Madness...
So I was good about posting daily for a few days...and then the madness took over.
Wednesday nights I have my historiography class. Each week we either read articles or books and write a 1-2 page response paper. Each week I begin to panic on Tuesday, partially because I'm still reading the articles or book, but mostly because of the paper. I am still so uncomfortable with my writing and this class terrifies me because not only do I have to read my paper to the entire class, but I also have to make copies for everyone so each of my classmates has the potential to read and reread my crappy paper. It is seriously a weekly panic, and this week was worse than others because I had no idea what to say about Orientalism. I tried to stay away from anything related to Jews because I know that I need to broaden my horizons, but Said's anti-Zionism was just too much for me to pass up. So thats what I wrote about. And now, until Wednesday, the shpilkies will be uncontrollable as I worry about the grade (which always turns out to be good anyway). I know I worry about this too much, but what can ya do.
As soon as I got home from historiography, around 9:15 on Wednesday night - twas an early night! - I had to begin working on my paper for my one credit Intro to European Studies seminar. The class is mandatory of everyone who has my fellowship, and I must say, I really enjoy the class. Aside from a few topics, most of the classes have focused on Central and Eastern Europe, so I have benefited greatly from the course. However, after such a long day (I begin classes on Wednesday at 9:35 and usually don't get home until 9:30), I had great difficulty writing my paper. Its only a 3-4 page paper, nothing really, and yet, I had such severe writers block. Eventually I decided to just go to bed (at 2 am) and wake up at 6 am to finish it. That was definitely not my only 4 hours of sleep night, either my second or third of the week, and I just wrote it early Thursday. By the time the paper was turned in around 4 on Thursday all I wanted to do was collapse. I had written three papers, read about 1000 pages, and had a Polish exam in 4 days. But, I needed a night out so thats what I did!
My friend Simon, another FLAS fellow in Polish, is a third year law student and he invited me to a law school party. Justyna, my roommate, and I went over to his house to pre-party and then over to this party. I forgot what it was like to go out and have fun. Aside from Rachel and John's wedding, the only time I have gone out since I began school was the first weekend. I'm that much of a loser these days. It sucks, but really, when i have so much to do, I barely have time to eat, let alone party. I had a lot of fun and hope that I won't wait so long to go out again!
Since Thursday night I have pretty much worked. I went to class on Friday and came home and finished Borowski's This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman. I then began Levi's Survival in Auschwitz. Light reading, huh? I fell asleep reading around 8 pm and realized that as much as I wanted to go to sleep right then, it would be in my best interest to stay awake just a little bit longer so that I could (a) read some more, and (b) not wake up super early on Sat. I made it until 10:45 and didn't wake up until 10:00 on Sat. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. But clearly still not enough sleep to make up for the week's sleep deficit. I took two naps yesterday - they were both fantastic.
And alas, today has arrived. I finished Survival in Auschwitz, began and finished The Reawakening, and am about to begin The Muslim Discovery of Europe. Don't you wish you were getting a PhD in history, too?
Wednesday nights I have my historiography class. Each week we either read articles or books and write a 1-2 page response paper. Each week I begin to panic on Tuesday, partially because I'm still reading the articles or book, but mostly because of the paper. I am still so uncomfortable with my writing and this class terrifies me because not only do I have to read my paper to the entire class, but I also have to make copies for everyone so each of my classmates has the potential to read and reread my crappy paper. It is seriously a weekly panic, and this week was worse than others because I had no idea what to say about Orientalism. I tried to stay away from anything related to Jews because I know that I need to broaden my horizons, but Said's anti-Zionism was just too much for me to pass up. So thats what I wrote about. And now, until Wednesday, the shpilkies will be uncontrollable as I worry about the grade (which always turns out to be good anyway). I know I worry about this too much, but what can ya do.
As soon as I got home from historiography, around 9:15 on Wednesday night - twas an early night! - I had to begin working on my paper for my one credit Intro to European Studies seminar. The class is mandatory of everyone who has my fellowship, and I must say, I really enjoy the class. Aside from a few topics, most of the classes have focused on Central and Eastern Europe, so I have benefited greatly from the course. However, after such a long day (I begin classes on Wednesday at 9:35 and usually don't get home until 9:30), I had great difficulty writing my paper. Its only a 3-4 page paper, nothing really, and yet, I had such severe writers block. Eventually I decided to just go to bed (at 2 am) and wake up at 6 am to finish it. That was definitely not my only 4 hours of sleep night, either my second or third of the week, and I just wrote it early Thursday. By the time the paper was turned in around 4 on Thursday all I wanted to do was collapse. I had written three papers, read about 1000 pages, and had a Polish exam in 4 days. But, I needed a night out so thats what I did!
My friend Simon, another FLAS fellow in Polish, is a third year law student and he invited me to a law school party. Justyna, my roommate, and I went over to his house to pre-party and then over to this party. I forgot what it was like to go out and have fun. Aside from Rachel and John's wedding, the only time I have gone out since I began school was the first weekend. I'm that much of a loser these days. It sucks, but really, when i have so much to do, I barely have time to eat, let alone party. I had a lot of fun and hope that I won't wait so long to go out again!
Since Thursday night I have pretty much worked. I went to class on Friday and came home and finished Borowski's This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman. I then began Levi's Survival in Auschwitz. Light reading, huh? I fell asleep reading around 8 pm and realized that as much as I wanted to go to sleep right then, it would be in my best interest to stay awake just a little bit longer so that I could (a) read some more, and (b) not wake up super early on Sat. I made it until 10:45 and didn't wake up until 10:00 on Sat. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. But clearly still not enough sleep to make up for the week's sleep deficit. I took two naps yesterday - they were both fantastic.
And alas, today has arrived. I finished Survival in Auschwitz, began and finished The Reawakening, and am about to begin The Muslim Discovery of Europe. Don't you wish you were getting a PhD in history, too?