On the topic of work

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I was in Germany the last few days for a conference – one of the advantages of the academic world is being able to travel to attend conferences. We were not in the most glamorous destination – Mannheim is not exactly a tourist hot-spot – but I am grateful to have the opportunity to travel and visit another place, and I was with fun people, which always makes a big difference. I really am blessed to be able to work with people who have also become my friends.

It turned out to be quite  a fancy upmarket conference and is on the topic of career guidance for social justice, prosperity and sustainable employment. Career guidance is not my field, but the conference has been quite interesting. When attending these types of events, I am reminded how privileged I am to have access to such resources, and feel a renewed sense of responsibility to be a good steward of all the knowledge I have access too. It is amazing how well funded research in Europe is  and the prestigious place it is awarded in society.

Recent weeks have been quite full on the work front – but it has been productive. I have managed to submit to two separate conferences for next year, as well as sending one article off to a journal and almost finishing another. All these 4 pieces are separate pieces of work, so it has been a bit of a challenge to keep them all in my mind at the same time! It has also been busy with half-marathon training – only 3 more weeks to go!

We have also moved offices – our old building was off campus, a 20 minute walk from the University – so now we are in a newly renovated building on the campus. It is pretty nice – very modern and trendy. There are definitely some perks to this move – having a student cafeteria, being closer to a lot of friends, closer proximity to the rest of my team and having easier access to things like the library and sport centre. We are going to have to work quite hard to create a new community in the building, the way it is designed is not so condusive to collaboration and passing each other in the passage or coffee-room, but we will figure it out! For me it is also quite a big change,  I got placed in a office with someone I don’t know – so I need to make a new friend and figure out a office routine with her. But, this means I will be speaking French with her every day, which I know will mean my French will significantly improve in the coming months.

But over the move things have been quite disruptive and now with the conference, my routine is all out of sync! People who know me well know that I like my routine, and like things to be predictable, so recent weeks have definitely been more draining than I would like. On the whole, I am much for flexible individual than I used to be, but when I have long periods of things not going according to plan, I definitely start to feel tired. With winter setting in here, and starting off in my new office for the first time next week, I am looking forward to settling into a new routine and finding my rhythm again. Need to make the most of the 7 weeks until I am home for a wedding, Christmas and a nice family holiday!