Study Study Study

I spent the day working on a presentation for this Friday. I have my first paper due and my first presentation both on Friday, and now that I have them both practically done I feel such a tremendous load off. Now I have two more papers and another presentation due the first week I get back from Christmas break. I am also meeting with my PhD supervisor this Friday to discuss dissertation topics. Now THAT is exciting (seriously, I'm not being sarcastic!). The first couple of months of grad school were so unbelievably overwhelming – between getting back into the flow of academia, the enormous reading load per week, the impending issues I will be dealing with once I start working on my MA and PhD dissertations, the intellectual intensity of just thinking about everything all the time (that’s all you do as a grad student is think), coupled with the stress of finding, furnishing, and settling into my flat, on top of being so far away from everyone I love and care about in this world – it was all just mentally, physically, and emotionally draining. But I think that coming home for that week in November did me an enormous amount of good. It helped me put things into a more realistic perspective rather than the sensory overload we all deal with here. Once I got back from that week, I felt immediately more settled, both physically as in “home” and also mentally in my work. And now, having my first two academic hurdles behind me, plus starting to work on my dissertation topics … I can’t explain it. I feel like a totally different person from that first month. It’s fantastic. I feel totally exhilarated. Plus of course, everywhere is all beautifully lit up and decorated for Christmas, which just adds to my good mood all the time! On Sunday night I took a study break and decorated my tree … that was therapeutic. I also have a container of Cadbury’s hot chocolate permanently on my kitchen counter…

Anyway this evening I met up with a friend from my programme and we hit the bookstores on Charing Cross Road. That’s one of the things I love about being here – all the bookstores! I’ve got all the big Borders/Waterstones/Foyles stores as well as the smaller rare and out-of-print bookstores of Bloomsbury close by. Anyway, did a bit of Christmas shopping then we wandered into Soho and got sushi for dinner (I STILL have not found a sushi place that gives me the same warm and happy feeling that Edo does).