Hi there, it's me

You made it this far, so maybe your are curious about why I am starting this blog?

Simple answer is, I enjoy writing - it helps me to organize my thoughts. In addition, I would also like to share my journey as researcher in academia with others because, let's be real, being a scientist is hard sometimes... but also a lot of fun. So whoever I can help, or encourage, or motivate by sharing some insights about my personal and professional development - I am happy to do so!

This is my first blog, so for you to get to know me a bit better, I'd like to start with 10 facts about myself:

1. I have ran track and field semi-professionally for pretty much half my life and even financed my undergraduate education with it. It definitely shaped a big part of my personality and still helps me a lot in my daily life.

2. I am shortsighted to the point that probably I would not recognize you on the other side of the street. Yet, I hate wearing my glasses - they give me a headache when I have to work in the lab or at the computer. So please don't be offended if I don't recognize you immediately.

3. I love animals. My family owns a cute little French bulldog, his name is Cooper. I also have a turtle and his name is Anna. This is weird you may think?! Well actually my boyfriend go the turtle when he was little and named him Anna thinking it's a girl (yea I know - we were destined to be). We found out much much later it's a male but stuck with the name.

4. Before moving into science, I started out in med school. In high school I did very well in all the STEM courses, so naturally my parents suggested I should become a doctor. However, I quickly realized that medicine wasn't for me. I didn't want to be at the bedside treating patients. I wanted to be at the bench understanding what makes patients sick in the first place and then help develop better treatment strategies.

5. I love movies from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. There is nothing better than one of the Eddie Murphy classics - I probably have watched Coming To America 15 times.

6. Coming back to my history as collegiate athlete - I am passionate about sports! I love watching sports and I love working out. To this day I have ran 5 marathons and completed 3 olympic triathlons. If I can't fit a workout in my schedule I get very antsy, maybe annoying, and also insecure about myself.

7. I love food! I think it comes naturally with doing a lot of sports. My body wants to fuel up and I am happy to feed it. Most of all I love Mexican food - I think because you can just mix everything into one big mush and enjoy all flavors in one bite. Favorite snack is definitely popcorn (of course salt or butter flavored) - I even got a popcorn maker as my PhD defense gift.

8. My favorite alcoholic beverages are white wine spritzer (must be a German thing to mix everything with sparkling water) and Gold Tequila. If you offer me a drink and snacks, I am always happy to chat about science and life.

9. I find a lot of joy in supporting and connecting young scientists. I believe to move any field forward it is important to think about the next generation, which struggles they are facing, which structures and networks they need to develop into creative, intelligent, supportive, and genuine researchers. I still remember what it felt like to be an undergraduate in the lab, to go to my first big conference all alone, or to be lost in a group of senior PIs. So early career researchers - I am here to support you!!

10. My favorite place on earth is the German Baltic Sea. So far I have found no other place that makes me feel so much at ease and at home. I love the fresh breeze, having fish sandwiches not matter what time of day, watching sunsets at the beach, and enjoying the slowness of German small towns - it just gets me.

Maybe now you can already build a first impression of myself. Feel free to reach out if you have questions, are up for a chat, or would like to learn more about me. Next time I will write about what made me select research as a career, chronobiology as scientific field, the Kramer lab as host institution, and what scientific questions get me out of bed.

Bye bye and "read you soon"! :)