random17

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.
 
I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.
 
I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

Married and living with my spouse, but no kids yet. This is also a research-only semester for me, so my schedule would be slightly different if I had to work in teaching and marking. 
 
Lab days:
7:00-8:15 Get up, walk dog, eat breakfast, pack lunch
8:15-9:15 Commute to campus (subway/bus or carpool)
9:15-12:00 Mostly lab work, but also data entry, analysis, writing, reading papers, etc. depending on how much hands-on time my lab works requires and what deadlines I have coming up
12:00-12:30 Lunch with friends (the exact timing of this varies a lot depending on when we all have breaks in our work and will sometimes get skipped if I only have a 5 minute break)
12:30-5:00 Lab work, etc.
5:00-6:00 Commute home
Evening: Make/eat dinner, clean kitchen, and hang out with my spouse, usually sitting in the living room reading books, browsing the internet, or watching a tv show. Once or twice a week we have friends over for dinner or go over to their place, but that's the same routine, just with 4 of us instead of 2. I almost never do work in the evenings (probably a handful of times in the past 2.5 years).
10:30/11:00 Bedtime
 
Work-from-home days usually consist of computer work (analysis, reading, writing) from 8ish-6ish, with a half-hour break for lunch and an hour afternoon walk with my spouse and our dog.
 
When I'm TAing, I try to do a lot of my marking on my commute or during office hours, so it doesn't cut into my research time too much.
 
Weekends involve planning meals for the week, grocery shopping, errands, fun/social events. I probably end up working 3-4 hours one weekend morning a month, usually making up for time I took off during the week for one reason or another.
 

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.
 
I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.
 
I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.
 
I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.
 
I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

I think the new rule about having to turn on electronics is only applicable to certain airports, so it probably depends on where your US-bound flight originates and if it's an airport that usually has separate/extra security for US-bound flights.

That said, I'd suggest making sure everything is able to turn on, so then you won't have to worry about it. I have a hard time believing they're actually going to make every passenger turn on every electronic they have with them, but I have been asked to show that various things work multiple times in the past.

As a disclaimer, I'm generally out in all aspects of my life, so it completely never occurred to me to hide that from my supervisor and labmates, and I currently live in Toronto, which is very liberal in this regard. I'm also a gay women, so my experiences are likely slightly different.
 
Posters upthread recommended waiting a while to gauge what people's responses are going to be like, but, personally, I never do this. People generally assume I'm straight, and I find it much less awkward to have them find out I'm gay early on, rather than telling them after we've known each other for months/years. 
 
Consequently, with new people that I know I'm going to see again (like when I joined this lab), I typically make a point of mentioning my wife in conversation. I've never sat down and had a conversation in which I explicitly tell someone I'm gay, but it comes up pretty naturally, i.e. the response to "I heard you moved here from City X, what were you doing there" is "Oh, my wife was doing her Master's so we lived there for a year and we both loved it!" or at a lunchtime chat about what everyone's weekend plans are "My wife and I are thinking about going hiking with our dog. Anyone know any good trails?"
 
Like some other posters said, I never act like it's a big deal and usually no one treats it as such. Sometimes they'll do a double-take, but generally it's no different than if I'd mentioned my husband. With my supervisor, I ran into some of the usual awkward responses (telling me about other lesbians she knows so I would know she was okay with it, checking to make sure I wasn't insulted when she complained about her neighbors, who happened to be lesbians, etc.) but by this point in my life, a) I'm used to that and she got over that in a couple months.
 
I'm the only out person in the group of 5 chemical/physical/life sciences labs that I generally spend time in, but either no one cares or they're polite enough not to mention it to my face. For all I know my very religious labmates or the visiting post doc from a conservative country don't approve, but they act the same with me as with the male grad students who talk about their wives, so I really don't care.
 
 
 
 
 

As a disclaimer, I'm generally out in all aspects of my life, so it completely never occurred to me to hide that from my supervisor and labmates, and I currently live in Toronto, which is very liberal in this regard. I'm also a gay women, so my experiences are likely slightly different.
 
Posters upthread recommended waiting a while to gauge what people's responses are going to be like, but, personally, I never do this. People generally assume I'm straight, and I find it much less awkward to have them find out I'm gay early on, rather than telling them after we've known each other for months/years. 
 
Consequently, with new people that I know I'm going to see again (like when I joined this lab), I typically make a point of mentioning my wife in conversation. I've never sat down and had a conversation in which I explicitly tell someone I'm gay, but it comes up pretty naturally, i.e. the response to "I heard you moved here from City X, what were you doing there" is "Oh, my wife was doing her Master's so we lived there for a year and we both loved it!" or at a lunchtime chat about what everyone's weekend plans are "My wife and I are thinking about going hiking with our dog. Anyone know any good trails?"
 
Like some other posters said, I never act like it's a big deal and usually no one treats it as such. Sometimes they'll do a double-take, but generally it's no different than if I'd mentioned my husband. With my supervisor, I ran into some of the usual awkward responses (telling me about other lesbians she knows so I would know she was okay with it, checking to make sure I wasn't insulted when she complained about her neighbors, who happened to be lesbians, etc.) but by this point in my life, a) I'm used to that and she got over that in a couple months.
 
I'm the only out person in the group of 5 chemical/physical/life sciences labs that I generally spend time in, but either no one cares or they're polite enough not to mention it to my face. For all I know my very religious labmates or the visiting post doc from a conservative country don't approve, but they act the same with me as with the male grad students who talk about their wives, so I really don't care.
 
 
 
 
 

As a disclaimer, I'm generally out in all aspects of my life, so it completely never occurred to me to hide that from my supervisor and labmates, and I currently live in Toronto, which is very liberal in this regard. I'm also a gay women, so my experiences are likely slightly different.
 
