Well the Hawaii postdoc is still an option.
I am faced with a difficult decision.
It is not just about how painfully cold it is here (though the weather issue is not trivial) there are some other serious concerns.
The French bureaucracy is astounding.
I can deal with the minor things like “you need a bank account to rent an apartment and you need a residence to get a bank account” or that opening a bank account is a major event that must be scheduled 10+ days in advance.
What worries me more is things like the fact that the lab is only accessible from 7:30am to 8:00pm Monday through Friday. No one ever works in the lab later than 8pm or on weekends. Ever. I still can’t quite believe it.
Apparently it is some kind of French law that has to do with “security” (they seem to use that English word for: people not stealing stuff, terrorists not getting access to chemistry labs and also for safety like “well if you were in the lab late at night alone and you broke your leg or something no one would be there to help you”).
Another concern is the way my contract has been handled. As most of you know, there were numerous delays in finalizing the paperwork for my postdoc after the professor offered me the position. But what you probably don’t know is that the situation is still not 100% resolved.
A few days after I arrived in Paris we found that there was a problem with funding. Hervé came up with a (less than ideal) temporary solution and seems to have a permanent solution almost nailed down. But I can’t forget that the funding was supposedly completely taken care of as of September 19th – if something that is a “yes, definitely” can fall apart then how much can I trust that this new funding arrangement will work out?
Plus, there are visa issues now. I have to return to California to visit the French consulate and deal with some paperwork. Can’t be done from here. Can’t be done from the French consulate in NYC (which would be much cheaper airfare for me). Has to be done in San Francisco and I don’t even want to go into the complications involved in that trip.
The fellowship in Hawaii is much less complicated. I understand how things are run in US academic labs. When the PI in Hawaii tells me that he has an allotment in his current grant for another postdoc, the date on which the grant expires and that he plans on renewing the grant but is not 100% sure he will get the renewal, I know Exactly what that means.
When I asked him how soon could I start he told me that he would have a formal contract for me on Monday the 24th and that paperwork (and the holidays) might delay my start until January 7th. It was such a refreshing change to get a precise, straightforward answer.
So……
Hervé is amazing. I have tremendous respect for the way his mind works and his approach to science.
I haven’t meet the UH professor in person – I respect his published work and from our emails I think we will communicate well but I don’t know him the way I now know Hervé.
The work in Paris is exciting. I know I can do exceptionally well in this work and also learn and grow as a scientist.
The work in Hawaii is exciting but I don’t know the fine of the details of it yet.
No one works in the Paris lab later than 8pm or on weekends. I will have to get to lab at 7:30am (which means awake and walking the dog at 5am) every single weekday just to get a decent number of hours in at the lab.
The Hawaii lab is a normal US lab where people have 24 hour access, can work at anytime or schedule they like and don’t think that getting in at 10am and leaving at 7pm is “working long hours”.
The funding issues and bureaucratic complications in the Paris lab are at best a big headache and at worst will leave me without a salary for another stretch.
The fellowship in the Hawaii lab is guaranteed and uncomplicated.
The rent is Paris is expensive – everything in Paris is expensive. Very expensive.
Rent in Hawaii will be much less. Some things in Hawaii are more expensive than on the mainland but in general it is nothing compared to Paris and my Hawaii salary will be ≥ my Paris salary.
I like the rest of the people in the Paris lab.
I don’t know anything about the rest of the people in the Hawaii lab or how they interact with each other and the professor.
Paris is full of gorgeous architecture, history, museums and culture.
Honolulu is not.
Paris is so terribly cold. It is a physically painful environment. The cold creates a barrier to accomplishing daily tasks because I can’t stand to go outside. I worry that it will seriously influence my emotional and psychological well being.
Honolulu has a hospitable climate.
