"The future ain't what it used to be"

Like any good PhD student, at the end of my degree, I found myself in somewhat of an existential crisis. What had I just spent the past four years doing? Why? Where was it taking me? And where did I want to be going?

There was no question I was overdue for a change in scenery, but what sort of change? I visited labs, attended information sessions with management consultants, spoke with pharmaceutical researchers, and even survived a three-month internship with a small biotech consulting start-up that wasn't really going anywhere. Finally, I set out to identify a research field with the potential to produce innovative clinical applications in the near future. I wanted a part of neuroscience where biotech and sci-fi-turned-reality meld. After scouring through life science start-up sites and scientific journals, I decided that the spinal cord and the retina were the places to be.

I landed a job in a retina lab, moved to Denmark, and everything seemed to be going to plan. At least, for a few months. And then things started unraveling.

European Retina Meeting (ERM) 2015 logo

The first time I started to realize I might not be in the right place was last fall at the European Retina Meeting. As I sat through talk after talk, I realized that these brilliant researchers were devoting their lives to sorting out minutiae. They were arguing over exactly how many sub-categories of a given cell type we might find in a certain layer of the retina. They were arguing about the precise significance of their patterned input and output. They were arguing about refining techniques for studying their activity. Hardly any were standing up and talking about real problems (ahem, blindness), and how their expertise might be applied to solving such problems in creative, innovative, and efficient ways. I hadn't found what I'd hoped for in this new job, and I wasn't going to find it in academia.

I felt heartbroken. I felt nauseous. I felt like a failure.

I took the Christmas holidays to reassess. Perhaps signing up for Google alerts on my research topics might keep me in the loop about exciting developments. Reading more articles might give me the know-how to finally feel that spark. Why not subscribe to neuroscience podcasts to really immerse myself? And then, in January, an email appeared in my inbox with this subject line:

Time to make a career change? Use the MIT advantage to help

It was an ad for an MIT's First Alumni Virtual Career Fair. I hesitated. What good would something like that be for someone based in Europe? Still, I figured it couldn't do any harm, so I signed up. To my surprise, there was a small consulting firm looking to send people to the UK, visa sponsorship and all. It was a chance to stay in Europe and even move somewhere where Nicolas speaks the local language, a real boon when in the market for a new job.

The next five months never felt longer. There were online tests, in-person tests, case studies, team work challenges, role plays. I felt like a circus animal jumping through hoops and nervously awaiting each round of elimination. I re-learned high school physics, I bought my first business suit, I flew to England twice, I even met the founder of the company. And then, last week, I accepted their offer.

I'm joining Newton Europe. (Yay!) Newton is a small operational consulting firm founded by three Cambridge engineers. They are in the early stages of expanding into the US, so they've begun recruiting American hires (who may one day serve as their NY-based team, emphasis on the may) and they figured MIT alumni were a good pool to start recruiting from. Their shtick, operational consulting, is different from your typical management consulting. Instead of spending most of your days in front of a computer writing reports, there will be a lot of hands-on work. In fact, all the assignments are site-based, which means I'll be living out of hotels across the UK from Monday through Friday. My projects might range from hospital operation theaters to supermarket aisles to nuclear submarine construction sites, so the job should never get too routine. The company is also results-based: if a client doesn't see at least a 10-50% operational improvement without spending an extra cent (or pence) in 2-6 months, there's no fee.

But what makes Newton so special is more than just project diversity and the results guarantee: It's the culture. This company was founded by three colleagues who were also friends. They built Newton up around the principle that the best work gets done when people feel supported, encouraged, and challenged by the colleagues, or "frolleagues," the friend-colleague hybrid term they've coined. I know I'm not on the inside yet, but concretely I know that once every two weeks, Newton sponsors a Thursday-night company-wide social event to bring everyone together, on whatever theme employees decide, from costume parties to spa nights. Every weekend, Newton employees organize optional activities, often sports-oriented. There seems to be a certain comraderie at Newton, a work hard-play hard spirit that reminds me of a place I once fondly called home: MIT.

I don't know what this next step holds, and I'm confident that leaving academia holds challenges I've yet to anticipate. And of course, no job is ever perfect. But I'm ready to give something new a try, and I'm excited to get to do it at Newton.

I used to keep a certain ironic inspirational quote up in my high school lockers that seems just the thing to close out today's post.

As the great philosopher Yogi Berra once said,

But at least it will be different.

"Les soldes" come to Denmark

Like Santa on double-duty, les soldes (the sales) come but twice a year. Any Parisienne can tell you that these are the times to hit the stores without breaking the bank: January-early February, and July-early August. So what's a displaced Parisian with a thing for shoes to do in a city with a disappointingly drab sense of fashion? Let me introduce you to my new favorite way to lose (at least) a half hour: spartoo.com.

