been in uk for just 3 weeks. new country and new life. phd's work is kind of a bit boring. reading papers from the start. any good advice on the 3-year phd life and study? anybody?
cheers

There's some good books to read about the PhD process (e.g. 'How to write a thesis' - that's particularly good for arts and social sciences). What subject is your PhD in?

Reading papers at the start can get a bit boring, but it is fairly essential to get up to date with your field.. As for PhD life its worth going to see what societies are at the uni, there could be something you want to join which is a good way to meet new people. You need to reach a good balance between work and play otherwise you could feel bogged down by the whole experience if all you do is work.

On the whole it has its ups and downs, some weeks I find I can get loads done and get good results.. then other weeks I get bugger all done..

What area are you working in?

I work on the advanced composites in the department of Aerospace. you know, materials preparation, property characterization, analysis of microstructure. I spent my last three years doing nano-materials, but now i do composites. a new field, but because it's related to spacecrafts. i think it's more of engineering than science. i think this degree just involves a lot of experiments. no deep theory is needed. i find that engineering is more useful,but science is more interesting to me. kind of crazy,aint i. . i know social life is important too. i hope i could make friends with you guys. big phd family. hehe.