as i write i am listening to omen by the prodigy, but the song before that (on my fairly random ipod mix!) was thou shalt always kill by dan le sac. this mix also includes holly valance, elton john, lionel ritchie, the ting tings and justin timberlake, so you could say my taste is a little eclectic/weird/crap (delete as appropriate!!)

although this is not an issue i have experience of, i personally would not even consider getting pregnant during my phd. i'm not saying it can't be done, but being in the sciences i feel there is a degree of pressure on me to get this phd done asap and not hang around! there are other labs out there doing similar things to me and there is a bit of a rush to get my work out there and published before they beat me to it! obviously everyone's situation is different, and as i said before i'm sure it can be done, but i think it would take a HUGE amount of forethought and planning. i also feel it would be pretty hard to be writing up when you have a newborn baby to look after as well, and i wouldn't want the extra stress!

of course only you can decide what is the right route for you to take, and i'm sure there are plenty of people out there who have juggled babies and phds, but for me it would just add far too much extra pressure/work at a time when i guess i need to be pretty selfish to get through my phd.

but best of luck whatever you decide (up)

thanks everyone, as always your advice is reassuring and sensible ;-)

i guess i was just a bit shocked by it, and now i have had time to think about it i guess it's not too bad! as i said, my 'new' supervisor seems really nice, and i'm sure he will be good at it. the main problem is that i really like my current supervisor, and feel a bit rejected by him!! he gave the impression he just couldn't be bothered with having a phd student at the moment and was fobbing me off onto someone else.... probably me being over-sensitive though, and if he really is too busy then at least he has been honest and found me a replacement rather than just carrying on regardless.

but hopefully, as you have suggested, i could keep him in the loop and still go to him for specific things that won't take up too much time, and hopefully he will still want to have some involvement in the overall thesis. he has mentioned publishing some things together so maybe that will be a way of keeping his input!

thanks again, feeling much better now :-)

Hi guys,

Well, I was having a perfectly normal, interesting, useful supervision meeting on Wednesday - until my supervisor told me he was dumping me! apparently he feels he is 'too busy' to dedicate enough time to me and my project, and thinks I would be better off with someone else! he had already discussed this with my potential new supervisor, but wanted to check it was ok with me before they actually did anything about it. I was pretty much gobsmacked and felt a bit backed into a corner, so just mumbled 'yes that's fine' and ran out of there!

he has since promised I'm not being abandoned by him, and he will still be around if needs be. the problem is, i already have three supervisors (2 at my uni, and then him, based at my industrial sponsor, where i spend all my time), so this would potentially mean i now have 4! fortunately i am only 11 months in, but even so this means i would have to spend hours with my new supervisor bringing him up to speed with my project. i have met him lots of times before, and i am sure he would make a great supervisor, but i was perfectly happy with my old one :-(

so basically, i was wondering:
1) has this happened to anyone else before?
2) i am not overly happy about the change but is there anything i can do about it?!
3) is having 4 supervisors just going to cause huge problems?
4) can my supervisors at uni refuse to allow the change to happen, as they are 'in charge' of my project?

any advice would be most welcome!

the fact that you dropped out three times during your undergrad and are now onto a phd shows amazing determination to achieve despite your bipolar, so keep that in mind when things get tough! i have never suffered mental illness myself but have witnessed it first hand in close family members so i know how bad it can get. i just wanted to say stick with it, and you are to be congratulated on the way you have handled things so far. best of luck :-)

i have an origami calendar that sits on my desk, and when i get really bored i do the 'fold of the day' - again, this is probably pretty sad but whatever gets you through ;-)

(and in case you are wondering, which you probably aren't but I'm going to tell you anyway, today's fold was 'Boat and paddles', which was good, but not as impressive as yesterday's 'Pig'!) :p

this happened to me too - i was cleaning my teeth when this paw appeared around the corner of our window and i nearly swallowed my toothbrush! fortunately our bathroom has windows that tilt inwards rather than open the conventional way so it couldn't get in. i would definitely hang something in the windows that rattles such as cd's on a string, i'm sure that would scare them off. otherwise you'll have to hang around by the open window waving a water pistol all day! as has already been said, there's not much point talking to the owner as they can't really stop their cat from going where it likes. cats also hate the smell of orange peel so any sort of orangey smell around the windows should work (you can get orange-smelling furniture polish which might do the trick!)

