Viva forever

Hi everybody!

Just had a weekend to let the viva sink in fully.

The day of my viva was a fantastic day. My external examiner (whom I respect and admire) reassured me during my pre-viva stress by saying "I don't know about the other guy (internal examiner) but I've read through your thesis, and I say don't worry". It was a hell of a compliment. In addition the congratulations from him as we started the viva was a real confidence boost. Post-viva, the icing on the cake was a comment from him that he would like a copy of my thesis after I had finished my corrections so he could read through it as he was genuinely interested and wanted to chat to my boss about my work as an interested chemist and not as an examiner. Coming from such an amazingly smart and gifted scientist it made me feel so incredibly flattered. There weren't even that many corrections to do!

Other things about the day were also amazing. People who had left the group came back to say hi and celebrate with me. One of whom even took the day off from work to do so (he handed his thesis in on that day whilst there)!

My labmates threw me a fantastic post-viva party. They had bought me some amazing, incredible, generous gifts. The best of which was a framed photo frame filled with pictures of me with past and present lab mates. Made me remember the good times of the past 4 and a bit years. If that on its own wasn't enough, they also got me a huge array of other gifts, some silly and frivolous, and some very sensible and practical, but all incredibly generous and thoughtful. (Amongst which was my much appreciated group T-shirt with number 5 and "Enforcer" on it). It made me feel so stunned, and I hope I had shown my gratitude sufficiently, but am a bit worried that I was so shocked by their incredible generosity and effort that I didn't. In the unlikely event that any of you are reading this, allow me to say "Thank you. Very, very, very much".

The whole experience made me feel so mixed. It emphasised what a wonderful group of people I knew and made me feel high, but also made me feel sad that I was finally leaving, and would no longer be a part of my wonderful supervisor's amazing group.

Fortunately (in some ways) the next day, where I went in to finish my chemicals, an experience made me glad I was leaving. Jizznut, the only person in the lab who I dislike, showed his obnoxious, inconsiderate side. The group has a new PhD student who showed amazing diplomatic skills and defused the situation, but I'm glad I don't need to work in the same room as him. I think it's a real pity I didn't get a chance to work with the new PhD student however, as I think she's fantastic. My supervisor has a talent for choosing good students (with the single exception of Jizznut).

I said a goodbye to my adored supervisor. He's a person I idolise, just because he's an absolutely incredible person. He's so clever, but humble. An amazing scientist but with brilliant social skills (and artistic too). Reasonably junior, but incredibly generous. Just an amazing human being. I bought him a small gift to attempt to express my thanks to him, which he accepted it incredibly graciously and enthusiastically. He also gave me some words of wisdom, and was very humble about his input over the course of my PhD, despite the fact I don't think I could possibly have had a better supervisor. Such a great man. I hope I'm able to stay in touch with him. He said I was welcome to pop in, which was lovely.

I've been going on for ages, but I wanted to put this down, if for no other reason than a record for my own benefit. The viva experience put me on such a high, I want to capture this feeling so I can relive it.

AcidCat