PhD Thesis Step 6: 48 hours

Microblog of the 48 h hours around my to my PhD defense.

15.12.2016

09:00 - Working on the PhD presentation 13:00 - Short walk to Bella Casa to order 18 Pizzas for tomorrow 14:00 - Chat with other PhD students about previous oral exams. 14:30 - Last chat with my advisor before the defense, as usual we talk about everything an nothing. 15:30 - Final edits to my presentation. 17:30 - Presentation dry run with useful feedback from Herbert 18:30 - Christmas social at the office 19:15 - Shopping for beer, champagne and snacks 19:45 - Delivering beer and snacks to the uni campus 20:30 - Last minute studying of “Microwave Engineering” by David M. Pozar 23:00 - Brushing my teeth and going to sleep 24:00 - Realizing that there won’t be much sleep tonight.

16.12.2016

07:30 - Good morning! 08:00 - Ironing a white shirt 08:20 - Final dry run before the actual thing 08:50 - Realizing that I have my black shoes at my parents place. - The dark blue will have to do 09:00 - Short walk to the university 09:20 - Connecting to the projector. Having my friend Reinhard print some last minute paperwork. 09:45 - First guests arrive 10:00 - The show starts 11:15 - Yay! You may now call me Dr. Schmid 11:45 - The party starts: Champagne, beer and pizza for everyone! 13:00 - So many people have shown up to party with me! Me, happy! 16:00 - We move to a pub 17:00 - We move to a restaurant 21:00 - I arrive back home - still, happy! 22:00 - I fall asleep.

17.12.2016

05:30 - Getting up, I have a train to catch 07:15 - Boarding the train to Flughafen Wien. 10:20 - Boarding the plane to Athens 13:45 - Landing in Athens 14:30 - Boarding the Metro 15:30 - Arrival at the hotel for the Region 8 OpCom meeting 16:00 - Joining my last IEEE Region 8 OpCom Meeting xx:xx - Still feeling happy!