Induction Days

As many of you know, I walk a fine line between extrovert and introvert. My mood can go dim and my energy levels can drop if I have too little or too much social interaction.

To little and I become a barnacle, clinging to my rock and convinced that no, I don't need to go out and spend time with people (ugh!) or go exercise and get off my butt. Inevitably, I feel much better when I am finally forced to interact with friends or go for a run, and have to admit the person who kicked me off the couch was indeed right.

To much social interaction or social stimulus and I get quickly worn out and somewhat grouchy and my brain stalls on any decisions as the cognitive spark is dampened faster than a camp fire flooded by a tsunami.

While I might have been in the realm of the former during the summer, when everyone was off getting on with their lives and I was stuck in delays, I have definitely stumbled into the danger zone of the latter this week, simply because of the ENORMOUS amount of people and social events I have encountered in my adventures.

That's not to say that these events and people have been anything less than FANTASTIC. And YES, I'd say the extravagant use of capital letters here is warranted. As I keep telling everyone I talk to (probably ad-nauseum):

I am exactly where I want to be.

First of all- I have encountered an extraordinary number of fantastic people from all over the planet. It has been a privilege to learn some of their stories and to exchange knowledge of differing cultures. Fo example, tonight one of my flatmates from China taught Stefi (my Greek flatmate) and me to roll out and fold dumplings. It was very tasty.

I have been to society fairs, sports fairs, graduate center quiz nights, boat trips, Café Crawls, Pub Crawls, and even a dorm party that ended in a fire alarm (I swear, it probably wasn't us). My social brain is saturated.

Cardiff Bay

The Pierhead Building

First stop on the Pub Crawl

Second, I finally met the 5 other individuals who will be studying with me this year. I AM SO EXCITED. Each one of them is brilliant, with a different perspective on neuroscience and something meaningful to say about it. After finding each other in the first administrative lecture on our docket on Monday, we went to grab a coffee between our morning and afternoon sessions of induction events. I and two of my fellow Wellcome Trust students ended up engaging in a long, loud, and enthusiastic philosophical discussion ranging from the role of religion in human society to the importance of neuroscience to the question of the human condition to our enthusiasm for and value of public communication. Our program studies will cover neuroscience from multiple disciplines, including genetics, biochemistry, psychology, and traditional neuroscience, and I think that as a group, we are balanced in our backgrounds well enough that we will be able to aid each other in coming up to speed in all fields.

Coffee with Wellcome Trust Students!

Third: Cardiff University's Neuroscience Department is well renowned and well-funded and the head of our program, Dr. Vincenzo Crunelli, has excellent perspective on the practicalities of being a PhD student in this program and has made me feel we will be well supported.

Ohmygoodness our desks! The Haydn Ellis building is beautiful and our desks are located in an area where we can see into the heart of the building and straight down to the floors below. I LOVE IT. It's such a change from working in a windowless lab. I love my lab at Davis, but seriously, that building was hard to work in. My only complaint at Haydn Ellis is having to use a PC. I miss being surrounded by Macs!

Windows!
Desk is on the railing adjacent to and right of the one shown here.

Lectures start late next week, but in the mean time, we will all, like the over achievers we are, be furiously researching the potential projects for our lab rotations next January.

Cardiff Castle sneak peek! I swear I'll get to it.