Promovering — my PhD graduation ceremony

a.k.a. one of the best days in my life On 12 May 2023, or approximately a year after my PhD thesis defence, I finally had my doctoral degree conferment ceremony, or promovering. This has been something that I so much looked forward to. It was a quite fancy event, you have to dress up in …

Turning around

After such a bleak year, things seem to start turning around 🥺 (alhamdulillah) This week, many important things occurred almost at the same time it feels like Christmas in July. Or an early Eid. Whichever suits you. That paper that was rejected 13 times by the journal? Published this week. 😭 It took me almost …

I’m a doctor… finally!

A week ago, I did my doctoral thesis defence. It was definitely one of the highlights and memorable days in my life, so I thought I would recap the process as best as I could here. 5-6 months before... Usually, the whole defence preparation process began with submitting your defence application to the Dissertation Committee. …

Just Like That – 2021

Just like that… we’re already on the last day of 2021. Not gonna lie, this year has been a tough year for me. Even worse than last year, if I may say so. None of my studies were published this year. One of them was rejected by 13 journals. The other one by 8. I …

2020: My own reflections

On the new year of 2020, my friends brought a Greek New Year’s cake (Βασιλόπιτα) for us to cut at midnight. By divine providence, I got the slice which contains the coin 🪙, and it is believed that those who got the coin will get lucky 🍀 So I entered the year, believing that 2020 …

Η αρχή είναι το ήμισυ του παντός

This week I got my first 'revise & resubmit' request for the first article of my PhD project. It seemed daunting at first. But then my supervisor and I met and discussed some of the comments that we got. At the end of our meeting, she gave me this note, which literally translated to (correct …

How I obtained the PhD student residence permit

I have always been a fan of Swedish efficiency in terms of public service. Coming from where I came from, it certainly is a huge improvement. It is, of course, not perfect. I heard stories of hiccups here and there, but never have I thought that I would experience such hiccups myself. I am talking …