It's over

I'm really officially done with my MA now. Two months or so after handing in the paper, they've released the marks, after ratification by the exam boards. And so that's it. 180 credits, one 20,000 word dissertation and four 5,000 word term papers later, I have my MA. That was one of my absolute favourite years.

over and out

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have done it.
I have gleefully handed in my term papers. The weight is off my shoulders - at least for the next couple of days before it's time to start working on the dissertation idea to get some sort of approval before I disappear for six weeks.

This morning I turned in two 13-page papers (and three pages of bibilography, yikes!) on Friday the 13th. Unintentionally of course. I had no idea it was the 13th until I picked up a copy of the free paper someone had left on the bus. And usually I dont glance at the date, but today I did. I glanced at the date and thought, how about that for coincidence. I would like to believe that is somehow a good sign. 13 isn't always unlucky, is it? Anyway, fingers and toes crossed. Will be out of the country when the results come in so have to rely on a classmate to pick them up for me and decipher people's handwriting.

And oh, big plans for the weekend - it will be a weekend of reading. I have been sorely neglected the big bookworm in me and some of you might have noticed that the list of books on the left hand side of this blog has barely changed over the past few weeks, and indeed, I have only been reading a few pages a day. Sad, but true. And this weekend, i will change all that with a trip to the library later this afternoon to bring back a haul of books. And to accompany all that will be several DVDs from the school library including Clerks (the 10th anniversary edition!), Guess who's coming to dinner and The Children's Hour. I'm sure other people's faces will fall when they read my big plans, but hey, it's my weekend, I'll do whatever I want to do with it. Go party someplace else.

Meanwhile, here's some cheese pictures.


This is the truly delicious slab of cheese Yukiko and I got from Amsterdam. Gouda. Need I say more?


And this is the mini indoor picnic lunch we had on Easter weekend.


And this is the kinda food that I'll be eating from now on, cos it's spring and it's 15 deg and, (here's the best time to harp on about how the sun is out, but today, it really isn't. It's a cloudy cloudy day), the stripey deck chairs are out!

Report card

My plan:
To get as much reading done as possible, and then to start writing next week.
To get most of the essay out before I leave on the 28th - as in, whacking two papers out in a week (doesn't have to be 5000 words each, but at least to get the skeleton out with some flesh on it)

My worry:
At today's class, sitting out on benches and dazed by the brightness of the sun, the sudden fear that I don't read critically, don't read enough, don't read critically enough.

My neck, my back:
Pain. (Lugging the Macbook to school in a backpack that already has several books is no joke)

My head:
Full. Overflowing from every pore is everything I've been reading so far. What if it all seeps out overnight?

midway

This term's courses, like last year's but even more so, have made me reflect and made me ponder and made me go away from the seminars wanting to explore and uncover and discover and rediscover. I sometimes wonder what it would be like taking an MA back home - horrifyingly they actually have exams for one of the MAs I had a look at on the NUS site, although I fail to see the logic behind that. I wonder what it would've been like taking a course in Sydney, although I suppose there I would've eventually met some Singaporeans (I haven't in Brighton, just a couple of Malaysians).

So I am glad to be here, and not just because of the view out of my window. I am glad I handed in that resignation letter and took a step into the unknown - to a place I only knew of from brief descriptions on travel websites ("London-by-the-sea") and some blogs I managed to dig up. I had emailed an alumni whose name I had found on the university website and he had only positive things to say - of course he did, his name was the contact for Singaporean students after all. I emailed the course convenor, who would later go on to teach me but only for a couple of weeks as she had to lay everything down and fly to Australia where her husband had been in an accident. I'm also very glad for having cousins just a couple of hours away in London and where I'm headed this weekend for CNY eve dinner. It's nice to have some family around.

It's already mid-Feb and I'm halfway through the spring term and my last month of classes. Lecturers have already started dropping those horrendous two words in class - "term paper" and on Wednesday the professor made us all talk about what topics we're interested in and in two weeks we have to give an outline and a bibliography. The other lecturer even dropped the word 'dissertation' when I went to see her on Tuesday to borrow a book. 20,000 words. Horrors.

Then again since I've already done two term papers of 5,000 each (and ended up writing about 5,500 instead) I suppose 20,000 wouldn't be too painful. You can remind me about this post when I'm screaming in pain later in the year.