Posters upthread recommended waiting a while to gauge what people's responses are going to be like, but, personally, I never do this. People generally assume I'm straight, and I find it much less awkward to have them find out I'm gay early on, rather than telling them after we've known each other for months/years. 
 
Consequently, with new people that I know I'm going to see again (like when I joined this lab), I typically make a point of mentioning my wife in conversation. I've never sat down and had a conversation in which I explicitly tell someone I'm gay, but it comes up pretty naturally, i.e. the response to "I heard you moved here from City X, what were you doing there" is "Oh, my wife was doing her Master's so we lived there for a year and we both loved it!" or at a lunchtime chat about what everyone's weekend plans are "My wife and I are thinking about going hiking with our dog. Anyone know any good trails?"
 
Like some other posters said, I never act like it's a big deal and usually no one treats it as such. Sometimes they'll do a double-take, but generally it's no different than if I'd mentioned my husband. With my supervisor, I ran into some of the usual awkward responses (telling me about other lesbians she knows so I would know she was okay with it, checking to make sure I wasn't insulted when she complained about her neighbors, who happened to be lesbians, etc.) but by this point in my life, a) I'm used to that and she got over that in a couple months.
 
I'm the only out person in the group of 5 chemical/physical/life sciences labs that I generally spend time in, but either no one cares or they're polite enough not to mention it to my face. For all I know my very religious labmates or the visiting post doc from a conservative country don't approve, but they act the same with me as with the male grad students who talk about their wives, so I really don't care.
 
 
 
 
 

As a disclaimer, I'm generally out in all aspects of my life, so it completely never occurred to me to hide that from my supervisor and labmates, and I currently live in Toronto, which is very liberal in this regard. I'm also a gay women, so my experiences are likely slightly different.
 
Posters upthread recommended waiting a while to gauge what people's responses are going to be like, but, personally, I never do this. People generally assume I'm straight, and I find it much less awkward to have them find out I'm gay early on, rather than telling them after we've known each other for months/years. 
 
Consequently, with new people that I know I'm going to see again (like when I joined this lab), I typically make a point of mentioning my wife in conversation. I've never sat down and had a conversation in which I explicitly tell someone I'm gay, but it comes up pretty naturally, i.e. the response to "I heard you moved here from City X, what were you doing there" is "Oh, my wife was doing her Master's so we lived there for a year and we both loved it!" or at a lunchtime chat about what everyone's weekend plans are "My wife and I are thinking about going hiking with our dog. Anyone know any good trails?"
 
Like some other posters said, I never act like it's a big deal and usually no one treats it as such. Sometimes they'll do a double-take, but generally it's no different than if I'd mentioned my husband. With my supervisor, I ran into some of the usual awkward responses (telling me about other lesbians she knows so I would know she was okay with it, checking to make sure I wasn't insulted when she complained about her neighbors, who happened to be lesbians, etc.) but by this point in my life, a) I'm used to that and she got over that in a couple months.
 
I'm the only out person in the group of 5 chemical/physical/life sciences labs that I generally spend time in, but either no one cares or they're polite enough not to mention it to my face. For all I know my very religious labmates or the visiting post doc from a conservative country don't approve, but they act the same with me as with the male grad students who talk about their wives, so I really don't care.
 
 
 
 
 

Yeah, it's hard to find information about how exactly applying for your study permit when you drive across the border works, but it's actually really simple. Here's how crossing from NY into Ontario worked:
 
-Tell immigration officer at the drive-up booth that you need to get a study permit. They'll write down your license plate on a form, hand it to you, and direct you to park and go into the building.
 
-Inside, give them all your paperwork. In my case, this was my acceptance letter, US passports for me and my wife, our marriage certificat  , and  my funding letter (which stated that the university was giving me enough to cover tuition and what Ontario requires for living expenses). For Quebec, I presume you need you CAQ at this point, as well.
 
-Wait while they process the paperwork. It took about half an hour to get a study permit for me and a work permit for my wife at a busy border crossing in the middle of a Saturday in August. If you're trying to cross on a summer Friday or Sunday, it will probably take longer. Both permits were stapled into our passports and are good for four years.
 
-Go over to a different window and pay the fees for the permits. 
 
-At some point in there we gave them a list of all our belongings that we had arriving later with a moving company and had them stamp that. This is very important if you are having stuff arrive after you, because we need that stamped list to clear your stuff through customs later. This list was pretty generic, and just said things like 20 boxes of books, 6 boxes of dishes, 1 bedframe and mattress, 3 crates of decorations, etc. with approximate values that we pretty much completely made up.
 
-We had another paper with us listing everything we had in our car at the time, including serial numbers for our electronics. We weren't asked for that list or for proof of rabies vaccination for our cat and nothing we had in our car was inspected. I have no idea if our storage cube of things that came over later was inspected or not. I know my advisor moved from the US to Montreal for grad school about 10 years ago, and when he drove a UHaul with all his stuff across the border, they opened it to make sure the contents matched the inventory list. 
 
-If you're importing your car, i.e. registering it in Quebec while you're a student, there will probably be more paperwork you need to fill out at the border.
 
Hope this helps!

Anytime you connect through a US airport and are arriving from another country, you have to go through immigration and collect your luggage anyway. In that sense, it wouldn't matter if the final destination isn't the US because there isn't anything stopping you from leaving the airport.
 
However, I can imagine that it would cause red flags at immigration if you have a continuing ticket and don't plan to use it, even though you will also have a valid visa. I think you'd be better off not having a round-trip ticket back to Europe and instead having the return flight terminate in NYC.