Published online 23 July 2008
Postdoc journal
An unwelcome intrusion
Aliza le Roux
Aliza le Roux is a postdoctoral fellow in animal behaviour at the University of Michigan.
It's not the workload that worries me, it's the reverse culture shock.
Western civilization is staring me in the face again, and I'm not sure I like it. By the time this journal entry is published, I'll be hailing taxis in the muddy streets of Addis Ababa and hassling officials for the visa that will allow me back into the United States. I'll be out of my little comfort zone.
For two months I'll be away from the Simien Mountains, analysing data and 'catching my breath' back in the United States. Although I've been missing Western food, company, daily showers and little luxuries like tarred roads, I suddenly don't feel ready to return to Western culture.
My stomach clenches when I think that this is my last week in the mountains. I have a lot of work to do — back-ups of data, last-minute experiments, organizing things so that our permanent field assistant can continue his work until my return in September.
But I'm not feeling that stressed about the work that remains. What I dread is reverse culture shock.
I'm trying to get my mind around the big change about to happen. I'll have a car, watch movies, see lots of friends, eat to my heart's content ... These are good things. And I'll be surrounded by tall buildings instead of massive cliff walls, fashion-conscious students instead of crooked-toothed scouts, city lights instead of stars. I think I need a hug.
Postdoc Journal Keepers 2008
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Jon YearsleyJon Yearsley is a senior postdoc in evolutionary genetics at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
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Zachary LippmanZachary Lippman is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's faculty of agriculture.
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Amanda GohAmanda Goh is a postdoctoral fellow in cell biology under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research in Singapore.
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Aliza le RouxAliza le Roux is a postdoctoral fellow in animal behaviour at the University of Michigan.
