Almost Dr. Hanneke :)

Almost Dr. Hanneke :)

I passed my viva (PhD defense) yesterday!! I was questioned for about 2.5 hours before they asked me to leave the room so they could make their decision. It wasn’t a bad experience, but it was quite tough. Fortunately I got away with minor corrections 🙂 I have 3 months to finish them, but I estimate it’s about a month of fulltime work, so that’s not so bad. This is quite a normal outcome here in the UK, but it does make it a bit of an anticlimax. You come out feeling quite criticised and overwhelmed by how much work you still have to do. It took a while before I was in a festive mood, but in the end I realised that I have a clear list with 16 issues (which are all quite reasonable). Once I have addressed all these issues, I email my examinors and they will check if they approve of the corrections, and that’s IT – then I just have to print and bind it. Doesn’t sound that bad, does it? 🙂

In the evening we went for drinks and a meal. It was Nem’s birthday as well, and another PhD student had just submitted, so we had plenty of reasons to celebrate! I really enjoyed the evening 🙂 Here’s a photo of me with Karel (on the left) and with birthday girl Nem (on the right).

I had a great time being back at my old university, and seeing my friends here. I lived in Norwich for over 3 years and have so many good memories 🙂 I went for a last walk around the lake and took this photo of the “ziggurat” student accommodation.

I’m flying back to Amsterdam tomorrow and will spend another 2 weeks in the Netherlands.

I would like to thank everybody for their support before (and after) my viva! I got so many emails, text messages, phone calls, blog comments, etc etc, from all over the world (seriously ranging from Brazil and New Zealand to the Arctic… wow!), and it was wonderful to know how many people were thinking of me and wishing me luck 🙂 it means a lot to me!

7 thoughts on “Almost Dr. Hanneke :)

  1. Congrats! Exciting times. 🙂 What do you want/plan to do when it's all over?

  2. Hoi Hanneke,

    Van harte gefeliciteerd! Helemaal geweldig. Ik kan me levendig voorstellen dat je ertegenop ziet om nog een maand te moeten, maar "in the scheme of things" valt het natuurlijk wel mee. Veel succes met je 16 punten, en nogmaals gefeliciteerd! Yeah!

    groetjes,

    Suus

  3. @Pat, thanks! Hey, I should still send you some photos that we took in Montreal, will do that soon!

    @Ben, thanks, exciting indeed 🙂 I'm trying to find a job in Tromsø now. I applied at met.no as a forecaster but not sure my Norwegian is good enough yet. We'll see, when I get back to Tromsø in 2 weeks time I'll spend some more time finding jobs, but I also have to work on the corrections so I am not in a rush.

    @Suus, dankjewel! Ja het liefst ben je er gelijk helemaal vanaf, maar ja. Gaat dat in Nieuw-Zeeland ook zo? Maar het valt inderdaad best mee, en het gaat wel lukken 🙂

    Groetjes, ook aan Daniel!

    @Fruchtzwerg, thanks!! Your turn now 🙂 but yours isn't until November right? What are you up to in the mean time? Hope you're having a good time!

  4. i wish! my viva is in november, ages till then!! but plenty of other things to do… organising meetings, do some science, write papers…

    good luck with your job hunt in tromso!

  5. He,

    Ik heb je weer even gemist en je bent nu echt bijna klaar. Vreemd hoe verschillend dat werkt met promoties. Over een paar maanden ben je dus echt Dr?

    Groet,

    Aline

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