Hi! I'm Claire (from the interview)
Well, I can't say what it was like in the 90's:) but there is a good social side now, especially among the younger people, though there is certainly the possibility of ending up in the "CERN bubble" where you do nothing but physics and never even go off site when visiting (there is a basic hotel and various cafeterias on site). As for the turnover rate, it gives you a very different perspective on making close friendships, since people can cycle in and out quite quickly, so things like facebook, skype etc get pretty important in terms of maintaining friendships. I've been pretty lucky that I've been based at CERN for the past 3 years, so the crossover with friends depends only on 1 person's schedule of visiting CERN, rather than 2, where we would see each other much less.
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Thanks! :)
Hi! I'm Claire (from the interview) Well, I can't say what it was like in the 90's :) but there is a good social side now, especially among the younger people, though there is certainly the possibility of ending up in the "CERN bubble" where you do nothing but physics and never even go off site when visiting (there is a basic hotel and various cafeterias on site). As for the turnover rate, it gives you a very different perspective on making close friendships, since people can cycle in and out quite quickly, so things like facebook, skype etc get pretty important in terms of maintaining friendships. I've been pretty lucky that I've been based at CERN for the past 3 years, so the crossover with friends depends only on 1 person's schedule of visiting CERN, rather than 2, where we would see each other much less.