I've heard more than one person say that taking some time off at the end of the semester is important. I acknolwedge the wisdom of this recommendation, but it is hard for me to conquer the feeling that I should be accomplishing something, literally, all the time. Last week, I visited my parents in …
Category: grad school problems
What happens when. . .
. . . I attempt to study.
Here It Starts: books, exams, and, of course, cats
And so it begins. Last week, it finally had to happen. I spent hours looking up call numbers on the university library website. I dragged out the rollerboard luggage (and my partner, Stephen). And, together, we went to pick up the first batch of comprehensive exam books. I think I underestimated the amount of time …
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Cat Participation
An important household conference, and Emily is front-and-center for the discussion.
Spring Semester: Done
The end of the term. . . finally. The spring term is a notoriously breathless run from January through to April every year. The semester starts a bit early down here, and it is relatively unbroken by vacation days. The exception to this rule is, of course, spring break, but, this term, it did not …
In search of the perfect crust. . .
A few years ago, Stephen and I visited Spain. It was quite an experience. I had enough of a working knowledge of Spanish, gained through many increasingly distant years studying the language, and Stephen, a merchant marine, had all kinds of expereince getting by in foreign environments without language proficiency. Of course, one of the …
My Week
So, what's been going on this week? Here's Emily, providing me with what is, to her, much-needed notetaking help. This is Oscar. This is NOT our house. Oscar decided to go and visit the neighbors yesterday afternoon (observe door cracked open in the background). He is now under "house arrest." Introducing: the inside of my (tiny) office and …
Somehow. . .
. . . I will move these books from my office to my house.
Naptime
So, I try to take a nap, and this happens.
A Grad Student’s Plea for Standard-Sized Books
As a PhD student, reading is a daily activity. And not just reading, but reading as much as you can as quickly as you can. Training to speed-read is like training for a marathon--each book is a new opportunity to improve upon the overall time it takes you to understand: the author's argument, the sources …
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Medievalist in the Making 