It's finally here! The last (elbeit) long stretch of my MA program and thank God it's here! I can't wait to get out of here and resume my adult life. It's been fine here at Aston and overall I don't have any serious complaints but I think one year was just enough for me. I hope I do fine with my dissertation as this is a monstrous project which takes a lot of preparation. As long as I can organize my notes and materials and organize the dissertation in a comprehensive way I'll feel better as I can write rather well.
I am starting to feel the pinch of this damn dissertation. What makes it worse is that I don't have my research questions approved yet by my supervisor who doesn't always respond fast. And, they aren't allowed to have too many contact hours with us as for them it defeats the purpose of the independent study aspect of all of this. I must say, after 8+ months here I can declare that I don't like independent study even though that is the purpose of an MA program. I came here for a degree as terrible as that may or may not sound. But, I am hopeful. I think I have put together research questions which are based on the supervisors suggestions and subtopics which I mentioned in my presentation and don't seem to be a problem for my supervisor. What I don't want is to look up something which she will then say is not doable or irrelevant; this has already happened. Basically I have roughly 3 weeks to complete my lit review, then I go to my summer camp to do my analysis for my dissertation. I still need to get my ethics form approved which I will know by Wed. After that I can send Exsportise my in loco parentis form asking them permission to do my research. I also need to come up with the consent form for my colleagues at the summer camp. So, there is still work to be done, but I think I can manage it ok. I just hate how things are out of my hands for now!
It's somewhat surreal to think I will be leaving here soon but the big question is where? I so want to live in a warm climate and I torn apart whether to stay here in the UK which ironically I don't mind considering the possibility. I'd love to go back to Italy as my recent trip there reminded me of the good things about living there (obscured when you don't have to pay bills or deal with le cavolate of living there!) but I need to be practical. I am still considering a year in the Middle East as it's guaranteed pay, housing, expenses paid and a great way to pay off my student loan which I want to reduce the time needed to pay it back. But, the downside is that it is the Middle East and I've never really been there aside from a half day tour in Turkey in 1999. Also it's another year where I can't find someone to settle down with, and my parents don't like the idea. But I can't live my life vicariously through them and I do think the pros outweigh the cons.
I also didn't get a good mark on my last two assessments, one of them was miserable although I only take half the fault for that. The assessment briefing was very cryptic and I'd have liked to have seen samples of past work. We were shown this, but for 10 mins in class. Big deal, I got NO benefit from that. But still I want to know where I went wrong with the other one as I had high hopes for that one. Logically this isn't the best mentality going into the dissertation. But I will just work persistently (or try to) and hope for the best. But I am nervous
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