June 1st, 11am:
I take a deep breath, steel myself and follow one of the team members into the lab. The research period has begun.
I am struck by the complexity of what is in front of me; stacks of bottles, chemicals and countless machines whirring in the background. I’m like a kid in a candy shop, except each piece of “candy” is meant to go in 1 of 10 waste bins and can only be used in very specific conditions (eg. with a fume hood open to a maximum of 33%). The tour speeds by, with explanations happening faster than my pen can scribble on my lab book.
June 1st, 11:30 am:
I am nodding my head (see title), rhythmically, until 4 words knock me right out of my confused stupor; “does this make sense?”. My heart dropped and for reasons still unknown I said “no”. Great, you've made a fool of yourself within the first two hours. To my surprise, my supervisor responded with a smile: “Good. If you’d said anything else, you’d be lying.”
That brief exchange made me realize some important things. First, I lucked out with a supervisor/team that was kind, supportive, and involved in my learning. Second, it’s okay to know nothing…
Interlude
This brings me to my first survival tip: be prepared and accept the fact that you will know nothing. In other words, you’ll be a fish out of water and learning to embrace discomfort will make that jarring first day much easier .… If I had come in with that mindset I probably could have avoided the end-of-day anti-epiphany (spoiler).
June 1st, 12:30pm:
I am struck again… not in awe, but by the presence of 100s of pages of standard operating procedures (SOPs) on my desk that need signing. And so I sign. Read and sign, read and sign until my eyes blur.
June 1st, 4:30pm:
Vindication!
June 1st, 4:31pm:
I stare at my spoils of war (signed SOPs) and as the rigour of the day hit me, did what any “rational" person would do in this scenario… panic. “How am I going to last 6 weeks”, “I’m going to let my supervisor down”, which looking back now, was quite a gross overreaction to a FIRST day that is meant to be extremely challenging.
June 1st, 7:15pm:
I hit the gym, lifting away the stress of the day. Survival tip 2: find something to keep you sane. Whether that be exercising, reading, hanging out with friends, do something that you can look forward to as the clock approaches 5pm.
An [aesthetic] image taken of my accomodations gym (yours truly, 14/06/26)
Interlude:
Survival tip 3: now that you know that you know nothing (try saying that 5 times fast)... start learning. I approached this in two ways:
- I practiced self-efficacy. Rather than trying to keep up in real time, I simply wrote down the machine/technique we were using, went back to my desk and used the SOPs or a reliable database (thank you PubMed) to figure it out on my own time. This minimised the stress of being time pressured and allowed me to be completely thorough and confident in my knowledge.
- I ASKED QUESTIONS!!! To put it in the words of one of my supervisors “I’d rather you ask a supposedly daft question, than have me spend 4000 pounds replacing a machine you broke”. Trust me, the people you work with will love answering your questions. In fact, to show you how important questions are, I tallied the amount of questions I asked in the first days after induction:
- June 2nd: 26
- June 3rd: 19
- June 4th: 23
- June 5th: 16
Needless to say my lab book looked like a prison wall.
Today, June 12th:
Now in the middle of my third week, I feel like a (clumsy) baby taking its first steps and while gaining confidence everyday. I can culture cells, use the mass spectrometer and my supervisor sometimes even leaves me in the lab unsupervised. Pouring solvents still remains a slight problem though… My fourth and final survival tip is more of a message. You, as Laidlaw (or other) Scholars, are engaging in truly important research. And all important things take time. If you still feel out of place by your second week, have solace in knowing you are doing something right.
***
I am so grateful for my supervisor and team for making me feel like I belong, answering all my questions and sacrificing their time to provide me with an invaluable learning opportunity. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards Lord Laidlaw and the Laidlaw Foundation, who made this scholarly journey, both in the present and future, possible.