Gosh I logged back on here for the first time in ages just in time to win!

God I remember mine too - I felt on top of the world.  I got the grades I needed and got into the uni I wanted. Did I ever think back then that 10 years later I would be doing a PhD?? Nope!

What I don't remember is much of the night after my results - I had far too much to drink hehe.

I am still really god friends with some of my old school mates and we meet up a few times a year - we always reminisce about 'the good old days'

You are not alone here.. I am often thinking about my experiments.. Even when I take some time out to relax I get various aspects of my calculations, protocols, optimisations and the like creepign into my mind!

I think I cracked along time ago!

Am I enjoying it? Simple answer is no! :oP

I have reached a proper brick wall and struggling with motivation :o(

If i am making anything like pasta sauce etc etc.. I will make a big batch then freeze it in one meal portions so if i come in late or can't be bothered to cook I can just get a pot out and defrost it.. can be really handy when coming in late from the lab.

For some easy quick one pot recipies try the BBC good food website www.bbcgoodfood.com I've made loads of nice stuff from there :o)

I love the coffee breaks!

To be honest I am not sure how successful you would be at appealing. If you were going for research council funding then many of them stipulate a minimum 2i for the funding, therefore it is out of the university's hands. It might be worth contacting the supervisor to see if they can suggest anything.

Good luck!

I get mine quarterly as I get paid directly from the research council. However, other people I work with get theirs monthly as they are paid from the institute doctoral training account.

It's a really good thing to have and I am glad that I had some printed. I had mine done through vista print and they were cheap. I put my title as 'Postgraduate Researcher' so I didnt have to put student on it!

Sorry to hear you are having problems with IBS. My research group's interest is gut microbiology and various people are researching things to do with stress, IBS etc etc. Stress is a major contributor to gut problems as certain bacteria (like E.coli) grow like crazy in the presence of stress hormones that are released into the gut. It's a vicious circle as you get stressed cos you have IBS then get IBS cos you are stressed! So if you can find a way of winding down then it could help alot.

I don't know whether you take any food supplements as some research has shown that some poly unsaturated fatty acids such as omega 3, 6 and 9 can have beneficial effects on gut bacteria and gut function. The best option would be fish oils however this is probably out of the question for you as you are a vegetarian! But I think there are some vegetarian alternatives available. I am not sure whether the same benefits have been seen in IBS sufferers so I don't want to say that it will definitely work as it might not!

Having a probiotic yoghurt might help but certain strains of probiotic bacteria don't suit some people and can have a negative effect on some IBS sufferers (which is probably an immune linked issue) so I would recommend going for a good quality live yoghurt with a variety of bacteria in them rather than things like Yakult or actimel where they are overloaded with a specifc bacterial strain which could aggrevate the condition. I buy the Yeo Valley ones when i feel the need for a probiotic boost as they seem to have a good mix of various probiotic bacteria.

Well done.. Congrats on getting through it! 8-)(up)

Best advice I would be able to give you would be to contact the admin department of the university you wish to apply for and see what they say. Good luck (up)

I had some serious relationship and personal issues when I was doing my undergrad and they seriously affected my work.  But being a typical male I kept them all bottled up and didn't inform the uni that I was struggling and so when the sh*t hit the fan with some exams and stuff, it took me a while for the academics to accept my mitigating circumstances as it looked like I was just looking for an excuse. So my advice would be to tell your supervisor about any problems you are having sooner rather than later. You don't have to go into major details but just enough so that he knows that you do have some issues outside of work..

I can totally sympathise on feeling low.. Recently split up with my bf of 3.5 years and along with some other probs my head is all over the place and the last thing on my mind is this bloody PhD malarky.. so screaming sounds like a very good option to me!

I hope you feel better soon (up)