How the adventure began

It has been a crazy 6 months! In the middle of December 2013 I submitted my Master’s thesis, and then took a month off to relax, have a near-death experience, and get engaged (turns out not much relaxing was actually achieved). Then mid January I jumped back into work on a publishing bursary to write up the results of my Master’s project for publication, this bursary was for two months. In February I was offered a Ph.D. position that was fully funded and would require me to move to Berlin, Germany. Shortly after my good news my Love (having recently submitted his Ph.D. thesis) was offered a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University! Then the next week we were flying to Europe (my first time!), we visited Paris, London, and of course Berlin! The lab I was going to work in looked amazing, the city was like nothing I had seen before (not surprising coming from Invercargill/Dunedin, NZ). My Love and I discussed it and decided we'd give it a go and try to make it work, but if things started to get rocky he could move to Berlin! So when we got back to NZ I booked my one-way ticket and started packing up my belongings and saying my goodbyes, and before April was over I was in Berlin!

So with no German language skills and next to no knowledge of German culture I am now living in Berlin. I am now two months into my 3-4 year stay and am almost finished with all the preliminary paperwork! I am planning on learning as much as I can about the history and culture of Berlin, as well as exploring the city and some old and new hobbies! All this will be documented here, some topics may include: photography, cooking/baking, inline skating (just bought my first pair!), running, music, neuroscience, travel, dog-envy, and of course Berlin!