Oh and xin nian kuai le!

noisemakers

I was in the school library on Wednesday, taking out some books to read over the weekend in preparation for next week. I bumped into a classmate and we began talking about the different classes we're taking this term. Talking, mind you, not whispering in hushed Library tones. It's a noisy library, especially on the ground floor. People chat, people answer phones. If you do want to work properly, you're best off on the first or second floors, especially in the 'quiet zones'. The one really quiet zone is to one end of the building, with the Ds and the Gs. The problem with it - that musty old book smell as most of the Ds are ages old (that's where I got out some books on India that were from the 1800). So I tend not to hang around the library for ages - it's more of a grab-and-go technique. Plus their sofas look like they've been around since the school opened. However, there are some nice spots around the library which look out to the downs - lush green rolling hills. It's very pleasant especially if you turn on the ipod and drown out the noise.

buried

I'm well stocked for the weekend - in books that is.
From the school library, I've got 13 (!) out, most of which are only due back in January, and from the Jubilee (public), another 3, one of which - Persepolis - I've just finished and am so glad I picked up. It's an absolute gem.
It's time to start figuring out where my term papers are headed.

bad news

I'm longing for a satisfying hot cooked breakfast. But no time today have to leave for school in half an hour or so and the cold cereal will have to do for now.

Had the shocking news yesterday that a tutor's husband was in an accident overseas and she had to fly there, cancelling her classes for the rest of term. The co-tutor has stepped in, but his area of expertise is quite different so I'm not entirely sure how that will work out and how he can supervise term papers. I just hope things turn out all right for the tutor and her family.

over

I'm done with presentations for this year.

It's always nervewracking presenting, even when the class has only six people and 1 lecturer. I can't concentrate on what my groupmate is saying as I'm going over my bit in my head. I keep thinking, come on, it's only 15 minutes, it's not that bad. And then when it's my turn, I realise I keep saying "sorta" often and hastily try to stop myself. I stumble over words and I find myself repeating things. I look around the room for a supportive nod, to make sure people understand what I'm saying. And then I get to the conclusion and it's over.

I know we're not expected to be able to be profoundly proficient in the topic for the week. After all, I've only had a week to prepare on the caste system, which you could spend your whole lifetime trying to figure out. There's only so much that can be done but I cannot help but want to get a much broader view on things. So I've decided it's my term paper topic. Now to narrow it down to something more specific and figure out a title... (and also to think about what the other term paper should be on)

I'm glad it's over, at least for now.

Think tank

This masters course is like a full-time job. If I'm not in class or in a seminar or at a talk, I'm in the library or in my room reading for this week, for last week, for next week.
I've got a pile of photocopied chapters for my presentation next week on commodities and consumption, and the lecturer for the other course, who starts teaching the second half of European Representatives of Africa and Asia (she teaches the Asia part, which really should be titled SOUTH Asia), just emailed to say that she's got 15 articles she'd like us to read over the next four weeks. This is besides the reading list she already gave us and which I've not had a decent chance to have a look at yet.
I feel a desperate need for a week's break in between. I need a chance to look over everything I've read and to get a headstart for the rest of the term. I can't believe it's been a month already and a month after this, it's time to write the two 5,000-word essays for the term's two courses.
I knew it wouldn't be easy but I didn't expect it to feel this hectic.
One of my classmates just switched to a part-time version where he does 1 course per term, and over two years instead of one. That sounds more sensible. To be able to read more indepth and not think of that growing pile of notes, books, articles and plenty, plenty of thoughts.
And I haven't a bloody clue what my two essay topics should be on yet.

Start today tomorrow

We've been having amazing weather this past week, although I suppose I shouldn't gloat about it too much as it's supposed to rain next week and temperatures will drop.

But I've been indoors, trying to work out certain head-scratching concepts and theories and reading in preparation for my presentation next week.

Unfortunately it's a Friday night and I can hear what are probably undergrads yelling at themselves at the nearby Kings Road Arches where there are a couple of clubs by the beach. It's on nights like these where I wonder what I'm doing here - time zones away from loved ones and good friends, miles away from comfort zones, bank account running dry.

Then on other days, sitting outdoors having lunch and chatting with my classmates, walking through The Lanes to get to one of the pubs, looking out my window and watching the waves come in, going past the Royal Pavilion on the way to school, getting that "aha!" moment when everything I've been struggling to read suddenly clicks and makes sense for a change, I know.

I guess I might've missed out on today's moment.

Going green

One thing I really like about the campus is the number of eating spots on campus. There are takeaway sandwich places, cafes, cafeterias, dining rooms and bars, in what looks like nearly every building, such as the medical school, the arts centre, the education school, two in the arts area. If I'm not wrong, there are some seven places on campus with a bar. But besides drinking, these are also places to pick up quiches, baguette sandwiches, paninis, coffees, big breakfasts etc. The only things I've had though are a quiche and a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich cos I've been bringing packed lunches (and saving money). So why am I telling you this? Because one day I'll get tired of my sandwiches/carrot and celery sticks/bananas and dive in and eat something hot.

Meanwhile, I filled my stomach this evening with a rather green dinner of penne with broccoli, sugar snap peas and celery in a pesto sauce. And now it's back to reading. This time, something about global culture.