sounds to me like you do need to be a bit selfish after going through all those things! you definitely need some space and i think moving out sounds like the best option. however, moving out and dumping your partner in it rent-wise probably isn't the kindest thing to do when he has just found out his daughter's pregnant... is there anywhere else you could stay for a while, such as a friend or relative, to give you a bit of space without actually formally moving out? that way you could still pay the rent and get a break from the whole situation. sounds like he needs your support as much as you need his right now, so maybe some time apart, even if it's just a week or two, might be really good for you. good luck, and i hope it all works out x

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seems to be working fine now, thanks! ;-)

Orsay is a lovely but very small town, very typically 'french'! there's a little lake and cute little shops and the odd bar, and it felt very safe to live there. i lived in halls on campus, which were VERY cheap but not really to be recommended, unless they have had a revamp since i was there! be warned however, 'just outside' paris means a good half hour train journey, so you don't really feel like you're living in paris at all. train travel is really cheap though, and the uni campus is about a minute walk from the station! we went into paris pretty much every weekend.

is anyone else having this problem? when i click to see who is online, i just get a blank page :-(

you're in luck - i did an erasmus year in france, at the universite de paris sud! i believe they have different campuses though, i was based south of paris in a town called orsay, don't know if you'll be at the same one?

so, a few pointers to help you out:

1) Language
yes, this can seem a huge and daunting barrier to start with, but as long as you have the basics and at least try to speak some french, the vast majority of people will be willing to help you out, and the french love english speakers! i studied biochemistry in french for a year and worked in a lab - science is the best thing to do in another language, as the majority of words are exactly the same, just said with a different accent :p this makes life much easier when studying/reading french books and literature. people may also expect you to sepak in french with them in the lab, but don't worry, you'd be surprised how quickly you pick it up.

2) Admin
The admin in France is a nightmare, to put it bluntly! when i went, they demanded all sorts of paperwork (including my birth certificate translated into french, which was a real hassle to organise), and then when i got there they couldn't have cared less! no one asked for any of the documents i had been told i had to have. they are ridiculously slow at getting anything organised admin-wise, and basically if you ask for anything you just get a typical parisian shrug ;-) this can be frustrating, but as soon as you learn to just go with the flow and not worry about these things, then it will be a lot easier! basically the french think all admin is pointless, and so it takes forever and a lot of pestering to achieve anything. as for the library, well it was rubbish, so thank god for the internet! i wouldn't rely on the library being of any use whatsoever to be honest!

3) Lab work
The universite de paris sud was horrendously badly equipped when i was there (2003-2004), but this doesn't seem to cause any major problems. coming from a uk uni, the labs seemed shockingly old fashioned and basic, so don't be expecting any high-tech equipment! if you get to go over there for an interview, ask to be shown round and you can have a look and see what you think. it wasn;t just the labs - the whole of the campus was pretty old fashioned, and you didn't even get a student card, just a folded piece of card with your name on!

4) Living in France
Although my previous points may make it seem as if i am a bit negative about the whole thing, in fact the exact opposite is true! the year i spent there was absolutely amazing, and i would do it again in a heartbeat. it's a bit of a culture shock certainly, and everything is done so differently from over here, but once you get used to it you should have the time of your life! learning another language, immersing yourself in another culture, and getting to live in paris is an incredible opportunity and i am very jealous! so best of luck (up)

adigun, there is no need to be rude! phdbug made perfectly reasonable points - how on earth do we answer your question with so little information?!
what 'schools'?
how are you comparing them?
what do you mean by 'best'? (this could be interpreted in a million different ways!)
what do you want suggestions for - do you want us to tell you which is the best, or do you want help in deciding how to analyse the schools?