Archive for June, 2008
So last night I had a terrifying thought. What if I just leave London? I’m to the point now where I’m concerned about my ability to salvage this trip. It’s become all too easy for me to not go to the archives; it doesn’t help that decision-making is made in the first few minutes after […]
Filed under: my life | 2 Comments
questions
The fact that I find it so easy not to go to the archives must mean that I shouldn’t be a historian, right? Or does it just mean that I’m horribly exhausted and desperately need a vacation that’s not coming since I’m on a six-month research trip?
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments
how did i get here?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how exactly I got to this point in my life where I have no motivation to do what I thought I wanted to do. At some point, I went wrong somewhere, right? I’ve mentioned before that I feel like I chose the wrong graduate program. This is still […]
Filed under: my life | 1 Comment
day 2
Yesterday was less successful. I went to the archives, so I’ve not fallen off the wagon already. As boring as this sounds, I’ve been testing out different tables at the archives as I figure out how I’ll handle the notetaking: will I rely primarily on my laptop or my digital camera? Yesterday I worked at […]
Filed under: my life, research | 1 Comment
results
I survived day 1 and it’s actually been a productive day. I went to the archives, probably a little later than I wanted to but I still got four hours in comfortably. I did good work although I still need to figure how I’m going to combine transcribing documents with digital photos. I also installed […]
Filed under: my life, research | 1 Comment
day 1
I see today as the first day of my dissertation research here. I’ve taken a week off, in which I did little other than sit around, think, get settled, etc. I’m still paralyzed and overwhelmed about the project, about whether I should be doing this, about whether I can finish my degree but I feel […]
Filed under: dissertation, research | 1 Comment
there’s no winning
Living in London has its perks; the constant concern over money and expenses is not one of them. It’s amazing to me how much money can fly out of my hands even without being particularly extravagant. Now that I’m settling in, I’m making a much more conscious effort to stick to my daily budget. A […]
Filed under: observations | Leave a Comment
research and daily life
Now I understand why so many people do the short research trips. Several people in my program (not including those working on US history) prefer to travel abroad for short stints, a few months here and there. I’ve never understood this concept (except for people with families); it seemed more expensive and I don’t like […]
Filed under: research | Leave a Comment
grad school is not undergrad
I’ve been thinking a lot about the origin of dissertation projects recently. How do you come up with ideas and how do you take a handful of scattered interests and questions and turn them into a cohesive investigation that holds your interest for several years of your life? I’ve been second-guessing a lot in my […]
Filed under: dissertation, my life | 2 Comments
lines ever more unclear 