ofer wolberger on i like this art
friday.
and so ends my third week of uni.
it has been a strange transition – a regression of sorts – into academic study again, but one that i am enjoying so far.
the biggest difficulty has been reading. not necessarily the content – though at times that has been bewildering too: ancient greek pottery is not my strength and reading 200-year-old papers on the topic has been a little challenging. particularly when great slabs of french / german / italian / latin are quoted but not translated: clearly academics of the past were more knowledgeable than me. but it is the sheer length of the papers that has been the most daunting: readings of more than 100 pages – usually from a journal, usually in miniscule-sized font – are posted on monday with commentary and review due before the end of the week. and of course there is other work; listening to lectures, reading the course books (and i haven’t even looked at the ‘recommended readings’: i’m all about the ‘required readings’ at the moment) attending seminars and doing assignments. and that is for each subject.
but the amount of work is not the entire cause of anxiety: it is the sitting down and actually doing it that i – at times – have struggled with. the problems and distractions from my undergraduate years have returned: there is always something else on my mind, something distracting me from my studies. going to the post office, doing a load of washing, going to the supermarket to get something for lunch; they all seem like they need to be done NOW. i work infinitely better at night when i am more focused simply because there is less to do; i think i wrote most of my 20,000 word honours thesis between midnight and 4am, seriously. however, this lifestyle is not possible anymore; my friends aren’t all students too, i have a job (complete with a boss who emails me on my days off, grr), i have a boyfriend, i have other responsibilities.
i’m getting MUCH better at finding the balance between studying hard and taking breaks, and – after a bit of a rough start – i’m almost up to date with my work (and, thanks to monday’s public holiday, i should be completely on track by next week). i think the reason for this new-found focus is because it is just so great, so awesome being a student.
anyway, back to it…
