How Do I Do This?
My weekly routine almost invariably consists of me waking up, getting ready, and going into the lab. I usually arrive between 8 and 9 (toward 9 more recently after finishing my paper + thesis). I like the routine because it’s predictable and, in a way, comforting. I guess that goes back to my general tendency to be pretty stuck in my habits and routines.
I understand that this can be both pretty great and really bad; it’s useful because I can form habits very quickly and stick to them (except for this newsletter lol). The thing is, those habits can either be good or bad. In a sense, I feel like it helped me finish grad school at a pretty comforting, almost leisurely pace. Getting some amount of work done almost every single day (including weekends) made me feel like I was never cramming or racing against the clock.
A topic of conversation at almost every lab lunch or social outing was “let’s get [me] to go on vacation.” To be honest, I was perfectly content (and still am, if I’m being really serious) to spend the rest of the time I have before starting (knock on wood) work just going into the lab and spending time with people. I’m not doing any work anyway besides polishing my presentation. The thing that really got to me was the fact that this would likely be the most “free” I would be for a long time: my degree is done, I have a job lined up (for now), and a surplus of time on my hands. Many people commented that this would be the time to go on vacation, and in a way, I agreed.
In my mind, I started rounding up some candidates:
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South Korea
- (+) I haven’t been in over 10 years
- (+) I would have some time to reconnect with my culture, I guess?
- (-) Nowhere to stay (our family really didn’t keep in touch with our relatives)
- (-) Sort of a waste to go just for a week and with so little planning done (more so than other destinations)
- (—) Small possibility that I’d get conscripted (I’m a Canadian citizen, but there might be some record of me in the family registry that the government still looks at… need to investigate if I ever want to visit)
- (----) Expensive flights…
-
London/Scotland
- (+) Lots of cool architecture and rich history
- (+) Easy to get around Europe
- (–) Too last minute for me to leave the continent
- (—) Expensive flights…
In the end, it came down to going to New York. The flights were cheap, and the fact that it was still on the same continent gave me some amount of reassurance that I would, in fact, be okay. There was also lots to do, and I had friends who were there very recently that I could ask. I also found a cheap hostel that I could stay at without going broke.
So about half a week later, I have my tickets, passport ready (I have a photocopy this time, since a friend of mine mentioned that this would be a good idea), and I’m fully packed and writing this newsletter. I don’t have a ton planned for the trip. I’ll be going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a few rooftop bars. There’s also a craft brewery that I want to go to, but I don’t think it’ll be any better than Vancouver’s if I’m being honest. I’m more worried about the hostel I booked. I managed to get a private room (sharing a dorm with N other strangers doesn’t really seem all that appealing with me).
Well, I doubt I’ll be able to sleep before my flight at 3am tmrw, so I guess I’ll just be chilling before then.