ESR2 One year blog
Inés García Viñado
“Time flies”, that’s what people always say, and that’s what people around me told me when I got accepted as a PhD student in the MonoGutHealth project at Agroscope, Switzerland. “Three years is nothing; you will see”. At that time, I didn’t see it that way, but after a year, I have realized that it’s true. I have not seen the time passing by.
A year ago, I quit everything: my life in France, my job as a veterinarian, and my home to come to Switzerland to start this adventure. After leaving my home country (Spain) before, I was quitting again a place that I called home (Saint Brieuc, France) to settle in Switzerland, a country that I only knew from the pictures. Little I knew about what was awaiting me here; all the worries that I had at the beginning were soon (and fast) replaced by the new project, training schools, and new people and places to discover.
![](https://monoguthealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1-e1665044437368-769x1024.jpg)
At first, I lived in Posieux (where Agroscope is based) and met some of the PhD students that already worked there. After 3 months, I moved to Fribourg, the nearest city and got my own apartment. My life became full with people from other cultures, weekend travels and new challenges.
![](https://monoguthealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2-e1665044656541-769x1024.jpg)
Agroscope is a dynamic place to work, you can meet people that work in different fields, come from different backgrounds and talk even other languages. Since I have a field veterinarian background, I was very excited to get to know the experimental piggery and all the people that work there. I only can say good things about them. People were very welcoming at my arrival.
Since I started working in this project, I have the chance to travel to different countries (Poland, Germany, Denmark, and Portugal), where I met the rest of the PhD students and their supervisors. Being part of a large project makes you feel less alone, I am surrounded by other PhD candidates (even if there are in different countries) that have similar experiences than me and we can really relate to each other’s experience.
![](https://monoguthealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/5.jpg)
As for my project, it has been a very bumpy road, but very fruitful and rewarding at the same time. I had the chance to apply my previous knowledge about pigs and get new skills on the way. One thing I was nervous about was the communication part of this project, since I am not used to present in big venues, where there is many people in the public. However, every day I feel more confident about it, since (as some people have said to me) I am the one that knows the most about my project and that should boost my confidence.
At the moment, I am almost finished with the pilot stage of my project and I started writing my first scientific article, I cannot wait to dive in this second year!