This French shoe site sells every sort of shoe you can imagine, from bargain basement to runway fashion. The deals come January/July (or better yet, tail-end super mark-downs in early February/August) are unbeatable when it comes to massive selection and bang for your buck (or euro, or kroner, or whatever your preferred currency). This site became my favorite way to blow off steam (and spare euros) when I discovered it while writing my doctoral thesis. What really did me in this year was my recent discovery of spartoo.dk. (And don't think you're immune, dear non-French non-Dane reader: there's spartoo.co.uk, .de, .es, .it, etc, but if you're still not covered, spartoo.net offers free delivery to over 150 countries.) With over 1000 brands, free returns, free exchanges, and customer advice on sizing of each individual shoe model, what's not to love?

An assortment of Spartoo goodies to have greeted me in Denmark

And now that I'm gearing up to become a businesswoman, scouring this site has become a gleeful obligation! This season's July "soldes" have officially launched this week, and I was all over them. From the confines of my damp and chilly Scandinavian country, I just had to share the joy that came with these little parcels of Parisian pleasure. I might not be able to step foot in Paris these days, but my feet have Paris all over them.

The Michelin tour of Aarhus, Part 3

Having tested Aarhus's Michelin Bib restaurants in March and April, we readied ourselves for the big league. Aarhus's Nordisk Spisehus is one-of-a-kind, a restaurant that collaborates with Michelin starred restaurants around the world to craft new themed menus every two months. I'd first been introduced to the concept during my university job interview at the start of last year, and had been itching to take Nicolas here ever since.

I've been hanging on to the cards that came with each course of the tasting menu during my interview dinner, until the day I could finally make it to Nordisk Spisehus.

Finally, the time had come. With lunch menus literally half the cost of dinner, we decided to bump our dining time slot up to early afternoon. We arrived with just a light breakfast in our stomachs, ready to dig in. Today's menu theme: Copenhagen.

The meal began exquisitely with delicious dark bread to rival the likes of that in Tallinn, accompanied by a whipped butter-yogurt blend that was light in texture but rich in flavor. For starters, I had a shrimp and asparagus dish, and Nicolas a salad with ham and fresh cheese. We followed this up with fish and chips for me (much to my surprise to see this on such a fancy menu), complete with lemon, estragon, and cucumber dipping sauces, and a chicken dish with peas and garlic for Nicolas. Finally, we both enjoyed a light dessert of rhubarb and anis covered in almond ice cream, topped with thin sheets of rhubarb- and anis-flavored candies. (My Danish server did not pronounce "anis" correctly and I had to fight to hold in my laughter. I am not yet a grown-up.)

Lunch at Nordisk Spisehus, Copenhagen theme

The ingredients were high quality, the flavors balanced well, and overall we were very pleased with the meal, perhaps our best in Aarhus to date. The visit served as a delicious way to start to say goodbye to this city, revisiting the first restaurant that welcomed me in.

Brexit and me

Well, that's it, guys. Britain is out. As a proud resident of the EU since 2008, losing one of our biggest players hurts. But shaking my head should be where this all ends for me, but for what I just did earlier this week.

I got a job in England.

And still, everything should be fine, right? I'm an American. My visa requirements don't change when the UK jumps ship.

The thing is, I've been living in Denmark for a year, a country for which I acquired a visa to go with my job, and then my French boyfriend followed. He was able to freely move here, to job hunt with equal rights to the Danes, as an EU citizen. But language barriers can be a big hurdle, so the past year hasn't offered many opportunities to him. And then this UK-based job appeared. Suddenly (well, less than suddenly—the interview process took five months), we had a chance for a fresh start in an EU country where he spoke the local language. My job guaranteed my visa, and as an EU citizen, he could follow freely for his own job hunt, just like any other English local.

Today I'm left with a sensation half way between a punch in the gut and the feeling of teetering on the brink of an abyss. I have no idea what comes next. The UK will still be EU when we arrive, but the cogs of Brexit will be in motion. England and France are so close that there's sure to be some good terms negotiated. For goodness sake, there's a tunnel that connects the two countries! But how will English employers react? With an economy in crisis and the future rights of EU workers unknown, how many Englishmen will jump to hire a Frenchman?

For a week that had begun so upbeat, this really throws a wrench in the works. Why, England, why?

Home away from home: accommodations on a budget

Unless you're lucky enough to have friends or family conveniently located, planning a trip means sorting out where to stay. For a budget traveler, there are a few good places to start:

Hostels
As a solo traveler, hosteling can be the way to go. If you don't mind sharing a room, you'll likely land the cheapest bed and might even make some friends. Hostelbookers and Hostelworld are my two favorite sites. Both offer user reviews of hostels based on a variety of criteria, including atmosphere, location, security, and cleanliness. Choose your priorities, run a search, and generally don't stray below 70-80% overall ratings. I've had a lot of good experiences this way.

