• Question: To get where you are today, do you have to work and study all the time, or do you get room do have fun away from your studies?

    Asked by Rianna to Craig, Flavia, Giuditta, Jack, Sheona on 9 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Jack Carlyle

      Jack Carlyle answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      Well you do have to work hard, but you definitely don’t have to study all the time. I try to have as much as much fun as I can and throughout my studies I was in bands, played lots of videogames, learned how to dance, slept all morning (sometimes) and got up to plenty of crazy antics. Scientists are real people, too, and a work-life balance is important in any field.

    • Photo: Giuditta Perversi

      Giuditta Perversi answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      I had my fair share of periods in which the full immersion in study and work was absolutely crucial to not fail fast-approaching deadlines and stuff like that, but I can’t say I didn’t live or I don’t live at all because of science!
      I always liked to travel around, to have days in which I really don’t touch a book and enter the lab, and apparently it worked out so far!
      Personally, I would even argue that it’s better to switch the plug off work/study sometimes, it gives you a better grip when you get back to it, and you can get things done without wearing out!

    • Photo: Flavia de Almeida Dias

      Flavia de Almeida Dias answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      I have worked hard, and spent a lot of hours dedicating myself to studies while some of my friends were dedicated to get a liver problem in their early 20s. However, that doesn’t mean I also didn’t have a lot of fun! I am an avid trashy pop dancer, and I have also spent many nights in my younger days sweating in the dance floor, making people cringe with my karaoke performances, and experimenting with gin at cocktail making. After I started my Ph.D and was mostly living abroad (something I still do! I am originally from Brazil), I have visited many countries and experienced a lot of different cultures, seen beautiful landscapes, hiking and climbing mountains in a few continents, and once again making foreign people cringe at my karaoke performances. Some things never change!

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