I guess I need to explain myself a little bit more, so everyone can understand completely my situation. Please don't get me wrong, I always knew I wanted to do a PhD. I finished my degree in biology, I did a masters by research (all in Barcelona) and during all those years there was an increasing interest inside me for seeing the world and living new experiences. During my undergrad studies I did short trips (one month of summer research at uni in Brazil, 3 weeks to the USA...etc). When I finished the degree I was already in research in the department of biochemistry of my uni, and my supervisor suggested that the topic could turn into a masters thesis, so I did it. During the master's year, I realised 2 things: that if I was going to do PhD I needed to be really really sure before committing, and that I wanted to see the world (again). So I managed to go on "exchange" for 6 months to a lab in Australia, hoping that things would become "clear", and by the time I got back, I would see which path I wanted to follow. Of course, life in Australia was amazing, and I realised how "low" was the research level in Spain. I was impressed in the scientific level and in the personal level. So I thought Australia was the perfect place for me, so as soon as I got on the flight back home (with the biggest sadness I ever experienced) I started to think about ways for going back. Regarding the topic, I was always fascinated by cancer biology, which is a very broad topic with infinite approaches, so you can study it in almost every uni in the world. But the consequences of going abroad were a little bit scary. Because I saw a lot of sides of biology that never appealed to me. I worked and lived on a diving boat for a week, and, as Alice says, in the "ideal world", I would become a marine biologist right now and dive the Great Barrier Reef earning $8000 a month (and they call it a "job"!). I was fascinated by a world that I didn't even know that existed before. And like this, I could tell you heaps of examples...Instead of going clear, I went more and more confusing...And I'm sure that, the more I see, the less I know. That's why I love travelling so much. But this is not the question right now. I'm 24 and I can't be supported by my parents anymore. I need to earn my own money, to feel my independence. In an ideal world, I would be rich, I would take 1 or 2 years off and travel the world. But I can't. I know a lot of people go around the world and support themselves picking fuit and waitressing. But again, my family would never agree with that, and I didn't study a degree and a masters for nothing. If your question is, if am I especially and absolutely passionated about a particular research topic that I know it would mean my whole life in the future, the answer is not. And if it sounds more appealing to study the migration of humpback whales rather than being 24/7 between 4 white walls of a lab, I would say maybe. But the ideal world doesn't exist. I've heard heaps of people complaining about the PhD life. But I like lab work, I like research, and this is what I've been doing for the past years, so doing anything else would mean going backwards, I guess. And I like challenging myself, and at the end, that's what this is about, isn't it?
