The obligatory "still alive post"
Aug. 25th, 2019 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokuroHey, you all!
I am still alive :'D And I even got a job! (seriously, you won`t believe how hard it is to get a real, money-producing job when you a Dr. rer. nat. fresh out of a university with an unpronounceable science degree and lots of publications. You keep being confronted with comments like "Oh, but you haven't got any work experience" - IGfSDFAHH!! What did you think I spent all the years of my PhD time with? Browsing ao3? (well, maybe a bit, but that's beside the point...)).
Anyway. I finally got my first job and it's so beyond my wildest expectations ö_ö For now, I manage manufacturing of antibody-drug conjugates for anti-cancer research pharmaceutical... which is really quite motivating?
Basically, it means that I get to:
1) write lots of detective stories ("How did the contamination with this rare earth-bacteria culture got into the class 7 isolator if the operator swept his gloves with isopropanol 10 minutes prior to taking the bioburden test?" Stay tuned for the solution to this thrilling story!)
2) try to understand what "Sumpfwasser" (literally: "swamp water") from a heating exchanger actually means so that I can explain it to our Americas clients. And also why the low conductivity measured in the said "swamp water" means that the clean steam supply was always within the specifications...
3) oversee the actual chemical production which might include night calls since it's a 24/7 business and lots and lots of talking to other people about they really must do
4) sometimes having fancy diners with clients. Unfortunately, that one is a rare occurrence and I definitely spend more time writing and calculating tube sets and their pricing in excel xD
... there are actually a lot more exciting duties but I don't want to spend the rest of the day writing it all down. You probably won't believe me from the description alone but it is actually quite a cool job and I am quite fond of it. I do hope I will live up to all the expectations x.x
Also did I mention it that the job is in Switzerland? ö__ö which means that I have to learn a whole new language to try and understand the operators who speak a very... um, local accent.
I also put on 5 kg because cheeeeeeese and ice creeeeeam and wiiiiine. Gosh, I really have to make sure I won't degrade to a common alcoholic because there is wine everywhere. (I mean, Italy is just 30 minutes away with the train) And local wine is so good and sweet and light~ And the mountain just a few minutes walk from my place features Europe's highest vineyard and you really have to honour that kind of thing, right? (I am talking of Visperterminen <3).
As for the negative: I still don't understand what 80% of my colleagues are talking about. "Walliser Titsch" has nothing to do with German. If anything it's Italian. With some random French bits thrown in for fun and torment of foreigners. (seriously, my Russian helps me more cause of all the French words that got stuck there during the 18th century). It's always a relief when I can talk to our American and Danish customers. At least them I understand. And a lot better than my "German-speaking" colleagues :'D
(but that's okay, my Zurich co-workers also don't understand Walliser. They are ... special.) I still kind of regret that I am not working with our Japanese branch because I've been waiting for an opportunity to practice my "shine!!" and "kawaii" :P (but, yeah, probably not something you want to tell people who are paying you for your expertise...)
Also, it's a village. A very, very small one. Not only do I keep bumping into my colleagues outside of work all the time, but all the grocery stores also close at 6 pm x____X I've been being living of train stations, vending machines and all the food I could hoard during weekend :(
But it's so beautiful I may have to forget all the other inconveniences. See for yourselves (some are from my instagram because I am lazy):
The view from my balcony :P
I´ve got pet them!
Thun, the nearest city with a lake! :D
Bern!
Italy <3
I also visited Grindelwald Owl Park :D So far the only criminal was this cheeky guy :P
P.S.: I am so out of touch with anything remotely fandom-ish lately... and yet I still managed to get the Good Omens feels. How did that happen? And how will I survive this time of feverish fantasies without letting it slip in front of my very catholic, traditional-minded colleagues*? Woe is mine :(
*Did you know that like 80-90% of Papal Swiss Guard come from Wallis? Specifically, Naters, which is like 10 min away from my street? o__o
I am still alive :'D And I even got a job! (seriously, you won`t believe how hard it is to get a real, money-producing job when you a Dr. rer. nat. fresh out of a university with an unpronounceable science degree and lots of publications. You keep being confronted with comments like "Oh, but you haven't got any work experience" - IGfSDFAHH!! What did you think I spent all the years of my PhD time with? Browsing ao3? (well, maybe a bit, but that's beside the point...)).
Anyway. I finally got my first job and it's so beyond my wildest expectations ö_ö For now, I manage manufacturing of antibody-drug conjugates for anti-cancer research pharmaceutical... which is really quite motivating?
Basically, it means that I get to:
1) write lots of detective stories ("How did the contamination with this rare earth-bacteria culture got into the class 7 isolator if the operator swept his gloves with isopropanol 10 minutes prior to taking the bioburden test?" Stay tuned for the solution to this thrilling story!)
2) try to understand what "Sumpfwasser" (literally: "swamp water") from a heating exchanger actually means so that I can explain it to our Americas clients. And also why the low conductivity measured in the said "swamp water" means that the clean steam supply was always within the specifications...
3) oversee the actual chemical production which might include night calls since it's a 24/7 business and lots and lots of talking to other people about they really must do
4) sometimes having fancy diners with clients. Unfortunately, that one is a rare occurrence and I definitely spend more time writing and calculating tube sets and their pricing in excel xD
... there are actually a lot more exciting duties but I don't want to spend the rest of the day writing it all down. You probably won't believe me from the description alone but it is actually quite a cool job and I am quite fond of it. I do hope I will live up to all the expectations x.x
Also did I mention it that the job is in Switzerland? ö__ö which means that I have to learn a whole new language to try and understand the operators who speak a very... um, local accent.
I also put on 5 kg because cheeeeeeese and ice creeeeeam and wiiiiine. Gosh, I really have to make sure I won't degrade to a common alcoholic because there is wine everywhere. (I mean, Italy is just 30 minutes away with the train) And local wine is so good and sweet and light~ And the mountain just a few minutes walk from my place features Europe's highest vineyard and you really have to honour that kind of thing, right? (I am talking of Visperterminen <3).
As for the negative: I still don't understand what 80% of my colleagues are talking about. "Walliser Titsch" has nothing to do with German. If anything it's Italian. With some random French bits thrown in for fun and torment of foreigners. (seriously, my Russian helps me more cause of all the French words that got stuck there during the 18th century). It's always a relief when I can talk to our American and Danish customers. At least them I understand. And a lot better than my "German-speaking" colleagues :'D
(but that's okay, my Zurich co-workers also don't understand Walliser. They are ... special.) I still kind of regret that I am not working with our Japanese branch because I've been waiting for an opportunity to practice my "shine!!" and "kawaii" :P (but, yeah, probably not something you want to tell people who are paying you for your expertise...)
Also, it's a village. A very, very small one. Not only do I keep bumping into my colleagues outside of work all the time, but all the grocery stores also close at 6 pm x____X I've been being living of train stations, vending machines and all the food I could hoard during weekend :(
But it's so beautiful I may have to forget all the other inconveniences. See for yourselves (some are from my instagram because I am lazy):
The view from my balcony :P
I´ve got pet them!
Thun, the nearest city with a lake! :D
Bern!
Italy <3
I also visited Grindelwald Owl Park :D So far the only criminal was this cheeky guy :P
P.S.: I am so out of touch with anything remotely fandom-ish lately... and yet I still managed to get the Good Omens feels. How did that happen? And how will I survive this time of feverish fantasies without letting it slip in front of my very catholic, traditional-minded colleagues*? Woe is mine :(
*Did you know that like 80-90% of Papal Swiss Guard come from Wallis? Specifically, Naters, which is like 10 min away from my street? o__o