I just returned to SoCal from an extended trip to the east coast, where I attended the AAAS and BPS conferences. In between, I did my graduate work remotely. Computational chemistry makes it easy — all you need is a computer and internet access! When I’m home, my go-to places to work outside of the office and at home are coffee shops and libraries. While in DC I got tired of frequenting the usual coffee shops, and the local library was… well, not the greatest place for a non-homeless person to hang out. So that led me to the Library of Congress!
It was a minor ordeal to get from the entrance to doing actual work: navigating the underground hallway network to find the library, turning everything at coat check except the essentials (which must go into a clear plastic bag about the size of a gallon ziploc), registering for a LOC Reader’s card, then finally entering the main reading room. And the result was worth it — working in this magnificent room of Italian Renaissance architecture, surrounded on high by statues of the greats, and overall being in a quiet, focused area that inspires the brain juices to flow. The reading rooms of the LOC (there’s like 20 or so) sometimes have extended hours from the main building. If you enter after hours, they ask if you’re a researcher (technically I am!) and getting in to work feels so movie-esque.
Remote work aside, I had a great time on my trip! Attending the conferences helped me think about what I want to do (and don’t want to do) post grad school. Everything is so up in the air right now, which is a bit uncomfortable. But life takes all sorts of twists and turns. Two years ago today my boyfriend had his first interview for a science policy fellowship in DC. That didn’t pan out as expected. But this year, after an interminable computational physics postdoc, he’s the resident data scientist at the census bureau! So while I’m at a point in grad school where I’m wholly less sure of what I want to do compared to my first year, I’ll just seek opportunities and take what happens as it comes.