One good thing, one bad thing
15 Apr 2019 04:09 pmGood: I passed my thesis defense!
Bad: I had to put my cat to sleep at 2 am.
Bad: I had to put my cat to sleep at 2 am.
And it's off!
29 Mar 2019 10:30 amI sent my thesis off to my committee this morning. Now I wait for them to respond with whether any of the times I suggested for my defense work for them. Two of them are on a lot of committees, but I'm not sure how many are defending anything right now.
I have also transferred a third of the money required for the co-op shares, so that's happening, too. I'm planning on moving to Berlin in August 2020. I'll have to find a WG for a year or so, until the co-op is built, which could be tricky (because housing in Berlin is pretty ridiculous). So I'm counting on having to go back over next May/June to tour WGs and sign a lease, with any luck.
As a way to try to earn more money, I've started a Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/sflinguistics I'm working on my first column at the moment. I plan on writing about portrayals of linguistics in SFF, language use in SFF, and if I get enough subscribers, add an academic end of things (article reviews/summaries) about fandom and language. I haven't done much in the way of promotion yet, but it's on my list.
I have also transferred a third of the money required for the co-op shares, so that's happening, too. I'm planning on moving to Berlin in August 2020. I'll have to find a WG for a year or so, until the co-op is built, which could be tricky (because housing in Berlin is pretty ridiculous). So I'm counting on having to go back over next May/June to tour WGs and sign a lease, with any luck.
As a way to try to earn more money, I've started a Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/sflinguistics I'm working on my first column at the moment. I plan on writing about portrayals of linguistics in SFF, language use in SFF, and if I get enough subscribers, add an academic end of things (article reviews/summaries) about fandom and language. I haven't done much in the way of promotion yet, but it's on my list.
*pokes head up from Thesisland*
27 Jan 2019 07:50 pmHello!
It's about 3 weeks into the semester, and I have a rough draft of one chapter of my thesis and part of another. I need to collect my data once I send the revised draft of chapter 1 to my advisor (and then to another member of my committee for feedback on his specific area). I should also finish the draft of the second chapter and send it off. I almost have enough information to write up the part where I explain how I'm collecting my data. (I just need to try logging in to the corpus server and see if I can access the one I want.) My completed first draft is due around March 1 so my advisor can get feedback to me before spring break starts a week later and I revise it over break and give him a close-to-final version the week of March 17, get final comments, and send it to my committee so I can defend the week of April 1.
It sounds like a lot (it is!), but I already have about half of the 50-page requirement for the linguistics department, and that's without any tables or graphs because I have no data yet. So I'm making good progress. It helps that I write fast, at least when I know what I'm trying to say. Revision is much slower, of course. Most of my revisions so far have been "explain this better" or "add more detail here." (Which is a lot like my fiction revision process...)
I've also drafted and revised a conference abstract that's due by Feb 1. My advisor is going to give me feedback on that again and I'll poke at it until the deadline, probably. I'm trying to get two of my friends who are also looking at old Germanic languages to submit abstracts, too, so we can all go together and be roommates and it'll be fun.
I'm planning on going to 4th St Fantasy this year, partly because the timing is better than for Readercon, and partly because I know so many people who go and speak highly of it that I want to give it a try. I'll need a roommate, and I'm planning on flying from RDU and getting Ben to take care of my cat. And I want to go through my stuff again while I'm there; maybe do some KonMari on that shit. I definitely want to organize a lot of it better and into fewer containers. I might pick up some plastic tubs to put books in, but that would be either a lot of tubs or a few v heavy ones. Which I guess isn't that different from the current box situation but the boxes are already full and cost nothing. But they aren't waterproof or bug-proof, so ... idk.
Will I see you at 4th St? Let me know!
It's about 3 weeks into the semester, and I have a rough draft of one chapter of my thesis and part of another. I need to collect my data once I send the revised draft of chapter 1 to my advisor (and then to another member of my committee for feedback on his specific area). I should also finish the draft of the second chapter and send it off. I almost have enough information to write up the part where I explain how I'm collecting my data. (I just need to try logging in to the corpus server and see if I can access the one I want.) My completed first draft is due around March 1 so my advisor can get feedback to me before spring break starts a week later and I revise it over break and give him a close-to-final version the week of March 17, get final comments, and send it to my committee so I can defend the week of April 1.
It sounds like a lot (it is!), but I already have about half of the 50-page requirement for the linguistics department, and that's without any tables or graphs because I have no data yet. So I'm making good progress. It helps that I write fast, at least when I know what I'm trying to say. Revision is much slower, of course. Most of my revisions so far have been "explain this better" or "add more detail here." (Which is a lot like my fiction revision process...)
