Two months sounds like a long time, but I can tell that time is flying by. It feels like just yesterday, I landed in Paris, took a nap at my homestay, then went on a walk exploring the city for the very first time. Right now, looking at the calendar and seeing that I have a bit over 40 days left is disorienting. It’s already been two weeks since orientation and one week since I started my internship. When I see how much time I have left, I start thinking of all the things I planned to do here that haven’t been done. I’d like to make the most of what’s left; time management is important in the internship as well as when it comes to experiencing new things.
There is no clear list of tasks to accomplish for the day. Rather, there are projects and goals and it is up to you how you choose to accomplish them. A common pattern in my internship whenever I ask my maître de stage or internship supervisor how I should go about doing something is a “comme tu veux” which literally means, however you like. Research in general is definitely open-ended and the workflow can easily go in a lot of different directions, but it feels like it applies even more in France.
When I started and I was given the choice to decide for myself, at first, I got worried that if I decided on my own, what I would do would be incorrect or unhelpful. However, I think people prefer that you try, make some mistakes, and figure things out a bit on yourself, rather than expecting the answer handed to you. This does not at all mean avoiding asking questions or for help. I do think that when I make effort to solve a problem, take the initiative, and show that I’ve reflected on something a lot, my supervisor is open to questions and helping me out.
With an open-ended approach to daily tasks, time management becomes essential. What I have been doing here that I have never done in any internship or job in the US is taking lots of handwritten notes for myself. This helps remember important details my supervisor mentions, as well as plan out my tasks for the day and give myself instructions. Making a list of tasks or goals at the start of every day as well as the end saves time spent wondering what to do next.
I feel like recently, without instructions, I can figure out the next logical step or come up with something on my own. On a whim, I can start writing a script to automate some analysis tasks for sequencing data or start reading research papers, code documentation, or searching for new tools and methods. Even organizing folder hierarchy may seem pointless at first, but it makes running code much more efficient and easier to find certain files!
It’s also important to take lunch breaks and coffee or tea breaks. A long lunch break of an hour is essential to stay on track. It does seem a bit counter-intuitive, since you are spending time you could be working on something else. However, I’ve noticed on days when I skip lunch breaks or rush through it, I start to easily get burned out and slow down on my work. Taking the time to have lunch and socialize with your colleagues is essential. For one, it helps building new connections and networking, but furthermore, the brain needs a break from processing things.
Finally, communicating with my supervisor is essential. Now, it does not necessarily mean asking questions. But when I tell my supervisor what I plan to do and how, he gives me corrections or suggests slight tweaks to my plan. This saves time; it is better to know early on that what I am doing is wrong, rather than going deep into research only to realize I have been wasting time.
Being forced to make my own choices and set my own tasks has made me pick up some more skills. RStudio and Linux environments feel quite comfortable now, and I am learning about different bioinformatics packages and software used for data analysis. I still feel that I could be even more independent and that there are things I need to figure out.
I do feel that making plans and having a clear pipeline is great for time management, not just in the internship, but in general. Once I am done with work, I have a routine for when I get home and if I would like to meet up with friends or go for any activities, I check the commute and all logistics of the situation. So far, I have visited and done quite a lot in Paris: Versailles, Montmartre, Bateau-Mouche, Eiffel Tower, Petit Palais, Parc Monceau, Jardin du Luxembourg, amongst other attractions and some great restaurants! I still have to visit some others, like the Louvre, Grand Palais, l’Orangerie, and the Opera. But besides the celebrated attractions, I would like to do some spontaneous exploring and find something that I can’t discover just by looking for recommendations online.
