Actually that last point is very interesting .

I apologise for calling you a big bully. That was out of line
. Stressed over writing my transfer report.

Just felt that people were a bit harsh on Sue; I know just what she means. It is hard to know what to focus on when there are so many unanswered questions.

O.Stoll, I think that was quite obvious in what Sue said. This is a quick-fire forum, and therefore most people don't compose a flawlessly logical response before hitting "add message".

Stop looking for opportunities to be nasty, you big bully.

Don't even think of quitting over this! I exprect that even in a week's time you won't feel so bad: just put a bit of time and mental distance between you and this experience. No-one ( and I mean no-one) has gone through their training without feeling severely inadequate at least once.

And don't worry too much that your supervisor was answering: it's happened to me and it doesn't mean anything, except that your supervisor is excited about the topic and can't help talking about it.

Not great advice from your director; most bullies refuse to acknowledge that they have a problem.

Are there likely to be new people soon that you could make friends with?

It may be that only one of them is the real bully and the others are just weak and easily influenced. It may be that over time, you can figure out if that is the case. I had a similar experience when I started work - the other two people in the lab barely spoke to me and never included me, but were not actually unpleasant. But I kept on trying to talk to them (little other choice, we were stuck in the same room) and eventually they opened up. I think now it was lack of people skills rather than anything else, and I got on with them quite well in the end - still friends with one of them.

Thanks everyone.

I tried AOL but they seem to need a BT phone number, which I don't have. Can you get a package that is just internet (I already have a mobile and don't really want to switch)?

Actually Faust, you may be able to take a summer break of sorts if you go for some kind of European exchange programme; some of our postgrads have spend a month in a lab in Germany, France and Italy.

Yup. But in magazines, not peer-reviewed journals.

I don't think Faust did; he/she just queried the typical holiday length (fair question cos most people, when they start, don't realise that postgrad and undergrad holidays are different). Someone else said that they needed a 6-week break, which made me laugh out loud.

For me it depends on how complex answering those questions is likely to be. One of my questions involves filling in gaps of knowlegde in biosythesis: a short question but potentially several years to answer.

But I know what you mean: in some (even very narrow) areas of research there are so many unknowns that it can be hard to decide what to focus on. I'm in the same boat as you right now.

I agree with the last two posts. I don't accept that any healthy adult "needs" (as opposed to "wants") a six week holiday in the summer.

I don't have Sky, just Freeview (which is also useless, but that's another story). What don't you like about Virgin, H?

What kind of prices do you pay?

I'd like to get internet access at home - can anyone recommend a good package? I don't really know much about it at the moment.

Here PhDs are allowed 25 days annual holiday, of which not more than 10 days can be taken consecutively (i.e. no more than two weeks at once). So I laugh whenever someone asks me what I'm doing for the "summer holiday".

I'm in the same boat as you, Chrisrolinski. I find often that although I understand all the words in a sentence, I don't seem to be very quick at putting the words together to grasp the overall meaning.

I forced myself to complete two textbooks, but now I have a subscription to a Dutch women's weekly and that's really helpful. I read the articles aloud, which makes you feel a bit silly but somehow helps the phrases stick in your head much better than silent reading.