lol! excellent!
When I went to NY we took a trip up to Boston, too! That was quite nice, although it certainly wasn't as nice. The seafood they do there is pretty good though 8) And we had a lot of snow, which I adore!
I would love to travel more, too. I'm in the same position - not enough monies 8( if you ever go to South Africa, I recommend Port Elizabeth - beautiful town that isn't too busy. I wish I was better at photography, too. Alas, I suck.

This conference is biannual. I hope in 2009 it will be in South Africa . The previous one was in New Zealand! Ahh, I started the PhD too late! Its really amazing when your Uni pays for you to go to another continent on a holiday actually! I stopped thinking about quitting immediately I love research!

Right, so where is the place you d like to go next?

Haha! What do you study? Cos I want to go to your conferences XD I hope I get to go to fantabulous places like those...

I wanna go to Japan next. It looks really weird and bizarre, but at the same time very cool. I'd love to go to New Zealand, too - that looks superb! What about you, or is NY on the top of your list?

Yes, NY was on the top of my list anyway, I just didnt have the money. A couple of days ago I was informed about the conference near Boston and you can imagine my excitement!

After that I would go to South Africa or South America, Iceland, Canada, China... anywhere to be honest. I ve travelled a lot in Europe but I ve never been to another continent! Well, I ve been to Egypt twice...

I like to go to places where I will see something completely different than what I am used to! For example Niagara Falls, huge Norwefian mountains and fjords, amazon in Brazil, places where people are very very different, huge multicultural cities, deserts... I doubt that the next conference will be held in the desert

Australia.. New Zealand... Easter Island ... the list can go on forever...

So, are you from Britain or you just study here?

Ooh wow, Iceland! I'd love to go there, and bathe in a hot spring, then go to that pub/hotel that's made out of ice! I'd like to see Canada, too. I can't think of places, but when people mention them I'm like "YES PLEASE!"

I love landscapes, so anywhere I can see a gorgeous vista, I'm there ;)

I'm English, yeh, coming from London... Well, the outskirts of London anyway. What about you?

I love London! Its classy yet alive unlike many european countries that are either the one or the other (e.g. Salzburg, Austria where I come from).

I think I should do cross cultural studies collecting lots of field data! You could be my assistant taking photos :-P And instead of a 300 page PhD thesis, to create a huge album with pics and little memory items-flowers, stones, sand from every place we ve visited..

Honestly now, sometimes (quite often that is) I think that I miss out so much by doing this PhD and spending my days in front of the pc. Life is out there!

I would LOVE to do that. My area of science is a passion of mine, but there are other things which I would kill to do just as much, maybe even moreso! And going around cataloguing the beautiful parts of the world with photos and mementos would be a special life!

That's one of the things I'm concerned about doing a PhD - but it'll just be the same with any other career/job :s maybe with a little more freedom in another job though. How much longer have you got?

I am only 4 months in! What about you? And what is your area/passion?

Wow - long time to go then :s I haven't even started yet, but I've been offered one for October. I'm really interested in behavioural ecology at the moment, and I'm holding out on being offered an interview and then a PhD studying crab behaviour, but the one I've been offered will still be cool.

What are you studying, and whereabouts? How come you came over from Austria? Did you do your undergrad here, too?

Sorry for the delay!

I did my first degree in Austria, masters in Munich, Germany and PhD in Anthropology here! My dream is to do a post doc in California but I know that this may be difficult as this is the top department in the area, so I am trying to publish as soon as possible and do all that is required before I apply.

Wow! You've studied in a fair few places! I move around Britain a bit, but you've studied across Europe! And a Postdoc in the US would be great - I know one of my friends from my UG course has just started their postdoc over there. I'm pretty jealous that they've already finished their PhD, and I'm yet to start mine! But good luck with that!

Well, Austria and Germany are like one country

I feel old too (although none of the people I know have done/are doing a PhD). But there are people in my office who are 22 and I am really jealous of them I wish I could go back in time and do things differently. I wasted lots of time not knowing what exactly I want to do. But now I am happy to be here! Are you working tonight as well?

Nah ^_^ I'm not working at all at the moment. Don't start the PhD for a few months yet, and only starting a new job on monday, so I'm relaxing! What have you got to do tonight? I saw you have to get your first draft in for the paper, when are you submitting??

And, if you don't mind my asking, how old are you? I'm already 24, and I get a bit down in the dumps that I haven't progressed as fast as others in this profession, but I don't really regret anything - everything that I've done has made me who I am!

24?? So young. I started studying psychology when I was 19 (in Austria its 5 years) for the diploma, then masters in Germany which is 2 years, then 1 year work and now in my 27 starting PhD. I am planning to finish it in 2 years though because actually I had worked on it before I started it. Now you made me feel even worse