25 Reasons why Lab life is not as bad as most people think

Gist/About/Intro

Feel free to skip this intro and jump to the reasons.

I LOVE LAB LIFE though I am a social science student. I have a soft corner for Science students for the same reason. My one time roommate (now in Tokyo) was also a Science student and so did many of my friends/neighbours (my university JNU and NII) .

I could never spend more than a few minutes in the labs because my hosts (friends) were always wary of their cruel supervisors and to this day I lust for lab life and to see the lab(s) without worrying about getting caught. Lab to me appears a toy house, believe me or not, and fires my imagination (during my MA my roommate had even brought me some gloves and syringes and I of course played with them)!Lab life is boring and tiring in more ways than one, there is no gainsaying the fact. I have considered here the other side of the coin just the same. If you still can’t see the positives like me you can call it black humour! Please keep in mind that I am an outsider and my views may be prejudiced. Also all reasons may not be valid across the board. It has some ecological angle and is more applicable to Indians.

Please note that I’ve contrived the term Labbie for a Science student attached to a lab! This is also in some ways a comparison of the life of science students and arts students.

25 Reasons why Lab life is not as bad as most people think! Here goes!

An empty mind is a devil’s workshop. Being busy is a virtue whether or not you agree to it. A labbie is almost always busy with the lab work. Often a labbie is so busy that (s)he doesn’t have time to think whether or not (s)he is miserable! Without a lab and lab life you would be doing a lot of unnecessary thinking and taking tension like the Arts/Humanities students (including yours truly). IMHO this is a great virtue of lab life whether or not you realize/accept it!
A labbie has better chances of getting a mate/wife/partner from his/her own profession. If the sex ratio of your lab/institute is good, you can find/hunt for/run into really nice people of the opposite sex who share the same background, understanding and passion as you. You spend about 8 to 12 hours daily under the same roof with those people and get to know them better over a period of time and the chances of discovering love are relatively higher. In a similar vein it goes without saying that you can find opportunities for sexual gratification as well if you find people of the opposite sex who share the same frustration!
You enjoy your free time and value and respect it more than arts/humanities students. A labbie gets more fun out of a movie, party, outing because (s)he has been busy enough to know the worth. Those who always have the time to watch a film cannot enjoy it as much!
A labbie busy with the lab does not have time for petty politics in his campus/society/country (or even the newspaper for that matter). You are relatively free of the necessary evils.
A labbie always has his/her passport made earlier than the arts counterpart!
A labbie always lives in places/labs of high infrastructure.
A labbie is not troubled by power cuts, lives in air-conditioned noise-free atmosphere, has free phones, computer, printer, tissue papers, fridge etc.
A labbie’s roommate profusely thanks him/her for being a great roommate (because the labbie comes to the room only for sleeping)!
A labbie has more or less an assured career compared to the arts counterpart.
A labbie in the first few years of lab life itself has tasted chocolates and cookies from at least 3 continents!
Most labbies get at least one opportunity of foreign travel before they submit their PhD! Most Arts students have not even touched an aeroplane by then!
Labbies even if dissatisfied with lab life only end up improving their language (because they prepare for GRE/TOEFL)! You see lab or no lab it’s all win win for labbies!
Labbies dine in restaurants more often than their arts counterparts! There is often an occasion for celebration in the lab.
Labbies are more welcomed (and missed) by friends and family because a more rare guest is a more welcome one!
Labbies learn to control their anger/hate more than the arts counterpart. Even if their lab sucks they often have no option but to stay with it for the 5-7 years. Labbies change their attitude if they can’t change their fate (read lab)!
Labbies learn to live a disciplined life (thanks to the pressure)
Labbies often have more money compared to their arts counterpart (which is also because labbies hardly get the time to spend money!)
Labbies do not have to bother about UPSC, Bank PO, IFoS, CAT and other mundane things
Labbies often have a close circle of friends that they fully trust. You are often surrounded by a cohesive, close-knit unit (marooned on an island!).
Labbies spend a lot of time observing and looking at people around them and are more likely to tell the good people from the bad people more accurately than their arts counterpart
A labbie’s life is full of creation, experimentation, challenges and struggles. Now that’s an exciting life!
Most labbies get at least one publication by the time they complete their PhD.
A labbie girl’s parents (even if very conservative) may not insist on arranged marriage because they have to understand that only the girl could find a suitable man who will understand her lab and her unique life. So a labbie girl has more freedom with respect to mate selection.
Almost all labbies go abroad for post doc and get about 3000 US dollars per month! Your arts counterparts can only salivate at that amount!
Everyday a labbie discovers some new fact/aspect of personality of his/her supervisor and gloats about it in the canteen!