- #1
oedipa maas
- 235
- 2
I've recently found myself filling out a lot of customs and immigration forms in which I'm confronted by a blank for "occupation". I'm in the middle of making the transition from "student" to "researcher" - on one hand I'm really getting too old to be writing "student" but writing "physicist" makes me feel slightly giddy and a bit silly, like I'm only playing at being a grown-up.
There is also the issue of, when passing through customs, one wishes to make oneself seem as boring and normal as possible - and writing "physicist" on your forms does not seem the way to do this!
I'm reminded of a road-trip I did with one of the post-docs in my group when I was working on my M.Sc. We pulled drove up the the border control station and handed over our passports. The border official asked for our occupations and I said "student" while my friend said "physicist". It was one of those moments where I realized I might one day tell someone that I was a physicist too! Later I asked my friend why he said "physicist" instead of "postdoc" - turns out that the last border officer he'd talked to thought "postdoc" was some sort of medical job - the official wanted to know what hospital my friend worked at!
Anyone else have a story about when they decided they were a physicist? (or a mathematician? or anything!)
There is also the issue of, when passing through customs, one wishes to make oneself seem as boring and normal as possible - and writing "physicist" on your forms does not seem the way to do this!
I'm reminded of a road-trip I did with one of the post-docs in my group when I was working on my M.Sc. We pulled drove up the the border control station and handed over our passports. The border official asked for our occupations and I said "student" while my friend said "physicist". It was one of those moments where I realized I might one day tell someone that I was a physicist too! Later I asked my friend why he said "physicist" instead of "postdoc" - turns out that the last border officer he'd talked to thought "postdoc" was some sort of medical job - the official wanted to know what hospital my friend worked at!
Anyone else have a story about when they decided they were a physicist? (or a mathematician? or anything!)
Last edited: