The year is almost over, meaning I will celebrate my first New Year as a PhD student. The first 3 months of my job went by incredibly swift. It feels like I should start worrying about the end already!

On the other hand, now I have full days available to study the mountains I love, I can realize a lot more than I thought. The hard work should start to pay of in 2014, as my  rewards are on the way in the form of my first (and maybe even second) paper. Moreover, I am preparing several large and small presentations, I start some teaching and expand my international network of colleagues and projects, all while the plants of my experiments are steady growing only to reveal their secrets when I start traveling again in spring.

A bright and interesting future, that’s for sure, so this is a good time to wish you all a happy new year and post my most important good intention for the next year: working hard in order to gather interesting science, stories and images to share with all of you.