Monday, July 2, 2007

Next steps


The day has finally come and my employment contract has finally come to an end. This means a couple of things, i.e. no more money and no reason to be here anymore! So, now I have to decide what to do next! On a daily basis, I don’t mind making decisions on what experiments to do next, but as far as my personal life goes, it’s the bane of my existence! I feel like I have just come to terms with the decision to move here and now am faced with having to make another one! I did apply for an editing job here in Athens and in true Greek style after having been told I had got the job, they changed their minds and withdrew the offer. So, I am essentially back to square one. My old job would love to keep me on, but due to the severe lack of public funding for scientific research here in Greece, just don’t have any money with which to pay me and as much as I would like to think it, I can’t live off the semi-fresh Athenian air.

So, it’s looking like it’s back to old blighty for now which I am trying to convince myself is the right thing to do. As far as my career goes, it’s far better to work in a lab where you can at least understand the spoken language and have access to equipment and facilities that actually work! On a personal level, the realistic chances of me meeting a future partner are so much higher back home than they are here. For the first time in my life I am going to listen to my head and not my heart even though my heart keeps screaming at me to stay in this city and country that I have grown to love so much. I try and console it by assuring it that this is a temporary measure for a couple of years and that I will be back, armed with a good publication record and semi fluent Greek (which will be the result of many Greek evening classes which I am planning to enrol on).

So, the job hunt is on and I have set myself a preliminary leaving date of new year 2008. In the mean time I am trying not to think about it too much and not to scare myself stupid at the thought of moving to yet another new city on my own.

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