A busy month

I've now been home for a bit more than a month. I started out with a well needed "vacation" with my family for almost two weeks before getting back to the lab and crucial work, both for upcoming plans and for concluding the scientific cruise. I'm amazed by the amount of administrative work that needs to be done before and after this kind of journey and it is never simple either.
Being a scientist is a lot more than just doing science and in the end of the first two weeks back at work I had to get my priorities straight even though it meant pissing off some people at HR.

 The reason for me being all stressed about lab work is that I have two more major events upcoming and both of them require me to have some extensive results to show from the OUTPACE cruise.
This means that I've had to set up and prepare the qPCR, the DNA-extraction and primers, probes and standards for my targets, in very short order. At least it has paid off, and I've had some interesting data come out of it, however, I'm far from done. In practice I only have a week left too!

In 10 days I will again leave Sweden and my family far behind when I attend the extremely prestigious summer course (C-MORE) on Microbial Oceanography at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. Application was international and highly competitive, which makes me proud of being one out of 16 PhD students and post-docs accepted for this year's course.
I will be working closely together with world-leading scientists in the field of microbial oceanography for almost five weeks, including a 10 day scientific cruise on the R/V Kilo Moana.
My supervisor told me on several occasions how envious she is that I get to go on this course, but made perfectly clear that it will certainly not be a walk in the park. To be honest I don't expect anything but a proper challenge, especially since I only have three days off during the course.
So here's where the data I'm now struggling to procure comes in. I will give an initial talk on my project for the entire C-MORE course and it better be a good one!

So just like prior to going on my previous cruise I'm starting to get this slight feeling of anxiety. It is a difficult feeling to describe but it originates in the fact that I once more will be away from my fiancée and kids for an extensive period of time. At least it's only half as long a time as last.
I honestly hoped I could take them with me on this one, but in the end the flight time to Hawaii is just too long and the journey too difficult with three kids. In addition, after getting the course syllabus and realising I won't have any spare time whatsoever, it was more or less out of the question.
My fiancée did great last time I was gone, so I have faith in her. She will do no less this time I'm sure and I'm extremely proud of her and thankful that she puts up with this. At least it will be my last international trip this year.

On a happier note, I've had a great time home with my family again, even though the Swedish climate at this time of year is mostly cold. However, that didn't stop us from having an early barbecue premiere along with some outdoor activities for the kids.

I'm super excited about Hawaii, but it's certainly damn great being home with my loved ones.