A mathematician abroad (or: a tourist who is also doing some maths)

By Lotte Sewalt
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When I enthusiastically started my Ph.D. project at the university that had just awarded me my Master's title, I had never thought of the simple fact that this implied working for a total of nine years at the same institute. And even though my colleagues are great and I'm generally very happy at Leiden University, I was definitely in for a change of scenery. Apparently, luck was on my side, in the form of a call for applications for a travel grant for Ph.D. candidates. Within a month, I discussed my plans with my supervisor, arranged a Skype-meeting with my intended collaborator, wrote a proposal and got awarded this grant by NWO, the Dutch organization for scientific research.

Several months later (just enough time for me to fix the visa), in the middle of the night, I arrived in Brisbane, Australia, where I would work together with Peter van Heijster at Queensland University of Technology. The next four months I would spend Down Under, in the country where everything is upside down. It was October, the beginning of summer, and the warm wind made me wish I wore shorts instead of leggings. I was stoked! I was extremely excited and felt very confident for diving into this adventure all by myself. The next couple of months would consist of merely happy days, with the weather matching my mood and yes, some work in between, right?

This is not exactly what happened. It may have been the jet lag, or simply seeing all Facebook updates of what I was missing out on, but I got terribly homesick that first week. Everything at the university was perfect: my supervisor was awesome and had a lot of time for me, my fellow Ph.D. students were very friendly, and I also got excited about the new project I was going to dive into. But… I missed my boyfriend, my family, and familiar faces. It is quite exhausting to meet so many new people and it takes time to get to know them. So after some days of not feeling like my best self, I decided to make the best of it and be the tourist I like to be - during the weekends, that is. I visited islands and parks in the area and drank a lot of coffee in the sun. On weeknights I visited the gym regularly, and read a lot of books.

After some time, I really got the hang of it and felt perfectly at ease with my new lifestyle. Also, my housemates and colleagues turned out to be really cool, and they became true friends. Peter was also making a lot of effort to make me feel at home and soon enough I had plenty of social activities. Still, I spent much more time alone than I did when I lived in Amsterdam, but I was enjoying it! Australia, specifically, is accustomed to solo-travelers and Australians always seem to be in for a little chat: in the bus, in the supermarket, on the beach.



Lotte and Sheldon.

I started to feel on top of the world: working hard during the week, and getting refueled on the weekends by enjoying the greatness of 'Greater Brisbane'. I could easily keep up the holiday spirit when I went to Melbourne for a conference, and a week later my boyfriend came over to spend the Christmas and New Year's break with me. I don't think there is a need to explain that this was perhaps the best holiday break ever.

In the meantime, work also went well, and after three months of work, we had produced enough output to be able to present a fifteen-minute talk of brand-new research at yet another conference. From what I've seen, Australian conferences don't differ much from European ones, apart from them being less tightly scheduled and with more social meetings. On the other hand, they also seem to be more competitive because there are prizes and awards for everything.



Lotte and a road sign in the Nullarbor desert.

Now that I'm back in The Netherlands, I can say that this experience has taught me a lot. My mathematical skills have improved considerably, because my project was quite different from the research I usually do. More importantly, though, and I know this is a cliché, I've learned a lot about myself. Being able to do everything on my own has boosted my ego, and not having to think about anyone but myself, made me see what I really enjoy. And after all, isn't that what's important in life?

Lotte Sewalt

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