My diverse academic background is affecting my PhD studies — what do I do?

The problem Dear Nature , I am a first-year PhD candidate at a university in China, studying physical geography. I was thrilled to be enrolled on my programme, but after a few months, I have started to get frustrated and confused. Physical geography is a new field for me. I completed my undergraduate studies in applied physics and wanted to pursue materials physics and chemistry as my master’s. But I was reassigned to chemical engineering after I couldn't enrol in my first choice. …