Two days ago I appeared in La Provincia journal in a special number about young scientists from the Canary Islands. Today is my last day as a postdoctoral investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I can’t believe how fast time has gone by! Now I’m closing another stage in my career, the postdoctoral one. The last three years at WHOI have been amazing. I started my first steps into polar and subpolar research, I had the chance of trying their newest research vessel, the Neil Armstrong, and to assist to a lot of international meetings. Also at WHOI, I participated in a wide variety of nourishing extracurricular activities such as: postdoctoral seminars, P.O. seminars, journal clubs, mentoring meetings, women in science communities or proposal writing workshops. I met a lot of people: co-workers, students, people in my same stage, new mentors, future collaborators and big names to learn from. There were other little things that WHOI has and I also enjoyed: the dog policy, in which you can bring your dog to the office, though I did not have a dog, I really enjoyed going around the corridor saying hi to my dog office mates when my programs didn’t want to run, and the fact that most talks/seminars usually came with Cookies or pizzas! I really had a great time working there and learnt a lot.
Living in Massachusetts has also been an experience. Being originally from the Canary Islands, I will never forget our first winter with real snow. How ignoring all the safety recommendations, we went out to try our winter clothes, build a snowman, shovel the entrance of the house or simply roll down the golf course. We learnt about winter, sometimes the hard way… but luckily, we also had Susan (much more than a landlady). The beautiful fall tree colours, the pumpkins, the smell of cinnamon, or the criminal summer mosquitos are also good memories from living in a place with strong seasons. Falmouth is a village with five research institutes focused on the ocean and nature, and thus, it has a big international community. I loved going to dinner with my friends and counting up to 10 different nationalities amount us on a normal basis. What a beautiful cultural experience. I also had the chance to practice sports like hiking the woods, cycling all over or sailing in the Woods Hole club and in Falmouth. Though the sound does not have our big waves and winds, they have an intense current system that was very interesting to feel. I liked sailing on Thursday’s after work and racing around. Thanks Anne, Greg, Fred, and Rocky for letting me skip your boats. Yes, the postdoctoral stage is stressful: you try to survive in a new country (sometimes for the first time as was my case), learn the way the system works, try to finish your PhD publications, accomplish your new research duties in a successful way while still learning and trying to figure up your next stage in your career. However, looking back, I think WHOI knew all this and was a great place to carry out this stage of my career. Hence, I want to thank everyone that made this experience great and possible: First thanks to R.S. Pickart, a great scientist to work with, a team leader, an enthusiastic researcher involved in many projects around the Arctic, who has taught me all I know about this interesting ocean. Then, thanks also to the people that recommended me for the position, the human resources office, the postdoctoral coordinator, the different committees that took me on or organized the extracurricular events and the administrative team that helped around. Thank you all for the wonderful opportunity!! |
Archives
April 2024
|