Would you? Could you? In a car?
My life can be complicated at times. Well, it's not complicated to me, but explaining it can be. Here's a typical exchange:
Person: So where're you from?
Me: Well, I'm from New Hampshire, but I went to college in Minnesota and am now in grad school in Michigan.
Person: Cool. Which school?
Me: University of Michigan.
Person: Ah. Ann Arbor. I have family there. Where do you live?
Me: Well, I live in France now.
Person: But your in grad school at Michigan?
Me: Yeah, my experiment is at CERN.
Person: CERN? Isn't that in Switzerland.
Me: Yeah, I work in Switzerland, but I live in France, and I go to school in Michigan.
Another wrinkle is my boss. My advisor is in Ann Arbor, so while I'm at CERN, I work under two other people. With 3 bosses (4 if you count who writes my paychecks), I have a lot of meetings with them. For most people, a meeting with your advisor is done when they come into your office or you go to theirs. Maybe, if you're into variety, it's in the hall between your offices. For me, I've had a rather varied history of meetings involving locations and what we're doing. Here's a summary:
Teleconference -- not that odd, but not that common.
In a car -- what better way to pass the time driving to a conference that to have one of your own?
On foot -- the so-dubbed peda-conferencing of having a meeting while walking from one place to another.
On a bus -- when you run into your boss on the bus, the conversation is often drawn towards work and what your tasks are.
On a bike -- one of my bosses bikes a lot. I mean a ton. He biked around Lake Geneva one day for yucks. Anyways, when my bike was working, I biked to work. One day, my boss overtook me on his bike, as we were both pedaling through the fields. He slowed down, and we started talking about my research. Pedal-conferencing, I guess.
We'll see if I can add boat, plane, and train to the list by the end of my grad school sojourn.
Person: So where're you from?
Me: Well, I'm from New Hampshire, but I went to college in Minnesota and am now in grad school in Michigan.
Person: Cool. Which school?
Me: University of Michigan.
Person: Ah. Ann Arbor. I have family there. Where do you live?
Me: Well, I live in France now.
Person: But your in grad school at Michigan?
Me: Yeah, my experiment is at CERN.
Person: CERN? Isn't that in Switzerland.
Me: Yeah, I work in Switzerland, but I live in France, and I go to school in Michigan.
Another wrinkle is my boss. My advisor is in Ann Arbor, so while I'm at CERN, I work under two other people. With 3 bosses (4 if you count who writes my paychecks), I have a lot of meetings with them. For most people, a meeting with your advisor is done when they come into your office or you go to theirs. Maybe, if you're into variety, it's in the hall between your offices. For me, I've had a rather varied history of meetings involving locations and what we're doing. Here's a summary:
Teleconference -- not that odd, but not that common.
In a car -- what better way to pass the time driving to a conference that to have one of your own?
On foot -- the so-dubbed peda-conferencing of having a meeting while walking from one place to another.
On a bus -- when you run into your boss on the bus, the conversation is often drawn towards work and what your tasks are.
On a bike -- one of my bosses bikes a lot. I mean a ton. He biked around Lake Geneva one day for yucks. Anyways, when my bike was working, I biked to work. One day, my boss overtook me on his bike, as we were both pedaling through the fields. He slowed down, and we started talking about my research. Pedal-conferencing, I guess.
We'll see if I can add boat, plane, and train to the list by the end of my grad school sojourn.