^^ were not where

If I remember rightly you are in London? I found that when I moved from Yorkshire to London for my undergrad degree people where suprised if i held the door open or said please and thank-you in shops. Up north people tend to be alot friendlier such as talking to randoms on the train, holding doors open etc. etc.. so one of my big mistakes when i first moved there was trying to chat to people on the tube.. Whoops!

Mmm I like it cold.. but then I am northern

But saying that there is generally no happy medium in buildings in this country.. buildings tend to be either roasting hot or freezing cold.. The building where I work seems to have only two heater settings on or off. So of course they have it on and I end up being cooked in my labcoat every day.

I agree with what the other people say. It is bang out of order to move your stuff and made worse by the fact that they didn't contact you. I would be majorly p*ssed off if someone boxed all my stuff up and I would complain.

The whole 'just a student' attitute really annoys me, its so rude and in a round-about way it is discrimination implying that your feelings/opinions don't count.. At the end of the day your research is no less important as theirs so it makes no odds about job status. There are a couple of people where I am based with that attitute who come out with things like 'Well you are the student' and 'It's your job as a student'. I tend to just ignore people like that as I can't be doing with that sort of attitude!

I wouldn't worry too much to be honest. It is perfectly normal to have these lulls in motivation and productivity. In my first year I had a post christmas lull and it does pass. Did you take a proper break over christmas? When I am in a lull I find that changing my direction helps, for example starting on a different experiment or catching up with recent journal articles. Other than that it can help to take a complete break from work even if it is just over the weekend, get a change of scenery for example or visit friends or family.. Always seems to work for me.

Normally I eat regularly and reasonably healthily, as for when burning the midnight oil... biscuits are always good as long as they are dunkable hehe.. I also like peanut M&M's when pulling an all nighter.. Oh yeah and toast with Jam is always a good one too!

oooo can i join in the rant.. Don't you just hate it when people leave communal lab equiptment in a mess? Or use up the last of a reagent without reordering it? Or just pinching stuff off your bench to use for themselves? I have a fellow PhDer in my lab who does all of the above and it really gets on my nerves!!

No one has called you a savage. Ok so people don't agree with what you say, but have you put your feelings and ideas across in a mature and effective manner? From the onset you wrote in an aggresive manner with insulting comments, somewhat akin to a stroppy teenager. How else do you expect people to react after comments like 'UK PhDs and UK science is crap' or claiming that someone is 'stuck in a sub-standard university'.

I didn't actually assume anything I just went on the information that you gave. Of course you are allowed to be upset, not one person has said otherwise as we all understand the ups and downs of the PhD process. The thing that has annoyed people is that you have branded all UK PhD's and UK science as crap, and then things were made worse with your remarks about the western world and 'the white man' on the thread that was deleted.

You didn't initially state that you were accepted onto a PhD programme as you said that you were on an MPhil with the chance of transferring onto a PhD. Inline with what RJB says, it would appear to me from your further comments that you didn't pass the required viva exam to upgrade from MPhil to PhD. Did you not get given a reason as to why you couldn't carry on with a PhD? I don't believe that the university would just kick you out without a reason.

I agree Smilodon i think we have another Troll on the forum.

Girigoriya that isn't what Keehaa said at all. The comment was 'Take note they analysed peer reviewed Journals..' Which in no way suggests that New Scientist is a peer reviewed publication.

That is a sweeping generalisation and like hypothesis said this sort of thing occurs worldwide. The only times i have heard of people not continuing on to do a PhD from an MPhil is 1) If the research council rejects the application for further funding or 2) The student doesn't satisfy the requirements to progress onto a PhD.

At the end of the day you obtained an MPhil which is what you signed up to do. From what you say the progression onto a PhD was not set in stone at the onset of your masters. Unfortunately funding for international students is a tough area and the majority of studentships available at UK institutions are for UK/EU students.

As for your statement saying that a PhD from the UK just involves writing CRAP in your thesis. Again that is a huge generalisation and it shows that you certainly do not know the status of UK science. Besides if you think so low of UK academia why did you bother applying here?

I am trying to write a couple of papers at the moment.. I think the hardest bit of it is trying to get the complex stuff that you take for granted onto paper in a consise and easy to understand manner!

Try looking at http://www.sense-ability.co.uk/intro.htm they have courses in British Sign Language there.

As The majority of people on this forum are based in the UK or Europe (and a couple of guys and girls from Australia), you would be best using google and search for universities in the US who offer the subject area you want and then contact them directly for the information you require