When I
started feeding this blog, in 2009, I was spending 4 weeks in a Victorian house
in San Francisco writing on my dissertation. I actually did this for the proud
usage of the exact line: "I spent a month of academic writing in a
Victorian house". It sounded so good. The whole thing was crazy expensive (flight,
unpaid job leave, housing!) but gave me the satisfaction to have fulfilled my fantasy
which had entered my mind many years back when I was sitting at my desktop in
Münster, rain outside: "How good that would be now! Sitting in sunny
California, in a Victorian house…". Such adventures are much better for
the soul than checking off these imperative "1.000 places to see before
you die". Make your own list! Don't even customize, create!
4 years
later, the writing is done, the title is earned, the book is published and will be presented next week. So, that life chapter is
closed. And now?
This is
what, towards the end of my thesis writing, friends would ask me: And what will
you do after? It was hard for me to picture. I would slowly shake my head and
say: "I don't know!" I have a rather
secure research job in academia, which I love. Would I thrive for more? Maybe become
a professor? Spend some post-doc time in the U.S. or Australia? Or would I just
stay? As of now, gaining this new title is simply that: a new title. A
"Dr. phil." that now accessorizes my name, and flatters my ears as the
Austrians just *love* to use it. Especially at doctor's(!) appointments when
they address me(!) with: "Frau Doktor", would you please proceed to
room 2. All for that moment.
But what I
do notice though: I enjoy "neutralizing" my heavily academic past by
plunging into non-academic hobbies. Like reading fiction or playing the piano.
And: I spend a lot of time with my camera. "The Nikon" has entered my
life in 2009. Together, we have travelled quite a bit, and I have learned a lot
during some great photo workshop trips with Rainer Martini.
