Day 50+ - the final two weeks and hand in day.
It's the final countdown... ♫
So, here it is, the final stretch, I've had all the time possible in the lab, and now it's time to wrap this story up into 5,000 words.
Due to all the disruption I had at the start of my project, I was given a one week extension to my deadline date, which allowed me the time to finish off a few experiments and have a similar length of time in the lab to my peers. The day a week before my deadline was the weirdest feeling, watching the clock tick down and seeing everyone's hand in pictures fly in on every social media channel. It was so odd knowing everyone's else's hand in was finished, and here I was working away in the library still. Knowing I had all the relevant paperwork to say this was exactly where I should be, it still felt very strange!
My submission day was a bit of a surreal experience. I was ready to submit the day before my deadline, which was good. Did the final checks and then printed it all out at home, started walking into uni, quite relaxed - but as soon as I got to the school office, it had just turned 11am and all the secretaries had just gone into a meeting! (If I'd known, I probably would have hurried up or slowed down this morning!) Luckily I was planning to meet a friend for coffee after hand in anyway, so that was a lovely way to pass the time and wait to submit - but thank goodness it wasn't actual deadline day as I would have been much more stressed! (Deadlines here are always 1pm!)
Finishing my dissertation was also a strange feeling - everyone who is not working on one tells you it is such a big deal, asking you how it's going and saying how amazed they are of the work you're doing. But day-to-day it just feels like normal work. You're so submerged in all the scientific terminology and in such a short space of time you become the expert on your highly specific topic area that you forget that this piece of work you're doing is so niche and it becomes normal and practically insignificant. So on the last couple of days, when I knew I was happy with all I had done, and worked my best, and had my work read by my supervisors and colleagues, I was a mix of emotions - happy, proud, a bit nervous - but mostly just normal, like this supposed massive piece of work was just another thing I have done. Hopefully, that's a good sign!
So, here it is, the final stretch, I've had all the time possible in the lab, and now it's time to wrap this story up into 5,000 words.
Due to all the disruption I had at the start of my project, I was given a one week extension to my deadline date, which allowed me the time to finish off a few experiments and have a similar length of time in the lab to my peers. The day a week before my deadline was the weirdest feeling, watching the clock tick down and seeing everyone's hand in pictures fly in on every social media channel. It was so odd knowing everyone's else's hand in was finished, and here I was working away in the library still. Knowing I had all the relevant paperwork to say this was exactly where I should be, it still felt very strange!
My submission day was a bit of a surreal experience. I was ready to submit the day before my deadline, which was good. Did the final checks and then printed it all out at home, started walking into uni, quite relaxed - but as soon as I got to the school office, it had just turned 11am and all the secretaries had just gone into a meeting! (If I'd known, I probably would have hurried up or slowed down this morning!) Luckily I was planning to meet a friend for coffee after hand in anyway, so that was a lovely way to pass the time and wait to submit - but thank goodness it wasn't actual deadline day as I would have been much more stressed! (Deadlines here are always 1pm!)
Finishing my dissertation was also a strange feeling - everyone who is not working on one tells you it is such a big deal, asking you how it's going and saying how amazed they are of the work you're doing. But day-to-day it just feels like normal work. You're so submerged in all the scientific terminology and in such a short space of time you become the expert on your highly specific topic area that you forget that this piece of work you're doing is so niche and it becomes normal and practically insignificant. So on the last couple of days, when I knew I was happy with all I had done, and worked my best, and had my work read by my supervisors and colleagues, I was a mix of emotions - happy, proud, a bit nervous - but mostly just normal, like this supposed massive piece of work was just another thing I have done. Hopefully, that's a good sign!
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