Eight weeks of Solitude

In the past few weeks I've found out that I'll be going to John Hopkins University, Baltimore for 6 weeks in July/Aug to attend a research workshop. I wasn't particularly keen on the idea. I know it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and is a very prestigious workshop to attend etc, but I wasn't too sure if I really wanted to go. For one, it reinforced the question in my mind about why I really am doing what I'm doing especially if I'm not into it all that much. This means that I'll be away working with a top-class research team, all of whom are probably extremely intelligent/nerdy/interested in their research, which will just probably make me feel more of a fraud. Also I'll be away from friends and loved ones for a considerable amount of time. It's not as though it's even a fun trip - it's a work trip. Ill be there with my supervisor and his family, and maybe a post-doc from college, but its not going to be exactly a great social event.

However, on hearing that I will be paid quite a reasonable amount to attend, I warmed a bit more to the idea. My boyf also said he'd come over for a week or so to visit me, which would be fantastic, although he wasn't too happy about the whole idea of me being away for so long, understandably enough. Plus I might get to see my relatives in New York as its not that far away.

But a huge dampener has just been put on things as I've just found out that I have to go for eight not six weeks. That's basically my whole summer - the end of June, all of July and most of August. Six weeks I could just about cope with, but eight. It's just too long to be away on my own. Am I being unreasonable? Maybe it won't be so bad, or maybe it will. It's the latter that worries me. And from the reports I've heard about Baltimore, apparently it isn't the most exciting place to spend a week, let alone eight.