Words cannot describe

Last Thursday night I got an email that has changed my life forever! I have been awarded a full scholarship to finish the three years of my PhD in UCD, Ireland. I cannot begin to describe how this makes me feel. All the years of not sure where I was headed, or really not sure what 'career' was meant for me seemed just a course to the present. It means three years in Dublin which has caused me to engage in an intense mental exercise with my own conscious, but the outcome is now clear - excitement. Not only will I be doing the research which I have become so passionately involved with, but I will live in a city which I know under it all I have a fervent relationship with. I love it, I hate it, but most of all I know it; and that excites me. It will be a change to return to places and faces that I know. I will try and not see it all as research, but also as a personal journey of discovery.
I cannot help, although I know mum you tell me not to, on those gone before who lacked belief in my temperamental nature, stubbornness, and perhaps sometimes a lack of focus. They gave up on me and wanted those nearest and dearest to me to do the same. But thankfully for me they didn't! There are some very special people who have been with me always - my mother and sister who have always picked me when I was down, and told me to get over myself. My father who always ends his phone conversation with 'I am proud to be your father', it makes me smile every time! All my friends through the years, but mainly to Caitriona who has been a friend and a sister for the longest time. Gillian and Tasneem - two of the most inspirational women I have met in my academic life - they have really shaped my work to what it is today
This year at Sussex has also been inspirational, and the people have been wonderful; it will be sad to leave but I know it is the right move. To my fabulous office mates who listened to the countless proposals; to Linnet who is my biggest support and to Jamie for making me apply in the first place.
So who knows what the next three years will bring, but I embark on them with anticipation and excitement; I am ready to change the world - well at least my world.

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. B. Spock