilly ocean. Yeesh.

But! Since I'll be continuing on with a PhD, and this entire ordeal promises to be interesting at worst and spectacular at best, I'll be continuing this blog (or trying to), with an international twist. 

So for the next month or so, greetings from California. Come the end of September, I'll be sending greetings from Galway!