It pi**ed me off that the Austrian government are going on about the country's reputation. I don't care about that. What I do care is that this guy gets more than the 15 years that they are talking about.

He should get life, he knew what he was doing.

I can easily write 1000 words in an hour as long as it's about my own experimental work and not a lit review or anything.

Free sausage sandwiches (including veggie ones)

Why bother repeatedly posting the same thread?

I thought MA was a masters of arts. Seeing as a lot of us on here are science phds, not everyone will have done one.

I didn't think it was a fake blog.

I just find the whole thing mind boggling. I cannot even begin to understand what the daughter must have gone through. The children who stayed with her only knew life in a prison and nothing else. How did her mother not realise the father was up to no good??

I found the pictures of the basement very distressing.

It sounds like you don't have a phobia, I guess we need you to confirm this. If you just dislike flying, can you not just grin and bear it? I hate flying, I always feel crappy at the other end and nauseous throughout (if you have to puke you puke, no one minds) but I have enjoyed a number of exotic locations by putting up with it.

I can't sleep or eat on a plane but have managed a couple of 13+ hours continous flights.

Juno, I went on the smallest plane I have ever been on the other day. It had two seats one side and one seat the other. Only about 15 rows. I found this plane scarier than the jumbo jets I have been on, the turns are more pronounced and you felt the landing more.

curiousphd, do you just dislike flying or is it a phobia?

I went to the lake district one last year and it was excellent. I really enjoyed myself, met loads of great people and I didn't want the outdoor activities to end! I learnt a lot about myself and what I want for the future. There was a lot of support from group tutors and assistants from lots of different areas.

I find it difficult to believe that anyone can go there and hate it.

I'm not either but I have done in the past.

I always felt that I couldn't wait to pop out a couple myself but more recently I've become very cynical. I'm not sure I want to lose my hard-earned career that I spent so long working on. I'm not interested in part time.

Out of my friends, I'm probably the most maternal and I know that they would be suprised if I ended up never having children.

Loads of people always say that there is never a right time to have kids, you just do it. I don't agree with that.

I'm not saying it can't be done but I really don't think research/lab and being a mum works out that great. I've see some extremes. My aunt was in a very male-dominated work-field and did very well for herself. They decided to have a baby after a few years of marriage and she ended up going on maternity leave and then not going back as her company relocated 150 miles away and as she would be on a managment level, the hours were too much. After the second one went to school, she retrained as a teacher and does that instead.

Some pharmaceutical companies now let their staff do part-time but it doesn't really work out that well for in lab stuff and then tend to have to do admin type jobs (seems really crap if you have spent 7 years at uni and then x number of years in your job).

I've never heard of it being a requirement but normally PhD students attend them, as a way of networking, finding out about new research in your area or simply a break away from their own work.

Personally I think they are great and have been to quite a few, ranging from small to large.

If you only have a few months before you leave the country, then it would seem silly to attend a conference just so you have done so, rather than wanting to/needing to.

My husband is very supportive, tries to stop me faffing (although thats impossible) and encourages me. Doing a phd kindof means our plans have been put on hold which is annoying. He knows it's temporary and just tries to motivate me to finish earlier (yeah right). He's not academic at all.