Alternate stable states
Accepting a new lifestyle when enough was enough
I am an adventurer at heart. I have never embraced routine or normalcy and I consider that a piece of my identity, so when I started getting tired of my chaotic lifestyle and craving routine, I couldn’t admit to myself that maybe I needed a change. Despite fighting against it, that change finally came about […]
Born in the USA!
A foreign American’s journey back to the US
Well, the truth is, that’s all I was: just born in the USA. I’d never set foot on US soil since moving away at the young age of 3 months, when my family’s work relocation period ended and they moved back to France. Later, I would find myself growing up in Israel for the greater […]
Pandemic pupils
How Covid-19 has transformed my perspective on outreach and education
Going to graduate school anywhere can be a form of culture shock. Often, the transition is from cosmopolitan to erudite and razor-focused, or team-based and casual to more isolated. But moving to do graduate school in a northeastern city in the U.S. from somewhere more rural, such as southwestern Virginia (where I came from), can […]
Overcoming anxiety
How my first year of graduate school pushed me to reach out for help
This post is part of a special issue: “Mental Health Matters: Asking for Help & Reaching Out”. Hey there! I’m Jessica, a current 3rd year graduate student and PhD candidate, and I have anxiety. I choose to say this in the first sentence because it needs to be out there in the open and talked about. […]
