uncertainty

Uncertainty

by

Alba Carretera Cerdán (ESR 3 / Stockholm University)

Sweden was the only European country that not locked down. How did affect my PhD/human being life?

-How the situation started?

I remember last winter when we were all having lunch at the department’s kitchen watching the news of the virus spreading very quickly in the whole world. We couldn’t imagine what was coming.

Italy and Spain have been the countries who have suffered the most from COVID-19. And as a Spanish person I was worried about how the situation was being carried out in my country. Once Spanish government decided to lock down the country, I did it as I was living there. Therefore, I stopped working at the laboratory for two weeks so, I was working from home with my computer and that was a difficult situation. It was difficult in terms of mind health.

-Why was it mentally painful?

In order to do my PhD, I decided to move far from the ones that I love the most and during this pandemic situation that was what hurt the most. The uncertainty of not knowing when you will see them smiling again in-person, when you will be able of hug them, when, when, when…Therefore, it was difficult to concentrate and work writing a report, for instance. The only thing that kept you up was knowing that the time passed, and they were all doing good.

-How did you take it?

Interestingly, this situation pushed people to have more conversations via online and that was the best thing during the two weeks that I was working from home. In our daily life we don’t find the moment to have a call and because of the pandemic, every day you have a video call with the people you appreciate to catch up, to play online games or even to do exercise. That was beautiful.

And also, is not only me the one that is far from their comfort zone. That’s the reason why among my group in Sweden we stayed closer. We decided to support between us without planning it and that was wonderful. We created a family.

Besides, one of the most beautiful things of Stockholm is the abundant nature. You could have a walk, trying to disconnect from home that it was also the place to work and that I was doing. This situation encouraged me to buy a bike in order to avoid using public transport as much as possible.

-Going back to normal life

After that two weeks the Swedish government did not impose any measure. Therefore, I decided to come back to work. The university was closed for students, but some PhD’s students and Professors were coming to work at the Organic Chemistry Department, and I could keep on working on my projects. However, my half-time presentation and the 3 months secondment at AstraZeneca had to be postponed regarding the circumstances.

To conclude, in general terms COVID-19 did not affect my PhD as in Sweden there were no measures imposed by the government.

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