I have literally just started my PhD (about a month ago) and I moved to a new city with a new university where I don't know anyone, to do so. The first couple of weeks were really rough because I'm not very good at moving (I miss my old friends, family, the comfort of my previous life) so I figured that my misgivings about my PhD choice were probably due to that. However, I am feeling somewhat more settled here, I've met a few people I can go for lunch/a drink with but I still can't shake the feeling that I've made this terrible mistake and I shouldn't really be here. I was very good academically at undergrad which allowed me to get a place at Oxford uni for this PhD, so really it is a great opportunity. I thought I wanted to do research but once reading and trying to learn how to do experiments is the only thing you do all day long, I just started to remember how much I hated what I would term 'office work'- where you sit around for large portions of the day. I'm also not sure I have the patience for a long term project and I am seriously struggling to read anything that people give me because, frankly, I'm just not that interested.

I know that everyone says the first bit of a PhD is really hard and a big adjustment, but when is it supposed to get better? If I'm still not enjoying it at the end of 3 months (ie Christmas) should that be the time to leave? I've read lots of people talking about leaving at the end of the year, but if I do that I can't apply for a teaching course which I think I would definitely prefer to this and at the moment I can barely see myself surviving a term let alone a year!

So please, let me know what you think, is it too soon for me to know I hate it?