Skip to main content

Grad School Struggles and Irishmen

Ah life. Plans. Sometimes things just really do not go the way you want them to. Which is good in many cases: AKA my year is currently filled with uber exciting plans and trips with people I love and/or to places I love. In other cases, not so much. 

So, if you have talked with me at all over the last 2-3 months, you'll probably have gotten a shpeel about my research on Londonderry and the Ulster plantation. I'll have told you about how difficult it has been to find even some of my secondary sources, not even to mention the hassle it is to even get in contact with people who could potentially help me with my primaries. You'll know that I have spent several hours every day, sometimes from the moment I wake up to the time I go to bed, doing this research. You will know I have complained and contemplated many times if perhaps quitting and becoming a stripper would be a better course for my life (that last bit was a JOKE for any family members or concerned parents, I promise that's not in the cards. That would require giving up pastries which I am just not prepared to do.) But as much complaining and wining as I do, you will also probably know that I have been so excited about this research. I freaking love Ulster. Just everything. The present day. All its stories and nuance and just fascinating, wonderful, juicy parts of its past, and this research was letting me delve into a part of that. 

Just one of the pretty maps I've been examining.
 Which means it sucked all the more yesterday when I chatted with my professor and we agreed that right now, with the limited access to sources and troubles I keep having with working through this, that the best thing would be to change my thesis. 

Thank God, many of the sources I currently have are going to still be important, and honestly I already have loads of ideas for this new topic. Instead of doing straight historical research, I'm analyzing the histories of the Ulster plantation, seeing what was left out, comparing it against the evidence I've come up with. It's still a good topic. I still like this topic. In fact, it might be a better one than my original topic, and certainly more attainable of a goal at this stage and at this latitude and longitude of my academic career. BUT I DEFINITELY JUST SPENT TWO MONTHS OF MY LIFE DOING DISTINCTLY NOT THAT TOPIC. 

Like Ben, apparently my hard work has been a lie. 
                                
So in that vein, I'm just a little upset. And I know it's just a paper, which in the grand scheme of things is not a huge deal. But for me that has literally been my life since January. As a result, at this point, sanity is illusive, as is motivation. Especially these next ten days— I have to finish some kind of rough draft by the 28th—prayers (and hugs if you’re around) would be appreciated.

On the plus side this new topic seems more doable and the stress I was feeling for not being able to do the best research I could do on my first topic has now lifted. Also, my professor is completely understanding when I say I need to take an incomplete and finish this over the summer. It’s a mixed blessing for sure, but the negative part makes me want to repeatedly bang my head on a wall.

This is me.

My life is not all struggles of course. It’s absolutely beautiful today in Pittsburgh, and I have a lot to look forward to. This coming Monday I get to go see Emmet Cahill in concert, which I’m incredibly stoked for.(A meet and greet is happening!!!! I might spontaneously combust.).

This face, guys. And the voice. I cant. Just adfhlsadflsk. 
 Then Wednesday I get to head home for a week to see my family for Easter. Then next month I have an anime convention (for which I have some bangin cosplays) and I’m going to DISNEY for the first time (!!!)
                                     


 and in June I’m going back to Ireland for 10 days (be still my heart!!!)! Just, many good things not to mention the people who surround me throughout all of this. My blessings are way greater than I deserve.


Anna is my spirit animal. 
Which makes me feel a little silly for complaining about research. It does still suck. But there’s also a lot to be happy about.  There’s so much more to be concerned with than a research topic, and I know that. I mostly just really wanted to vent so sorry about that and thank you for bearing with me.

So, with that, I should probably actually get started on that new research. (I was serious, prayers please?) Before I go, though, here are a couple of videos of some charming Irishmen, as yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day.


                                         

The heartthrob himself

                                                                               :) 
                                                                                          Never fails to make me smile :)
                                         


(Sláinte!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby, It's Cold Outside

So originally I had another idea planned for post numero dos, however I have been otherwise inspired. : ) Why? Because it's snowing in Waynesburg, and for the first time this winter, it is sticking for more than a couple of hours, and there are actually several inches of the fluffy whiteness on the ground. I have a love-dislike relationship with snow. Or rather, I love snow, but I really dislike the one property that makes it a possibility, and that would be the cold. If snow could come without freezing my butt off, I would be unbelievably stoked. And a little concerned. But mostly stoked. Oh, and it's also not so great for those of us who have an issue walking straight normally. So yeah, it has its perks and its downsides, but who really wants something to be really fun and pretty if it doesn't also have the quality of making everyone's uncoordinated friends make a fool of themselves? I mean, elegance is awesome, but it's pretty great to know that it can add a ...
2 comments
Read more

Okay, so it's not so bad

Okay, so I realize that my last post was kind of whiny and sad. I legitimately did not mean to make my roommate feel bad about leaving me all alone, so sorry about those things. After about two weeks of Pittsburgh, I think I'm feeling a little better about the whole thing, though. And also I'm still kind of a little hermit who is starting to forget what the sun looks like, I've just read nearly two hundred pages of history homework, and so I've decided to spend some time blogging. Anyway. There are still some big cons to being here: I swear I can hear everything that happens outside this building, and the windows and doors are all completely shut, I checked. I can't hear other tenants, but that group of adolescent boys walking down the street and being generally ruckusy, I can hear them and the car alarm across the way clear as day. And also bus passes are freaking expensive and make me a sad person, especially since the whole job thing has not happened yet. But...
1 comment
Read more

A New Way to Tell it

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." I don't know about anyone else, but that line just fills me with glee. It is the first line of the famous book Pride and Prejudice. When I was thinking about what I was going to write this week, I also happened to be watching the most recent episode of an excellent little web show called the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Several very talented actors portray the well-loved characters of the Bennet sisters and their adventures in love in a modern telling of the book. Anyway, this episode was particularly wonderful, and so I was really excited and decided that I wanted to share this goodness. This is a little different than some of my other topics I've written about, but this just kept coming up in my head. To give you an idea, here is the first episode, but I will warn you- it is super addictive. I just find this so incredibly creative. In my crea...
1 comment
Read more