naturallypixie: (Default)
[personal profile] naturallypixie
This is the news that you have all been waiting for. We are coming home after only a year of living in Italy. First, I want to say that we are enjoying ourselves very much! Friends, travel, weather, the country...all great. We have met some really great people who I will be sad to leave. We haven't seen everything we would like to see yet. It is warm, but many days, not overly so. Naples is not the worst city on the planet, but there are certainly better ones in Italy and we have seen several.

But the thing that is just intolerable is the reason why we are here: the PhD program. We were lied to from the very beginning and nothing is as I was told it was going to be. I am not getting the stipend I was promised. I am not in the lab that I was promised. I am not even in the building that I toured, the Tower. Instead, I am in the building that has apparently been feuding with the Tower for years and the animosity shows. Getting paper towels is like searching for a kidney on the black market and I am not so good in dealing with lawful evil people, especially in a language I don't completely comprehend. But even in a different language, I know when someone is lying to me.

Other things that are wrong with the lab/building:
1. There is a hole in the wall that opens to the outside in the cell culture room.
2. The air conditioning in the cell culture room is TURNED OFF over the weekend. WTF??
3. Antibiotic resistant Mycoplasma.
4. Ancient autoclaves that I just don't trust.
5. Ancient equipment in general.
6. Open windows in the lab.
7. I ordered supplies in FEBRUARY that still have not arrived.
8. 2,000 Euros per month to spend on a lab with seven active workers, yet they still insist on doing
everything with kits which are very expensive.
9. Seven people in a lab that should really have four.
10. Nobody works the entire month of August. (okay, so maybe that is not a totally bad thing, but it
freaks me out)
11. Because of #10, the cell incubator is turned off for the entire month, so I couldn't do anything even
if I wanted to.
12. I am beyond frustrated that it takes months to get supplies.
13. The lack of any semblance of organization is more than overwhelming to my OCD nature.
14. Because of these conditions, I can't trust any of my data.

There is more, but this will suffice I think. The really sad thing for me is that every morning I wake up in a good mood and go into lab thinking, "Today will be the day that I get the hang of it. Today will be better," but inevitably something goes wrong and I come home sad. Further, I don't want to waste my time with a degree that I can't respect even a little. So, now the life plan has to change. My goal was to be a lecturer at the university level, but without a PhD, that is almost an impossibility, which is terribly frustrating. Just because I don't have a degree, doesn't mean that I don't know the material and conversely, just because someone else has a degree, doesn't mean that he is a good teacher. I know I am a good teacher. I have taught karate, aerobics, genetics, intro bio and cross dressers how to do their hair and make up and I have enjoyed every minute of it. But now I am whining, so I will stop.

When will we be home? Not certain as to the exact date, but it will be late December or early January. My student visa expires on January 18th, so that is the latest that we can leave. When we have exact dates, I'll post.

See you all soon!

Date: 15 Aug 2005 11:20 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] awfief.livejournal.com
*hugs* I'm sorry it stinks. . .can you continue your education in the States?

Date: 15 Aug 2005 11:47 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com
Not continue, but I could start from the beginning. Because of the way admissions work, the earliest I could start would be 2007. Ugh. When we get back, it will be about Bart's education.

Date: 15 Aug 2005 13:47 (UTC)
reedrover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] reedrover
::sympathy:: That's kick-the-wall frustrating, in every way. I'm so sorry that they didn't give you even 10% of what you needed to pursue your schooling.

But! While you didn't move any further on your biology PhD, you certainly got another certification in Life Sciences. To me, a year in Italy is a Real Life Experience (tm) that will last you forever.

Date: 15 Aug 2005 14:25 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com
I agree completely! I certainly don't regret our stay here. I have learned a lot about the right way and wrong way to run a lab and about what I need as a person. I have decided to list this time on my CV as a one year fellowship :)

Date: 15 Aug 2005 20:59 (UTC)
reedrover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] reedrover
Oh, that's a great idea. "Invited to study at the University of Naples..."

Date: 15 Aug 2005 15:15 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marius23.livejournal.com
What a bummer. I'm so sorry to hear that things didn't work out; I know how much you were looking forward to this experience. I wish you luck in extracting as much silver from the lining as possible, and, as always, let me know if there's anything I can do to help out.

*HUGS*

Date: 15 Aug 2005 16:35 (UTC)

Date: 15 Aug 2005 16:33 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] em-yrt.livejournal.com
That sucks profoundly.. and yet, you can always say that you did it. It'll make great stories ("When I was studying in Italy for a year...").

We're glad to be getting you back early, though. :)

Date: 15 Aug 2005 16:35 (UTC)

Date: 15 Aug 2005 18:24 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mrf-arch.livejournal.com
Ugh. I'm sorry things have turned out to be so many miles away from what was planned, and what was promised.

That said, it'll be very good to see both of you back in this country again. Any idea where Bart's education will be taking you when you touch down again?

Date: 15 Aug 2005 19:01 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com
Most definitely Baltimore.

home

Date: 16 Aug 2005 13:39 (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
So home is officially Baltimore for the forseeable future, then? As opposed to the Middle West, or that bastion of weirdness, LA?

--The Squirrel

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