As a foreign student in the UK, my best advice is: do not try to be perfect. I have just accepted the fact that my English skills will never be at the same level of a native speaker and that's OK. 
I completely understand your position and believe me or not I still get nervous when I have a normal conversation in English. Just keep on practising your French and do the best you can. In international conferences there are people from different countries and it's very difficult to find someone with perfect grammar or accent in a foreign language. I'm sure they'll be more focused on the content of your presentation.

Hope everything goes well!

Hi Negativepinklady,

My advice is do whatever it feels right for you. If getting a haircut and meeting a friend is the best way for you to calm down and relax before the viva, just do it. Try to remember other stressing situations you've been through before and what you did in order to be successful.

Best of luck!

Hi Kezia,

I went through a similar situation last year, my research was on hold and I had to keep on working although I wasn't feeling motivated at all. Besides that, I was working from home, which didn't help.

Anyway, I think you have a good plan (learning statistics, attending conferences),... I wish I had done the same thing! If you stick to your plans and if you set weekly goals, I'm sure you'll be alright and this will keep your motivation going.

I usually go to my home country every three months (except last summer) and I stay there on average 3 weeks each time. This does not mean that I take three weeks off every time I go there. I usually work on my research while I'm there but the time spent on it always depends on how much has to be done. And of course I try to balance my family and social life with my work.
As long as we can meet deadlines and as long as we achieve the goals set by us and the supervisory team, there is nothing to worry about.

I will go to my country for three weeks over the holidays. And it is well deserved, as I've been working a LOT!

My advice for you Maria1 is to plan your research and to listen to what your body and mind need, and based on this decide how often you should take a break.

Thanks a lot Algaequeen!

Hi everyone,

Probably you all think this is kind of silly but I think I just need to speak about this with someone who actually can understand what I am feeling.
I've been beating myself up over a silly mistake. Basically, I've been testing my participants for a couple of weeks now. Since the first day of testing, I've noticed that the room didn't have the best conditions as we could hear pretty much everything that was going on in the room next door, which is used for lectures. The other rooms available for testing have the same problem but are not next to a lectures room.
Because I knew that the other rooms had the same problem I just didn't bother to bring this up in the supervision meetings, when there were so many things worrying me. Plus, it was not like there were lectures all the time.
However I brought this up in a meeting with my supervisor last week and he was quite concerned with the fact that this could actually interfere with my results, specially because my participants need to learn a specific task and if they were distracted this probably didn't happen. And he reminded me of a room (from another building) that is actually sound proof and he said I should have used that room instead.
I'm basically beating myself up because I should have thought of that before, specially as a I am using that sound proof room for other purposes. The main reason why I feel so guilty is that I think that at some level I actually didn't want to use that room because it is so dark and depressing.
It is so silly that I didn't take seriously the room conditions, it is such a basic thing.

You're welcome to share silly mistakes :)

Thanks for reading!

My first language is not English, as well, and this is one of the reasons why I am always so insecure about my work. One thing that helped me a lot were the english classes. Besides that, I suggest you to just read a lot, write a lot, practice your speaking skills, .... I think that you will get used to writing in english with time. Be persistent and patient!

Is it possible to complete a PhD in the UK when your first language is not english? I would like to think so, as there are many people who have done it before. Probably we need to make that extra effort and eventually we'll get there. But I would love to read about other people's experiences.

From what I've heard as long as hand sanitizers have alcohol in their composition they can kill the virus.

Hi Pineapple,

I understand what you're feeling. I often feel inadequate when I compare myself with other students. I believe the main reason for feeling like this is that I am a foreign student, so I am always doubting my English language skills, mostly my speaking skills... Sometimes when I am speaking to someone and I realize that I've made grammar mistakes I start feeling nervous and worried that I am going to come across as a complete idiot...
On the other hand, I try to fight all these thoughts by reminding myself that I am here for a reason and that I should not compare myself to anyone. We all have different backgrounds and we all do things differently. As someone said, we should try to do our best and be the best we can be.

I hope you'll feel better with time

All the best;-)

Thanks for the advice Poppy! I'm sure it will help.

Although I've been living in the UK for the last two years, there are several occasions when I still find it difficult to express myself (mostly when speaking). In a few months time I'll have to do my transfer viva and I'm terrified! Any foreign students want to share their viva experiences?

Thanks