On wanting to be a doctor

denmark
While it can hardly be said that most of my current friends are having babies, it is certainly true that the large majority of my former primary schoolmates has advanced to the next level - so to speak - on the heteronormative ladder of milestones; marriage, children, divorce. My Facebook newsfeed is slowly being overrun by baby pictures, anniversaries and tutorials on how to create the ultimate all-time lunch box.

At this point in time, I can see no possible road in my past that would have ever led me in that direction so soon. Since further back than I can remember, I have had the definitive goal of an education in mind, and really, a PhD was always the ultimate prize.

Honestly, for the longest time I expected to acquire that PhD in Denmark, but given the events of the past year, obviously the US has become a very relevant option, which I am hoping to explore in the years to come. And there are certain advantages to getting a PhD outside of Denmark.

For instance, I will get to call myself a doctor. Doctor Thomsen. I do believe I will be the first doctor in my family's recorded history (a history that dates back to the 15th Century, so really, it's quite unlikely that a doctor would be hidden in there somewhere).
Denmark, for whatever reason (I know the reason, but it's really rather boring - wikipedia it, if you'd like), is the only country in the world, where achieving a PhD does not grant you the title of doctor. How unfair is that?! In fact, study as you like, if you are in the humanities and study exclusively in Denmark, you won't ever get that title, since there's no such thing as a doctorate in the humanities. Unfair, I say, unfair.

Still, moving across the Atlantic ocean for an extended period - such as is required to obtain a PhD - is rather daunting. Not so much with regards to settling down in a foreign country (since I've done that before), but with regards to my family, it's going to be hard. However, I'm a firm believer in "where there's a will, there's a way" and if I manage to get into a grad school in the US, I have no doubt that my family will help make it work. I mean, it's hardly the first time they'll have to wave goodbye at the airport. In a way, my year in London after high school and my study abroad in the US last year were preparation for exactly this!