1 week to home, 6 weeks to New York .......
1 week to home, 6 weeks to New York .......
After thinking about working on some disease related research, especially cancer research, off and on over several years, I finally decided a few months back that it was now or never - if I didn't do something about it now, it would remain just another nice thought. So I changed my plans for my next postdoc position, and decided not to apply outside cancer research. Some initiative taking and good fortune later, I've been lucky enough to land exactly the kind of job I wanted, and shall be joining the research group of Prof. Chris Sander at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre (MSKCC) in about six weeks' time. I may end up not making a big difference, but I'm sure going to give it a hell of a try.
This does send my plans for the year-end for a toss - I had saved up all my leave, including some from last year, and was to go home on Nov 18, for a nice 5-6 weeks' break, including attending two weddings, visiting several places, and then join a new place in Jan 2011. Instead, I'll be going home now, for less than 4 weeks, and shall have a tough time making it to the weddings later - but then this is the sort of opportunity for which a few adjustments have to be made.
And while the work is the most important thing, and the city but a bonus, bonuses don't come much bigger - New York city :-) ! There are any number of reasons why I'm excited about moving to NY, the biggest being that it is arguably the most diverse place on earth. I've had a good time in nearly all the places I've lived in, certainly regardless of whether it was big or small, and I've learned not to expect too much in advance- and yet I can hardly help but expect a lot of NY :-)
And there are lots of friends and family in the US to look forward to catching up with! In fact, the number that I'm aware of is probably a poor lower bound, especially if you add geographical location, of which I mostly only have a vague notion. I'll miss friends and some other things about Europe and Germany for sure - but boy, am I excited about this move, and going home before that! Counting the days :-)
After thinking about working on some disease related research, especially cancer research, off and on over several years, I finally decided a few months back that it was now or never - if I didn't do something about it now, it would remain just another nice thought. So I changed my plans for my next postdoc position, and decided not to apply outside cancer research. Some initiative taking and good fortune later, I've been lucky enough to land exactly the kind of job I wanted, and shall be joining the research group of Prof. Chris Sander at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre (MSKCC) in about six weeks' time. I may end up not making a big difference, but I'm sure going to give it a hell of a try.
This does send my plans for the year-end for a toss - I had saved up all my leave, including some from last year, and was to go home on Nov 18, for a nice 5-6 weeks' break, including attending two weddings, visiting several places, and then join a new place in Jan 2011. Instead, I'll be going home now, for less than 4 weeks, and shall have a tough time making it to the weddings later - but then this is the sort of opportunity for which a few adjustments have to be made.
And while the work is the most important thing, and the city but a bonus, bonuses don't come much bigger - New York city :-) ! There are any number of reasons why I'm excited about moving to NY, the biggest being that it is arguably the most diverse place on earth. I've had a good time in nearly all the places I've lived in, certainly regardless of whether it was big or small, and I've learned not to expect too much in advance- and yet I can hardly help but expect a lot of NY :-)
And there are lots of friends and family in the US to look forward to catching up with! In fact, the number that I'm aware of is probably a poor lower bound, especially if you add geographical location, of which I mostly only have a vague notion. I'll miss friends and some other things about Europe and Germany for sure - but boy, am I excited about this move, and going home before that! Counting the days :-)