Postgrad Sundays

Postgrad guilt - it's always hanging over my head!

Between taking Biostatistics & Epidemiology, working on the MInT study, organizing coffee hour for the Postgraduate Society, taking workshops on writing/statistics/other relevant topics, training for a marathon, and doing other things that pop up (last week I volunteered with the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women by helping distribute graduation garb, the week before I was busy with Otago University Brewers Association stuff), I find that I rarely have a day during the week where I can just sit down and focus on my thesis.  Thus, weekends are technically a great time to be in the office reading, running analyses, and writing.  So, when I'm not in the office on the weekend I feel really, really guilty.

It seems simple enough to just walk to the office, sit down, and analyze my data on psychological flexibility, mindfulness, intuitive eating and body mass index. But, it can be SO mentally taxing!! As a result, I'm not always an eager beaver to run back into the office on the weekend... even when I have nice views of my building to enjoy, like this:

First. World. Problems.

I have a presentation to give at a conference in July and so this will help me hurry up with the analysis of psychological flexibility and 3-year weight change in our sample of mid-age New Zealand women.  That, in turn will help me out with the analysis of intuitive eating and mindfulness since I'm just replacing psychological flexibility with those variables and re-running my regression models (omg, do I sound fancy or what?!).

On the bright side - I'VE BOOKED A FLIGHT HOME!!!!  That's right.  I will be stateside in July and I'm so excited.  I'm already planning to eat myself silly for three whole weeks (this completely goes against all that intuitive eating research I've been doing, but holy moly I've missed tasty food since I've been in New Zealand!).  I also plan on driving everywhere.  Even if only to cross the street - I understand the benefits of walking as a my primary mode of transportation, but there are times where a 5 minute car ride would be SO much more enjoyable then the walking alternative.

So, family and friends, if you're in the Boston area July 14-20 or in the Binghamton area around July 20-August 2 then I hope to see you!

Invercargill

This past weekend I had a nice trip down to Invercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city.  Poor Invercargill.  It has such a bad rep around here!  But, I assure you it's a nice place to visit. The population there is just a smidge more than Binghamton, but my hometown definitely feels a lot bigger!

On Saturday I hopped on a bus heading south.  The sunset was fantastic!

I'd have to say it's a fair toss up as to what the highlight of the weekend was:  I indulged in terrific Indian (the best I've had in NZ, by far!), visited the tuatara (neat reptiles housed at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery) and strolled through Queen's Park and the bird aviary.

Next trip - Christchurch for the marathon!

Confirmation that I am an Academic Superstar

I am officially a confirmed PhD student at the University of Otago!

For the last year, I've been a provisional PhD student.  At my year review meeting last week, I met with my supervisors and a convenor to discuss my progress.  It was a little nerve wracking waiting to hear whether or not my supervisors would endorse the upgrade in my status.  Fortunately, I got a fair amount of work done since I arrived in February 2012.  I submitted the manuscript on our use incentives with the mailed surveys, collected data on lifestyle, eating habits and well-being from over 1,000 women, and nearly completed the 3-year survey methods chapter of my thesis (just need to finalize the data analysis plan).  

Granted, there was little doubt that I would get confirmed, but it's particularly exciting because my six month review was less than stellar.

I'm thrilled that my supervisors had patience with me during the past year.  It took longer than anticipated for me to get a grip on my personal life, adjust to living in a new country and studying at a university that does things differently than what I'm used to in the U.S., and finish that manuscript from hell.  Those are only minor hiccups in the grand scheme of things, though.  I have a good feeling that the next two years will be really fantastic!