nervynewcomer

Hello NK Advocate, Thanks for your suggestions. I was aware of the style of mentorship before I accepted to be his student and I expected that I will be able to adjust to it. I was previously working with an advisor who was a little more hands-on which used to be a source of motivation for me. I haven't been able to adjust well with the new place and the new environment (being away from home, new people and country). I also came to the conclusion that I may have the impostor syndrome (I feel like I've had this forever). Switching labs is very uncommon in my department and it would also not be in the best of my interests as my advisor will be in my thesis committee.

I am a first year PhD student and I've been through hell in my first semester. My adviser is world-renowned for his research and I was fortunate to have been accepted into the program by him. I have a hard time communicating with him because he has been travelling a lot the past semester and secondly I am intimidated by him due to which I haven't had good discussions with him so far. At one point he has questioned my motivation/interest in pursuing a PhD which is when I realized that I must have done something wrong. With coursework and preparation for my qualifiers, I have been feeling so overwhelmed that I can't really organize my thoughts and communicate what I have been researching so far. I have heard from the other students that he is not pushy or mean but I feel that I am being treated unfairly by him. Any suggestions on how to improve my relationship with my adviser would be highly appreciated. Thanks.