Master's, Semester Two
Seeing as I did a post about my first semester that you guys can read here, I thought it only made sense to update you all on how I've got on since then. The general theme is much better, though when you're reading this I will be a few weeks into essay deadline madness, so I may be silently cursing my past self for being so positive.
As I said at the end of my last post, there were a few less stressors this semester round; no pressure to make new friends (which means far fewer hangovers!), no 'I've just moved back to London and I don't know what I'm doing' stuff, no holiday season craziness, no blog launch to coordinate, no daily vlogging. Whilst things have still been super busy, I think I finally grasped just how meticulously I have to plan in order to fit everything in, and also be kinder to myself and not freak out if I miss a day or two of productivity. More than anything I've noticed how hard I am on myself and how much I expect from myself, sometimes imposing impossible deadlines, so in general I'm trying to be more relaxed.
There was also the UCU Pensions strike which took place over four weeks of my semester. Because both of my classes were on a Monday, this meant that I missed all eight of them throughout the strike period. I'm going to link to their website here if you're interested (and the problems certainly aren't resolved even though this phase of striking is over!), but it was something I was fully in support of throughout. On an individual basis, it meant I was going into uni a lot less, but I tried to fill my time by doing reading on my own and attempting to start looking at my essays. Naturally, I'm sad I didn't get to do the full courses, especially 'Theorising Contemporary Violence', because I really enjoyed the readings and found the classes particularly stimulating. I was worried about this course initially because it had no literature set for it and it was purely theoretical, but I ended up loving it I think it will probably be useful for all my future work. The essay I'll write for this one will probably be more culture-based rather than literature-based (though I am kind of on the hunt for a relevant novel…) which is a bit scary and new for me, but I think it'll be a good challenge.
Apart from that this semester has been quite quiet, with me squirrelling away behind the scenes on a few things. The next stage is to get my end of term assignments finished (two course essays and a dissertation-related critical survey) and then from early June start properly on my dissertation. The time I've spent working from home these past couple of months has helped me begin to put a few things together for my diss, but I'm still a little apprehensive about the months ahead and how easily distracted I might be by summer plans and sunshine. Again I think it's going to require a lot of planning, but also I want to work in some rest and play time. I think I'm gonna need a new bullet journal…