Well done

I just took a hell of a grilling. I had a committee meeting this morning. It was my first with my complete committee. We knew it was going to be a rough one because of one particular member. She did manage to play nice, and while they did grill me hard for nearly two hours, I stood up to it better than she expected and as well as I had hoped. My advisor, who is the most laid back person in the whole world and who was completely impressed when I “prepared documents” (a list of classes I’d taken) for my first committee meeting, mentioned last week that I would need to be particularly impressive because of the one voice of dissent, not that I’m not always impressive of course. After the meeting he was extremely pleased, giddy even, with the way that it went. I’m also pleased but somewhat spent. There were several positive results of this meeting. First, I have a date for my comps, and this one’s going to stick. The week of March 24-28 I’ll be glued to my desk taking yet another grilling, but when that’s over, I’ll be one step closer to candidacy, which is good because it means that they can’t kick me out and I get a raise. Second, I was assured by two different members after the meeting that the grilling I’ll get when I defend my proposal sometime this summer or early fall won’t be as bad as this one. That’s encouraging. I could do this again. Not today, but eventually. And finally, I’m going to France. I’ve been asked to give a talk at a meeting of an ICES working group in Sète, on the Mediterranean Sea, from March 31-April 4. Since the written portion of my comps will be finished by then, I get to go. I haven’t committed yet. There are still a few considerations to think about, and I haven’t been able to address them because I’ve been trying to get this comps thing nailed down, but average high temperature there at that time is 68F. Considering the current temperature here right now is 18F, that’s sounding pretty good even if my traveling companions are not exactly what I’d like them to be. There’s been talk of me taking a couple of extra days of vacation there after the meeting, and I just might go for it. I’ve heard great things about vacationing alone, and this seems like a great time to test it out.

Update: I hadn't been letting myself look too closely at the details of this trip because I didn't know if I'd be going. I just looked at the travel plans, and I'd get to take the TGV. That may be the only thing I've ever really considered wanting to do in France. I mean really, who wants to go to France? I'd so much rather see Italy or Greece or Isreal or even Spain. But if I get to take the TGV and see the Mediterranean Sea, I guess I can handle it.