During my PhD programme, I’ve become less sociable – and it’s getting worse towards the final year. I know a couple of PhDs who worked in a lab for fixed hours, were very punctual, stopped work at 5:00 pm and went out to socialise. I work from home, shut myself in a room when I’m read more

On Friday, I submitted my working drafts of Chapters 5 and 6. Writing for 30 consecutive days was a fairly long challenge, and the last five days were very intense. I crossed out the date on the calendar before going to bed every night, which filled the whole of August. What a sight! Between January read more

Two weeks to go until my next deadline. I’ve been listening to my data – audio files I collected last year – to finalise the transcripts that go to the appendices. It feels so different to hear my interview questions and their responses now. The participants were frank, added jokes between their narratives, and gave read more

After two days of intensive work as a translator in London, I got back to my thesis writing this week. I was excited to finalise my findings chapter and was planning two weeks to complete it. But it’s been a slow start, going back and forth between the previous chapters to make the link clearer. read more

I am writing this post in a hotel room near Kensington Gardens in London, after an eight-day holiday in Sicily. This was probably the first holiday that I indulged in during my PhD. In a villa in Sicily, we had a very limited internet connection, and I had a zero chance to open my draft read more

It’s nice to write in my journal after crossing out the tasks to be completed for the week and while feeling a sense of accomplishment: “My work is done!” Luca and I used to enjoy Friday Pizza on Friday evening if I finished all my targets for the week on time. We turned on music, read more