Musical chairs

I was at my departmental Happy Hour (they call it "Social Hour" here for some reason, but we all really know they mean "Happy" Hour) last week when I got in a conversation with a fellow first-year grad student from another department. It was an enlightening conversation for many reasons, but one of the topics that resonated most with me was the issue "belonging." "Let's face it," he said. "S_____ isn't a welcoming place. There's no space!" He was refering to the appalling lack of available lab space for the research sciences here. Evidently, space was so tight in his previous rotation that he did not even a lab bench let alone a desk or a place to sit. He complained that every day he would sit at someone's desk until that person came and then would move to the next open seat -- musical chairs. While I was lucky enough in my last rotation to have share a bench with someone who virtually did no lab work and to have my own desk, I definitely empathize with him.

When I started at the CDC in August 2004, I was totally devoid of personal and professional space as well. There was no free space in the entire branch ("labs" are split up into "branches and sections" there)! For TWO WHOLE MONTHS I had no place to sit!! I would literally play musical chairs all day long and, when everyone was at his/her respective desks, I occupied a lone folding chair in the middle of a very crowded office (desgined to hold four people, but was crammed with seven). I couldn't help but be upset. I mean, if you didn't have space for me, why did you say I could come?!? It took me the better part of 5 months to finally feel as if I "belonged" in this group, and I truly feel that the delay at the beginning contributed significantly to my feeling of exclusion.

Ironic, wouldn't you say, that I now find my self in a similar situation again. I am on my second lab rotation, and yet again there is a space crunch. Today I played musical chairs among 2 desks in a small office, and when both of those people arrived I tranisitioned to the step-stool by the trash can. Eventually, even that was taken (needed to reach the printer placed way above average eye-level height...whose brilliant idea was that?), and I relocated to the floor. Despite my current lamenting, I don't feel as quite out of place as I did before. Perhaps this is because I know that I am just a rotation student and as such, I am not there all day every day, but rather for those short stretches of time in between classes and seminars. Although I did briefly wonder why my PI (Principle Investigator - the person whose lab it is) said it was okay for me to rotate at this time if there is no current space available? (AND they're expecting a new post-doc next month! I wonder where she will go? Will she replace me on the step-stool?) New Fact Learned Today: Space is definitely something to think about when it's time to make a decision about which lab to join. Anyway, my long rant was just to emphasize the fact that personal space - a space where you can sit, or dump your stuff - should be a neccessity not a luxury, and that if you want to create an inviting atmosphere where people can feel like they are welcomed and belong, please give them some space!