Homesick+

As you know, a few days ago my parents came over to visit. I was going to  write a post about it as soon as they left on Monday, but I was so down and upset I couldn't put myself to it. I loved having them around for these few days, and even though we didn't actually do that much, I fully soaked in every second. They dropped off a lot of stuff, like food (pancakes, chocolate and chocolate sprinkles), utilities (shampoo) and entertainment (DVD of The Great Gatsby and a Dutch magazine called Libelle. We went to the Ashmolean museum, did some shopping (they got me a Harris Tweed bag to cheer me up a bit), went to several tea shops for scones and tea, and visited a small town called Witney in Oxfordshire. It was so nice to be able to talk to them, and tell them how much I miss them, and I could tell they were having a hard time as well. But the pain of homesickness has been worse than ever before after they left. Monday was excruciating, all I wanted to do was lay in bed and cry. The rest of the week hasn't been any better, and to top things off (almost) all my western blots have failed, so I have to start over again. Not a great week for science. Oh, and I was stupid enough to forget to book the irradiation machine, so when I went down there someone was using it, meaning I had to throw away a 3-day experiment. Shit. Shit, I want to go home.

A little piece of home

Just a short post today, to tell you that my parents are coming to the UK today. I'm so excited! Luckily, my supervisor was kind enough to let me have today and Monday off (because, quote, "I don't want them to think I'm keeping you imprisoned"), so I've got a long weekend to reconnect with the home front! They just got off the Eurotunnel train right now, so in a few more hours they will be in Oxford. I'm counting the hours!

Dead or a alive?

Well, my bank account is definitely more dead than alive... The last couple of weeks have been hard, very hard, and the only way I know how to cope with that is by shopping. So I've been visiting charity shops and eBay quite a lot lately. My finds include two prints of Glastonbury and Wells, a small framed water color of some harbor, a cut glass vase, a wool coat (of course there had to be a coat) and a silver anchor necklace (and maybe some other stuff as well, which I'm not mentioning because if I list it all it will seem even more terrible than it already is). Which seems like a lot, but if you consider it the price for my sanity, and it keeps me away from other more mind numbing substances, I would say its not too bad. And I keep using the excuse that I'm supporting charity. Thank god my parents are coming over the 21st of March, because I really need some family time. When the work pressure is this high, you need some nice and kind people around to keep you from freaking out. Since the other Dutch girl left, I have become a little closer with another, more quiet girl at the lab, who turns out to be really nice. I'm getting the feeling that she too finds it hard to fit in and connect to the other people, with their know-it-all attitudes. She is way more down to earth and not afraid to admit she makes mistakes, which I can really relate to (since I make a lot of mistakes too, but face it, everyone does!). So maybe I found a good friend in her, and these last 3 months and 2 weeks won't be as dreadful as I though they would be.