I am still two weeks away from the official program start, but the gears are already rolling for me. I came to Canada with only the textbook knowledge of agrivoltaics and the courage to start from the basics as I build my research career.
Meanwhile, I am honored to be part of the Free Appropriate Sustainable Technology (FAST) Laboratory and under the tutelage of Dr. Joshua Pearce. He told me how fortunate I am to be part of one of the best labs in the world, and I couldn’t agree more. This will be my lived version of “You become the average of the people you surround yourself with,” and I am truly excited to be sharpened by all the people I’d be working alongside. And as Dr. Pearce showed me around the laboratory and all the cool toys I could only see on television before, I was overwhelmed and almost teary-eyed. It felt like I was walking in dreamland. Throughout my onboarding session, I learned about the many facets of doing science: it’s not just about the experiments but it’s also about communicating them to the people you aim to serve.
While sharing my onboarding experience with my sister, who wants to get updated with my PhD journey, I told her about all my worries, especially about feeling out of place because everyone in the lab already have their contributions while I am still figuring out the ropes. She said, “Marami ka pang kakaining bigas,” which is a Filipino idiomatic expression that literally translates to “You still have a lot of rice left to eat” and figuratively to “You still have a lot to learn.” And she’s right about how things would only feel impossible and difficult at first. But eventually, when I find my footing, I could start walking the edges of knowledge and see where my imagination takes me.
For sure, I’d be logging in more about my PhD life on this blog as a testament to how I would wade through the ebbs and flows of the journey. This could be my therapy—writing that leads to thinking, and hopefully, thinking that leads to doing rather than just more overthinking.
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