Catching up
So the past couple weeks have been crazy. I was in bed all weekend 2 weeks ago fighting respiratory issues and this past weekend I had a conference here in BG, which meant I got really behind on work. I had a proposal due Monday that I really couldn't start until Sunday afternoon, and that was a bit stressful because I had trouble narrowing down my research topic. Now I can breathe again (as long as I don't really exert myself, which kind of defeats the purpose, but at least I can do daily things without getting winded), but my body must think it's Spring because my sinuses have been killing me, and nothing is really working (including 3 rounds of different antibiotics, 2 of which are sinus-infection specific). I'm seeing an allergist next week, and hopefully he will give me some answers. I need to get healthy so I can be more productive.
So the conference I mentioned earlier was the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference (OLAC), and was held on the BG campus. Since my thesis is on migrants, a couple professors suggested that I present. So I did, and it went fairly well. I got a few comments about more directions I could go in (but, really, a 20 minute presentation doesn't have much room for more than "my research in a nustshell"). A few of my professors were there, including my committee chair, and today one of the other grad students told me that same prof was talking about my presentation and said she was impressed! Yay! It's coming along slowly but surely, and I have learned a lot since my last conference in October. And the thesis conveniently aligns with classes I'm taking this semester, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel and can use my data for those papers!
We (my partner for my assistanship) got a surprise e-mail yesterday from one of the professors who works with us, and wants us to make 52 packets for Monday. Of course, we cannot print on site, and BGSU now charges for printing, and we don't have enough supplies for all 52 packets. So we had to e-mail another professor, notoriously lax on e-mail, and figure this out. Finally figured out where we can print, but now we need to get one final thing from the first professor so we can just print everything at once. Hopefully it all works out.
Tomorrow is a presentation on Peace Corps and how it's lead me to grad school and where I am now. Should be fun. I LOVE talking about PC and El Sal. And I get to give a snapshot of my research.
Spring Break is in just over a week and I am so looking forward to it. I have a paper due this Monday, but met with my professor and now have direction. And, for the first time in a long time, I have plans to go meet up with friends! A good friend from Peace Corps lives in Columbus, and he's lured me with the prospect of eating pupusas and speaking Spanish. Then, we'll continue on to PA to visit some other PCVs from his group. I haven't seen Zach in over a year, and it's been about 2 years since I've seen the other PCVs. So I'm super excited!
Ok this has turned into a longer post than anticipated. But for the handful of people who actually read this, thanks for bearing with me :) Oh, and as a completely random side note, I have been trying to figure out where Off the Map is supposed to take place, and am pretty sure that it's Ecuador. One of the characters said "chuta madre" which is very Ecuadorean. But, at the very least, it's set in the Andes (but filmed on the set of Lost...).
So the conference I mentioned earlier was the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference (OLAC), and was held on the BG campus. Since my thesis is on migrants, a couple professors suggested that I present. So I did, and it went fairly well. I got a few comments about more directions I could go in (but, really, a 20 minute presentation doesn't have much room for more than "my research in a nustshell"). A few of my professors were there, including my committee chair, and today one of the other grad students told me that same prof was talking about my presentation and said she was impressed! Yay! It's coming along slowly but surely, and I have learned a lot since my last conference in October. And the thesis conveniently aligns with classes I'm taking this semester, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel and can use my data for those papers!
We (my partner for my assistanship) got a surprise e-mail yesterday from one of the professors who works with us, and wants us to make 52 packets for Monday. Of course, we cannot print on site, and BGSU now charges for printing, and we don't have enough supplies for all 52 packets. So we had to e-mail another professor, notoriously lax on e-mail, and figure this out. Finally figured out where we can print, but now we need to get one final thing from the first professor so we can just print everything at once. Hopefully it all works out.
Tomorrow is a presentation on Peace Corps and how it's lead me to grad school and where I am now. Should be fun. I LOVE talking about PC and El Sal. And I get to give a snapshot of my research.
Spring Break is in just over a week and I am so looking forward to it. I have a paper due this Monday, but met with my professor and now have direction. And, for the first time in a long time, I have plans to go meet up with friends! A good friend from Peace Corps lives in Columbus, and he's lured me with the prospect of eating pupusas and speaking Spanish. Then, we'll continue on to PA to visit some other PCVs from his group. I haven't seen Zach in over a year, and it's been about 2 years since I've seen the other PCVs. So I'm super excited!
Ok this has turned into a longer post than anticipated. But for the handful of people who actually read this, thanks for bearing with me :) Oh, and as a completely random side note, I have been trying to figure out where Off the Map is supposed to take place, and am pretty sure that it's Ecuador. One of the characters said "chuta madre" which is very Ecuadorean. But, at the very least, it's set in the Andes (but filmed on the set of Lost...).