Pretty much everyone in our society gets some time off work or school throughout the year. Graduate students though fall into an interesting category for whom vacation time is not well defined. Some of us regularly work on the weekends, some come in at 6 am, some leave after 12 am and some work for years without taking time off. So, the point of my first blog is to remind you guys to take vacation and to enjoy your life!

Even though, I really believe in the necessity of going on vacation, my plan for 2009 was not to take any time off. Did it work? Well, I did great in the sprig and most of the summer, but by the end of the summer my research stopped progressing, experiments stopped working and I was exhausted. So, using the excuse that my birthday present (a wet suit for diving) was collecting dust in the closet and that I really needed to test it out, I decided to go on vacation.

Despite the hurricane season (it was already a middle of September) I had a blast in Cuba. The scuba diving was excellent, the weather was great and no thinking about my research for the entire week (that’s a mandatory rule for a real vacation). The vacation brought the end to my misfortune and the first experiment that I did when I was back in the lab worked beautifully!

Now I know that once in a while I really need to take a week off and do something fun to help me keep going with my research. I realize that for some ous it may be hard and nearly impossible to leave the lab for the entire week, but everyone can probably find a day or two that they can spent having fun. Our MBP executive team organizes great events that may help you escape from the lab: Ski trip is coming up soon, MBP Olympics and BBQ is taking place in the summer, and Geneva park retreat is happening every fall.