• Question: What do you do in your spare time? do you spend more on your project? or just hang around?

    Asked by minimad to Aime, Akshat, Diana, Gemma, Judith on 13 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by dawson, jamessayer.
    • Photo: Aimé Fournier

      Aimé Fournier answered on 9 Jun 2011:

      Great question. Since I became a father, my little children get almost all my spare time. Before having kids, my wife and I liked to go hiking, or see a show, or get together with friends. We used to practice Aikido and Tae Kwon Do. I still try to find time for science outreach (judging High School science fairs, talking about science to church groups etc.) and political activism (writing letters, signing petitions, sharing news reports and analyses with friends and activists).

    • Photo: Akshat Rathi

      Akshat Rathi answered on 9 Jun 2011:

      I do spend some of my spare time on my project but I do have a lot of other interests which keep me quite occupied.

      My favourite thing is to understand things and try and implement them in some way.

      I get excited by new ideas. And those ideas need not be limited to chemistry. I read books from different subject areas like psychology, economics and biology. I also enjoy popular science books and autobiographies. I get many new ideas when I meet new people with varying backgrounds and Oxford is a great place to do just that.

      When not involved in the guilty pleasure of seeking and working on new ideas, I try to spend my time outdoors. Living in Oxford allows me to escape the city whenever I wish. It enables me to pursue two of my favourite activities nature photography and cycling.

    • Photo: Gemma Sharp

      Gemma Sharp answered on 9 Jun 2011:

      I try not to spend too much of my spare time on my project, but sometimes that can be difficult. If I get on a bit of a roll with it I don’t want to stop. There are other times though when I’m less motivated (usually if something has gone wrong in the lab!) and then it’s really easy to forget about my project and do something else.

      In my spare time I usually see friends for a coffee or go to the cinema or something. It’s good working as a PhD student because I’m always surrounded by people the same age as me and we all get on well. I’m not really very sporty (that’s an understatement). I like listening to music and going to gigs and stuff.

      At the moment most of my free time is taken up planning my science communication stall at Green Man music festival. I don’t mind though because it’s pretty fun.

    • Photo: Judith McCann

      Judith McCann answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      I think a big thing is that your project can take up as much time as you let it.

      Theres always something else you could be doing towards your project so you can either do it as a 9-5 job or it can take over your whole life. I tend to treat it like a job then i can plan to do things more easily around work- unless theres something i need to do.

      I really like reading, sailing and watching mvoies, basically i just enjoy spending time with my friends 🙂

    • Photo: Diana Samuel

      Diana Samuel answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      To be honest, the project does take up a lot of my spare time, but I try to keep a good balance between work and relaxing. I like to keep fit, so I run a couple of times a week and attend classes at the gym. I also love listening to music (at gigs and at home), watching films, and travelling. My favourite thing to do, however, is hang out with friends – just chill out and have a laugh!

Comments

  • Photo: Helen

    Helen commented on :

    As I am my own boss (and I’m a pretty tough boss too) I always feels guilty if I dont spend time on my projects ALL the time! But I am also really lucky that I get to travel around a lot for work. So when I was working in South Africa, I got to do fun things at the weekends like go on a safari and do a bungy jump. And I go and watch my clients compete in their sports events, like an Ironman competition this Sunday, or the Marathon, which is fun.

    In my own spare time I try to do some boxing training in the gym (to keep fit, not to fight!) and I go and see quite a bit of standup comedy just to let off steam.