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Overcoming my initial struggles after leaving China to start my PhD has been like riding a bike, reports Shuxuan Zheng, PhD student in virology at the Department of Medical Microbiology at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands.
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| Shuxuan Zheng with her bicycle in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Photo: Henrick de Buhr |
I was delighted to think of all the things I would see and experience in this new and different world. That was until I saw the one thing that absolutely terrified me — a bicycle.
I had never learnt to ride a bike. Growing up in Qingdao, a hilly, seaside city in China without cycle paths, biking was dangerous. The local laws discourage it for safety reasons. Now, my Dutch neighbour was telling me I had to learn. She sold me a second-hand bike and pointed me to the car park. I upgraded my insurance and started practising.
It took me a week to learn and a month to feel comfortable cycling. Now, after half a year, I am starting to enjoy it...
All that changed on the day I met Robert Jan Lebbink and Emmanuel Wiertz, my PhD supervisors. In the Netherlands, respect is based on your work, not on unnecessarily formal ‘civility’. I know that I can just wander into their offices and ask a casual question without worrying about causing offence. This shift has been transformational for me and has made me much more comfortable at work.
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Source: Nature.com
