(no subject)
I am so desperately behind at posting, and signs point to it's unlikely I'm going to catch up, seeing as how I'm leaving on a train at 8:03 tomorrow morning to go to Paris for a week with Lauren and Laurie. I think I've finally decided that I'm not going to bring my computer, although I will have my ipad to make sure I don't completely die of internet withdrawal. I'm not sure I'll have wireless in the hotel, though, and I'm not sure I'll have time for much posting anyway, since I'll be busy introducing Lauren and Laurie to Paris, things French, and (for Lauren) international travel.
In brief form, however, in the past week I've climbed down from the edge of my horrible academic cliff, thanks in no small part to your helpful comments, and decided on a way to proceed with my research once I'm back from Paris (not an OMG WHOLE DISSERTATION TOPIC, but a direction in which to start poking at my sources). I spent a fantastic day on Tuesday wandering around Rennes with
rymenhild and ladybird97 and academic older sister SS's friend SKT, and her adorable wee daughter N. Crepes were consumed! Lord of the Rings was discussed! Medievalists and grad school were discussed! It was excellent, and I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did.
On Wednesday, however, I was a hopeless hormonal mess and spent most of the day dripping tears on my counterpane (okay, not literally, because it's not a counterpane) over things as minor as the fact that I hadn't gotten my mom's annual e-Valentine (somehow cards from the site she usually uses aren't getting through to my email account or sent to my spam filter). Not getting my valentine undid me, but at least even from the depths of being a weeping puddle of emo I was able to ascribe most of the issue to hormones and stress over my looming Lunch with French Medievalists.
On Thursday, I went to this month's installment of the medieval history lecture series at the university. The talk was pretty good, and then I think I mostly held my own during lunch, which involved me (recently-28-year-old female anglophone doctoral student) and FIVE older male francophone university professors. Or well, technically the speaker was Belgian and his English was better than his French, but we were talking French at lunch. I may have made progress at networking! Both the speaker and prof FM are proffering things like publication and research presentation opportunities, which I will investigate further after the break. Stay tuned!
Yesterday I was back in the archives looking at unsatisfying later-medieval documents just to verify that they didn't have anything useful in them, and today I've been reading the internet, watching it periodically pour rain outside, eating far too much for how little I've done, and slowly getting ready to leave tomorrow.
Now I think I'd better go and get ready to bed, the better to get up at six tomorrow. I'll lure myself out of bed with the promise of finding out the score from the Canucks-Leafs game tonight. Hopefully the Canucks will dismantle the Leafs as thoroughly and entertainingly as they did during the game I watched at Nana's while I was home for the holidays!
Speaking of which, my parents are currently in Vancouver, probably roaming Granville Island or shopping on Robson Street right now, to be followed by a birthday supper for my mom at one of several delicious-sounding vegetarian restaurants. I have to say, despite the fact that I'm about to spend a week in Paris, I'm pretty jealous. Vancoooouver! Also, it's my mom's 60th birthday today, and I hope she's having an excellent time.
This entry was originally posted at http://monksandbones.dreamwidth.org/667301.html. Talk to me here or there, whichever you prefer.
In brief form, however, in the past week I've climbed down from the edge of my horrible academic cliff, thanks in no small part to your helpful comments, and decided on a way to proceed with my research once I'm back from Paris (not an OMG WHOLE DISSERTATION TOPIC, but a direction in which to start poking at my sources). I spent a fantastic day on Tuesday wandering around Rennes with
rymenhild and ladybird97 and academic older sister SS's friend SKT, and her adorable wee daughter N. Crepes were consumed! Lord of the Rings was discussed! Medievalists and grad school were discussed! It was excellent, and I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did.
On Wednesday, however, I was a hopeless hormonal mess and spent most of the day dripping tears on my counterpane (okay, not literally, because it's not a counterpane) over things as minor as the fact that I hadn't gotten my mom's annual e-Valentine (somehow cards from the site she usually uses aren't getting through to my email account or sent to my spam filter). Not getting my valentine undid me, but at least even from the depths of being a weeping puddle of emo I was able to ascribe most of the issue to hormones and stress over my looming Lunch with French Medievalists.
On Thursday, I went to this month's installment of the medieval history lecture series at the university. The talk was pretty good, and then I think I mostly held my own during lunch, which involved me (recently-28-year-old female anglophone doctoral student) and FIVE older male francophone university professors. Or well, technically the speaker was Belgian and his English was better than his French, but we were talking French at lunch. I may have made progress at networking! Both the speaker and prof FM are proffering things like publication and research presentation opportunities, which I will investigate further after the break. Stay tuned!
Yesterday I was back in the archives looking at unsatisfying later-medieval documents just to verify that they didn't have anything useful in them, and today I've been reading the internet, watching it periodically pour rain outside, eating far too much for how little I've done, and slowly getting ready to leave tomorrow.
Now I think I'd better go and get ready to bed, the better to get up at six tomorrow. I'll lure myself out of bed with the promise of finding out the score from the Canucks-Leafs game tonight. Hopefully the Canucks will dismantle the Leafs as thoroughly and entertainingly as they did during the game I watched at Nana's while I was home for the holidays!
Speaking of which, my parents are currently in Vancouver, probably roaming Granville Island or shopping on Robson Street right now, to be followed by a birthday supper for my mom at one of several delicious-sounding vegetarian restaurants. I have to say, despite the fact that I'm about to spend a week in Paris, I'm pretty jealous. Vancoooouver! Also, it's my mom's 60th birthday today, and I hope she's having an excellent time.
This entry was originally posted at http://monksandbones.dreamwidth.org/667301.html. Talk to me here or there, whichever you prefer.