Hey there! No, it's really not far- like, less than 30 minutes outside of town. That's pretty cool! What relatives- like, aunt & uncle, that sort of thing?
It is pretty odd, I have to admit. Thank you for your good wishes. And good luck in your final year. Finishing things up and then writing up is pretty harsh. I am interested about your work, though, especially in terms of this forum we both share. Anywhere good I can go to read about it?
Space plasma physics, I studied the behaviour of the magnetosphere in an effort to try and understand some mechanisms that have been eluding my field for a while. I suppose you could call me a post-student but pre-post-doc. I wrote up and submitted my thesis at the end of September last year. I am still waiting for my viva... almost 6 months later.
What I meant by "recovering scientist" is that I spent 10 years training to be a research scientist, but thanks to the financial pressures inherent in the system, it seems unlikely that I will be able to actually take up a research post. As such I regard myself as recovering from an addiction, the addiction of science .