Introducing Dr Jaimie

This morning was my Viva Voce. I had to nervously defend my thesis for three hours, and despite knowing that it was certain to pass, it was still scary. They asked me unexpected questions, some of which I probably messed up. They did not focus on the places that I thought were weak, but found other new ones instead. At the end they simply tell you that you have been awarded a pass and basically now have your PhD, which is a bit of anticlimax after all those years. I have a few small corrections to make, which I hope to complete in a day, then I need to get it signed off on, print it and hand it in to the university. Finally, in a month or so I will be posted the big certificate itself and I will frame it and put it on my wall. I will probably never look inside my thesis again after it is printed. And that's it, the end of four years.

For the rest of the week I will focus on fixing the few mistakes that the examiners asked to be corrected and then getting the thesis printed and bound. I would quite like to see it bound before I go, take a photo maybe, so that I have proper closure. When I go home I will still have more papers to try and publish but the worst of everything is over. Now the next big step is to find a real job, the sort that uses my brain and knowledge a bit more. But I have time for that, things will move forward eventually. Hopefully before my money runs out though. And despite being on a budget I am turning the last of my trip into a holiday and going over to the UK - luckily that was the plan already because with so few corrections I will have nothing else to do here. It is Tuesday afternoon here so I will be back in Wellington in just under two weeks, ready to get straight back into work so that I don't go bankrupt, and also ready to enjoy some proper sunshine and warm weather, because today it is icy cold here in Galway!