Oh dear- Stu hasn't even agreed yet- maybe he has fainted at the prospect of such wickedness?

I was thinking of wearing a lab coat- got to get it washed, first! Lab coats make you look so sophisticated & cool, no?

How about a blind date together with me and DanB at the Bingo parlour?

Hmm, my Mom use to say that you just don't know where you might find the man of your life- could be in a supermarket or on a train. Anyway, the only time I met a drop dead gorgeous Italian at the supermarket he asked me "Do you know where is the cheese that is for the tiramisu?"I was speechless, didn't even know that he was looking for mascarpone (now I'm older, more sophisticated and cheese wise), let alone where to find it. So there, I blew my only supermarket boyfriend chance!

Wicked- try doing your washing in a laund-o-mat from now on. Men who do their washing there are most certainly no longer living with Mama, and also most likely haven't got a girlfriend. Only downside is all that dirty laundry...

Adem, so you're one of the few indigenous Britoners? Interesting. Maybe you know why the local football club is called seagulls if every one hates those birds that much?
Anyway, my family comes from south Germany (Stuttgat area), but- as fate will have it- we now live in Hamburg.

I did my undergraduate in Goettingen (Germany), a small university town. I got an offer from the head of department to stay and do a phd, but decided to go abroad for the phd. I wanted to go to the uk because my Mom's British and I've never lived here.
I found it very frustrating and difficult to find a funded phd - so I couldn't even apply for most projects. I finally found a phd project at sussex uni in a purpose built centre for genome damage and repair, which houses about 12 research groups working on dna repair. I was offered the choice of two phd projects (and with hindsight chose the wrong one) and chose the one working in the mamalian system over working with yeast.
Brighton is a fun city, love the amount of Art that is going on here, still a little bit disappointed by the pebbles on the beach & lack of good sea food. Love the centre, also because it’s very international. Learnt how to swear in English, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, new ways in German, and Irish (very impressive).

Hmm, Sylvester just wondering- are you using a No.9 iron? What's your handicap?

So we have a new kid on the block .... welcome! Willkommen Graeme

How about a reward scheme? Write for 1 h and then give yourself 15min on e-bay/checking mail/looking at funny websites? Use an annoying timer to bring you back to reality with a shrill ring/buzz. Set a time plan up for yourself & do the really pain in the posterior things in the first two hours of your time plan. Eat more chocolate. After your day of writing has finished bugger off with a good conscience and watch x-men at the cinema. If you didn't stick to the plan/turned off that timer/threw it into the kettle- feel really bad/depressed/ angry with yourself and then swear you'll be a good girl tomorrow.

Or -set an artificial deadline by asking someone to proof read for you- preferably someone you don't like to much so you don't think he/she will be OK with you if you keep on postponing.

The two submission dates seem a bit strange to me- check that out. For a phd there are normally no specific dates for submission- as long as your phd has taken longer than two years and shorter than 4 you should be able to submitt whenever you are done. You then have to waite 2-3 months for the viva (and pass) and then do the corrections. The actuall graduation ceremony, where Richard Attenbury (im my case) gives you a nice piece of paper and you wear a hat are twice a year (though you don't have to attend).

No, you can't go on forever, after the four years are over the uni gets a bit unpleasant because you are ruining their ratings (of successful students within the time frame).
Anyway- these new 4 year programs will end up in people doing their phd for 4,5 years because the standards/expectations will get higher.

Three year programs are not that bad, because you can still submit a thesis even if your data is not good enough for a publication- you just have to defend it well.

If your supervisor agrees it should be no problem to stay in the lab for a few more months. That's not that uncommon, but the experience in my lab has shown that a few more months often don't help that much if things aren't working anyway- just means you've got a longer chapter on things that went wrong.

I'm on continuation and paid the fee myself.

After your 3 years are up you are not allowed to work in the lab unless you have paid the full uni fee (1 000 £ per semester) i.e. you lose your insurance for working in the lab (and your bench , etc.). You can then either go into continuation status (180£/term), which allows you to use limited office/library space and limited access to supervision or you arrange somethimg with you demartment and become a visiting scientist or something like that. If your supervisor is particularly nice he/she might pay the full fee or the continuation fee- IF. If not you do.
You should have a phd student handbook for your uni that states the exact terms & conditions and costs for your particulat uni.

You can write your thesis in english if you want to at most german universities. As most of the recent literature is in english it wouldn't present a problem to find examiners for your thesis.A greek friend of mine went to work in a Paris lab for her first postdoc where the lab head decided that they would have all lab meetings and journal clubs in english.
Last week I was reading a dutch thesis for inpiration- also written in english, exept for the declaration, cv and acknowledgements (with were in both languages).

Err- what field are you in??