Couchsurfing

For the brave of heart, and ideally, the budget-traveling duo. Couchsurfing is a concept where people offer to open their homes to you totally free of cost. (Nice mannered guests should think to bring a small host(ess) gift.) As a traveler, finding a host can be a big time sink, what with searching through lots of host profiles and writing individualized request messages, but it can result in a really personal experience and a chance to get the most "insider" perspective on the town. You can't be too picky, though, so you may end up in a less-than-central part of town and you might sleep on the floor. It's easiest to find accommodations in lower-requested locations, not major cities where hosts can be overwhelmed with requests. Not recommended for those with some extra cash nor for female solo travelers (sadly, in my experience).

Airbnb
This is undoubtedly my new favorite way to travel in a couple or with a group of friends. It can even be a solution for off-the-map destinations with few (if any) hotel or hostel options. With Airbnb, locals open up their homes—sometimes just a spare room, sometimes the whole place. Users, both hosts and travelers, are vetted through the site's security system, to which they must submit some form of state ID. People who host or are hosted by users have the opportunity to leave a review, so you can get a feel for who the person is and what their home is really like. Airbnb homes range from young couples or empty nesters with a spare bedroom to the lucky ones who have a second home that's not always in use. Personally, when I'm exploring a new city with just one other person, I love to go the spare room route in hopes of getting to hear an insider's perspective from my hosts. I've also taken advantage of full homes to enjoy a get-away weekend with a group of friends. The experiences are always unique and often much more charming than your standard hotel.

Hotels are always an option, and can even be called for in the world of budget traveling under certain conditions, say in remote places, for last minute bookings, or when someone else is footing the bill (say, when your airline goes on strike and they cover accommodations due to canceled flights). Loads of search engines exist for this. I have tested Kayak and Hotels.com, but hotel travel has never become my area of expertise.

Whatever your tastes, as Ray Bradbury wrote in Fahrenheit 451,

'Stuff your eyes with wonder,' [...] 'live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.'

Getting from point A to wherever B may be

It's no secret that I'm a travel junkie. Since I began earning a living wage, nearly every spare penny has gone to travel. And, mostly on a student stipend, I've made my way through 35+ countries. There isn't one secret to hitting the road (or the skies) on a shoestring, but here are a few pointers to book that killer deal.

Rome2rio is a fantastic starting point. If you've ever wondered how you might venture from point A to B, this site will break down all the different modes of transport and their price ranges. It's a great way to figure out if plane, train, boat, or car/car-share (or some combination of these) is your best bet.

Skyscanner.net has been my long-time favorite for its search capabilities. This site is limited to air travel, but its incredibly flexible search algorithm lets you run searches like

• Destination "Anywhere": figure out what destinations are most financially accessible from your starting point.
• Don't care when you fly? You can ask this search engine to check out flight prices across an entire calendar month, which is great if you want to take a vacation sometime in July or August, and you just want to find a good deal. 
• Need some budget-travel inspiration? Skyscanner even allows you to leave the travel dates unspecified, pulling up cheapest options regardless of date. This combined with destination: anywhere has been the starting point of many a fantastic adventure.

Kayak is a search engine of travel websites. It scans all your standard air carriers (including budget lines like Easyjet and Ryanair) as well as travel sites like expedia, booking.com, opodo, etc. After finding my inspiration on skyscanner.net, I always run my selected travel destination and time window through kayak to find the most competitive prices. (Tip: Once I've selected my flight, I always go straight to that airline's website to double check that fares aren't cheapest when booked directly through the carrier. It's not often the case, but can offer some savings.) I've also seen Momondo floated around on traveler forums as a very popular search engine.

For the students and under-26-year-old travelers, Student Universe and STA travel do offer the occasional killer deal.


Besides the above advice, a couple extra tips:

• Book early. If you can deal with planning up to 6 months in advance, you can get yourself an international flight for the price of a couple of drinks in a bar downtown.
• Be flexible on dates. Traveling out on a Thursday or back on a Monday can halve the cost of your journey, or more. Whenever you have the luxury, run your searches on kayak with specified dates + or - 3 days.
• Clear browser history and cookies. If using Google Chrome, run your searches on an incognito window. I've read over and again that websites notice if you've searched a trip more than once, and will up the price on subsequent searches. Not totally sure if it's true, but why chance it when clearing your history is just a click away from potentially cheaper airfare?
• Take advantage of the sharing economy. If the last leg of your trip takes you off the beaten track and far from public transport, check for local ride share websites that can let you travel for a fraction of the cost of—and way more convenience than—a car rental. And for shorter distances, keep in mind that uber is often half the cost of a taxi.

Hope this comes in helpful the next time you start dreaming of a faraway escape. Happy travels!