Hi phd_chick
Please don't feel alone. Like angie, I have also just started and I also feel so out of my depth. I thought I would be doing just a lot of reading around now, which I am but I just feel thick. I have had 3 update meetings with my Prof. and I actually take notes so I can look up half what he is on about when I get home. He is also pushing pushing to get me on my way testing by January using tests I don't even know exist yet.

Well, second day over! It was great!
I loved the lectures, especially since I don't have to do the essays! My meeting went great, we went through my proposal made some changes for me to work on. Got loads more to look up and read. I have Athens back at last, getting SPSS for only £20 through the uni and I am busy downloading some MRI analysis software right now. He wants me to start collecting data by January perhaps, so I have a lot of ground work to do. It has been taken well that I like to work from home and he hasn't even scheduled the next meeting until I am ready. It does mean I will have to share the office as I won't be using it enough but that is 100% fine with me if I can work more from home. So, I think I am getting on top of this now, at the moment
Yes, I guess I am lucky to have a very positive proactive supervisor.

Thanks J and b, I feel better knowing I am not alone!
Feel a bit more composed, have read the 6 papers, come up with a research outline and have another meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss. I also have some methodology lectures tomorrow on an MSc course in neuroimaging where I hope to learn how to work and MRI scanner!!
He seems ok with the no Monday lectures bit and so we will see if I can be a little more intelligent tomorrow and at least show some enthusiasm at having my own office. I felt a bit bad that I didn't say too much last week, I was too shocked, I think. I have decided to just think of this as a big project, not a big PhD, that freaks me a bit.
Good luck all of you new starters, at least we have this forum to learn and vent on!

Just wanted to update you all as you were all very encouraging to me about this PhD. I am feeling a bit more composed now and I am going to be a brilliant juggler, I suspect. There are, however, going to be things I will just have to say 'no' to, like Monday evening lectures, I live over 2 hours away.

I am also getting 2 work placement students and I need to get the proposal finished asap and I have to start on an MSc course (free learning) next Thursday and could I possibly meet on Tuesdays and could I also attend the evening lectures, for interest, on Mondays. Took 2 and a half hours to get home and I felt shattered, exhausted, overwhelmed and utterly shell-shocked. I felt like the only PhD student wanting to give up within hours. The next day I was emailed 6 substantial papers to go through to help me with my ideas! It has taken a lot of family encouragement to pick me up and some early morning work every day to just gather myself together and somehow plan my life to fit around this 90 miles an hour Prof and the Whizz Bang PhD.

Well, it has taken me a few days to get over the shock to actually bring this forum up on my screen. I registered on Tuesday, took 2 hours and I had already pre-registered. Ran 10 minutes into my meeting with the dept. head. Ran full out across campus to the other side of the road to the meeting where I panted my name and drank half the water on offer. Listened to a welcome talk, ate some fruit goodies and dashed upstairs only to get lost looking for my Professor, arrived just on time, again, panting from running up and down corridors. Discussed my project for 2 and a half hours and was then shown my own room! I had no idea I would get one, I only want to be there 2x week.

Here I am about to start my PhD, nervous as anything and here is this thread!! Thank you. It is actually great, I have printed it off to read at ballet (for daughter, not I!!). I want to do my research, I was offered to do it in the form of a PhD and I want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly so that I am not in any way deluded. I will still go ahead, too pig-headed not to and I may be writing similar things in 3 years! Thanks for being honest even if it is a tad nerve wracking

I can't say I know specifically of a uni that does a PhD in sports supplements but I suggest you contact a couple of depts. and see if they are interested. I was going to do a sports science PhD and I know that Exeter and Brunel are two of the top unis for sports science. I just emailed the dept. at Exeter and the head put me onto a great Dr. who was researching in my particular field, very helpful. I am going to be at Brunel now, however and I know they have a good dept. too. I am not going that route any more I am doing a neuroscience PhD using exercise as a factor.
Not sure if this helps but there you go. I didn't mention Loughborough!

Well, they look good! I chose a good stud with champion/crufts lines, so I hope so!! Fortunately, they are all the colour of Looby, the Mum, so I won't be tempting to keep any. I wanted one the colour of the Dad. Now, I am just trying to figure a way to get them up to London on the 18th

Hi shani
Thanks, the more I have been thinking this over, the more I am thinking, I know that I don't want to be tied down to the uni more than what my PhD needs. I have the family to consider and I am thinking that once or even twice a week is enough for me to go in for my PhD but work will push that to 3-4.
I would actually rather take a loan if need be than be tied like that.
Also, I am fitting this PhD around the family, so extra mental time spent outside it might just break the camel's back, so to speak. I would rather final non-mentally demanding work.

Oh, yes, Tricky, the birth went well, thank you, her first and she was a star. The one little one that died was just very very tiny and the other was a breech that just didn't make it. She is a tiny shih tzu (show standard) and 6 is way enough.

And my dog is a pedigree shih tzu from champion lines and good puppies that are well-bred and cared for are always sought after. I take months to find a good stud and travel. I also love the breed very much: friendly, small, happy, great for the elderly and children

Hi
fMRI is functional magnetic resonance imaging. We look at brain function, rather than structure. So, if a participant is doing a certain memory task whilst in the machine, we can see which areas of the brain are involved or not, in that task etc. The fMRI measures regional levels of blood oxygenation that occur during cognitive tasks. Much more than this, I am still learning myself with two very complicated looking books which need to be opened and read

I am pleased to announce the birth of 6 Shih Tzu puppies. Mother and children are doing very well. 5 boys and 1 girl, which helps me with tempting to keep too many as I can't have boys with their Mummy;) Shih Tzus normally have 3-5, so Looby Loo did me proud! She actually had 8 but two died, sadly but actually good in the long run. Have had no sleep but very happy, just what I needed!

Ok, thanks sleepyhead, this is very helpful, thanks for the warning. I will find out today before I apply. I am feeling more positive, still nervous but not terrified! Thanks!