I am on American soil for the first time in my life. I was offered a postdoc research position two weeks ago, quit my time-filler job, left my home in South Africa, braved a 30-hour flight and am about to embark on a venture that will take me out of my comfort zone. Starting in February, I will conduct research for the University of Michigan, studying the communication and cognition of monkeys known as geladas in the Ethiopian highlands.

I completed my PhD just five days before writing this. For the first time in my life, I do not have the protection of a degree to buffer me. While I was studying, time was flexible and success hinged on a thesis that only my examiners would ever read. Now I have a contract, and an army of peers will determine whether or not I do well. I feel utterly exposed. Will I be capable of generating truly novel hypotheses? How independent am I, really? Being a 'fellow' — not a student — sounds frightening. It also sounds exhilarating. Am I equipped to handle it?

I am tackling these questions by jumping in at the deep end. For the next two years I will be overstimulating myself in an isolated, strange place, immersing myself in a research subject that I've only toyed with in the past. I think I can make it. I will have hundreds of shaggy primates to help keep me sane. If they fail, great evacuation insurance will fly me out to the nearest mental institution.