Becoming International: My Lab Journey (series) Episode 2: The first days

 

Hello everyone,

Previously in Becoming International: My Lab Journey, I gave you a general idea of how it is to pursue a PhD abroad. Today let’s go deeper and talk about my first days.

In February it has been a year since I arrived in Helsinki pursuing my PhD at the University of Helsinki in the Department of Virology, so I decided to make a post about my first days in this large department. Everything new: the field, colleagues, supervisors, rules, language, experiments, and machines.

Indeed, my emotions were running high, but I tried not to let it disrupt my focus on learning the first steps to integrate into this new environment with many challenges to come. 

My first day I remember as if it were yesterday. Helsinki was cold and foggy, a place totally new, I have never felt so much cold in my life! I went to the department with my husband. This really gave me more confidence. I was scared about whether my English was good enough, if they would like me, the first impression I would make. My mind was a mess!

Arriving there I met everybody: my colleagues, my supervisor, the department, my new work desk. I was nervous that day, but I felt like the child inside me was seeing a dream come true. Not only inside the lab, but outside too. The weather, each street, people speaking a different language, the snow melting on the ground, everything was different. But this I will leave for another episode. Let’s go back to the lab. :)

My first months were spent learning about experimental procedures, laboratory techniques, and the operation of different instruments. I will be honest, it was hard for me to learn a new fields, techniques, rules, to adapt with this new world and a new language, new colleges, new personalities, culture, all at once, and I struggled with my emotions to manage them all.

My husband and my dogs were essential to me in this new journey, not only for having someone to talk about my day and let off steam, but my husband help me a lot, taking caring of the dogs, going to the supermarket, cooking, bourocracies etc., so I could focus only on the lab. 

However, days passed and I became more confident, and made friends who made me feel comfortable to talk about my feelings. They also went through the same obstacles when they started.

Now after a year here I am thankful for not giving up and keeping myself strong. It is not easy yet, but having settled and built a home, and mastered the basics in the lab, I can now focus on the future and continue studying and practicing English every day, already feeling more confident.

As biotechnology was new for me, I have learned a lot of things. From molecule design to different assays, protein production, sequence reading and and so on.

We have a lab book, Excel, and PowerPoint files where we need to put everything that we do in our experiments, adding our methods, material, data, conclusions.

Every week we have lab meetings, and every two weeks we have our Journal Club where we present some of the most interesting articles we have read. These articles need to be current and related to our studies.

Beyond that, we have weekly meetings with our supervisors to discuss the research and plan our experiments (especially when we are starting), analyze data, and decide the best way to conduct our tests.

Then, if you are thinking about pursuing a PhD, or even a master’s degree, be prepared for a lot of work (even on the weekends), meetings, and learning many things in a short time.

As I said, I have also been learning to be more independ (a core part of a Ph.D. and of becoming a scientist). For example, studying different protocols, analyzing how to improve and optimize them when they do not work, evaluating which solutions and reagents could be more effective, and researching relevant literature (not only to support my choices, but also to nurture the future of my research itself). This process has helped me develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking, attention to detail, and a further understanding of experimental design and lab techniques.

However, at the same time I do not feel alone, because during daily work (not only in lab meetings) I can discuss ideas with colleagues and my mentors to refine approaches, which involves troubleshooting unexpected problems and adapting protocols efficiently.

I will finish here for today, let’s wait for the next episode. 😉

 

3 Scientific vocabulary of the day

-Aliquot

Definition: A measured sub-volume of a larger sample, often used in experiments to ensure consistency.

Example: “Aliquot 50 µL of the serum into each tube for the assay.”

-Sterile

Definition: completely clean to avoid contamination.

Example: “Make sure to use sterile pipette tips when handling the culture.”

-Dilution

Definition: The process of reducing the concentration of a substance by adding a solvent.

Example: “Prepare a 1:10 dilution of the solution before the assay.”

 

3 English expressions used in laboratory research

“Just in case”: Taking precautions.

Example: “I added extra buffer, just in case.”

“Double-check”: Verify accuracy.

Example: “Double-check the pipette volumes before starting.”

“Keep it on ice”: Means to store something cold to preserve it.

Example: “Keep the enzymes on ice until we use them.”