I've also drafted and revised a conference abstract that's due by Feb 1. My advisor is going to give me feedback on that again and I'll poke at it until the deadline, probably. I'm trying to get two of my friends who are also looking at old Germanic languages to submit abstracts, too, so we can all go together and be roommates and it'll be fun.
I'm planning on going to 4th St Fantasy this year, partly because the timing is better than for Readercon, and partly because I know so many people who go and speak highly of it that I want to give it a try. I'll need a roommate, and I'm planning on flying from RDU and getting Ben to take care of my cat. And I want to go through my stuff again while I'm there; maybe do some KonMari on that shit. I definitely want to organize a lot of it better and into fewer containers. I might pick up some plastic tubs to put books in, but that would be either a lot of tubs or a few v heavy ones. Which I guess isn't that different from the current box situation but the boxes are already full and cost nothing. But they aren't waterproof or bug-proof, so ... idk.
Will I see you at 4th St? Let me know!
I had a pretty good holiday. I went to NC, which was only a little awkward, because I was staying in Ben's house, in my former sewing room. I went to a different trivia night with friends (because Mystery closed, which is sad and a tragedy) on Tuesday, and I took myself out to Med Deli one day for lunch (I wish there were good Mediterranean food in Athens. I KNOW. YOU'D THINK.) Friday night my friends Paul & Laura had their annual solstice party, where I tried a fancy bourbon and a fancy Scotch and talked with people until sorta late but not too bad.
I went up to my sister's the 22nd for my mom's family's annual Christmas party, which I hadn't been to in several years. My sister wasn't home from work yet when I got there, and her husband was leaving for a theater thing, and then my niece woke up crying. I went to try to calm her down, and she freaked out and hid in a corner, so I started to text my sister but noticed that Jose's car was still in the driveway, so I was about to run outside and grab him before he left - then he came inside and took care of his angrily shrieking child. (She will be 4 in February.) So that was a thing.
The family party was fine. I thought it might have been awkward because no Ben this year, but I actually got to talk to my cousins for once. And all the aunts (and grandma) asked about my settlement to make sure I'm covered. So that was nice. My uncle Kurt said I looked really good and happy and my eyes sparkled mischievously. So I guess divorce is a good look on me? Or maybe I'm finally able to do what I want, and happy doing what I like, and it shows.
Staying at my sister's was ok. She and Jose have the 4-year-old, and he has 2 daughters (12 and 8) from his first marriage. There's a lot of drama with his ex, which my sister caught me up on, and that's basically why the 12-year-old lives with them full time. But spending 5 days around children (especially the youngest) confirmed that I have no desire to raise any of them myself. They're so demanding!
I didn't get a lot of presents this year, which is fine, and it was kind of nice not to have a stocking full of stuff I don't need or want from Ben's mom (but also kind of sad). I got a coloring book for adults and some colored pencils, socks, chocolates, and a Grumpy Cat santa plushie. I bought myself a Pixelbook for Xmas so I can have a lighter computer to carry to school for making lesson plans and teaching with. (My MacBook Pro is so heavy!) I like it so far.
I'm back in Athens and working on some background reading for my thesis. Organizational, really - I'm writing the things I highlighted on PDFs onto index cards so I can sort them by topic later and make it easier to find citations when I start writing. Classes start the 9th, so I'll probably work from home this week and then go to campus the 7th & 8th to get my copies made and get my teaching materials together. Or I could change my mind and go in for a change of scenery, we'll see.
I went up to my sister's the 22nd for my mom's family's annual Christmas party, which I hadn't been to in several years. My sister wasn't home from work yet when I got there, and her husband was leaving for a theater thing, and then my niece woke up crying. I went to try to calm her down, and she freaked out and hid in a corner, so I started to text my sister but noticed that Jose's car was still in the driveway, so I was about to run outside and grab him before he left - then he came inside and took care of his angrily shrieking child. (She will be 4 in February.) So that was a thing.
The family party was fine. I thought it might have been awkward because no Ben this year, but I actually got to talk to my cousins for once. And all the aunts (and grandma) asked about my settlement to make sure I'm covered. So that was nice. My uncle Kurt said I looked really good and happy and my eyes sparkled mischievously. So I guess divorce is a good look on me? Or maybe I'm finally able to do what I want, and happy doing what I like, and it shows.
Staying at my sister's was ok. She and Jose have the 4-year-old, and he has 2 daughters (12 and 8) from his first marriage. There's a lot of drama with his ex, which my sister caught me up on, and that's basically why the 12-year-old lives with them full time. But spending 5 days around children (especially the youngest) confirmed that I have no desire to raise any of them myself. They're so demanding!
I didn't get a lot of presents this year, which is fine, and it was kind of nice not to have a stocking full of stuff I don't need or want from Ben's mom (but also kind of sad). I got a coloring book for adults and some colored pencils, socks, chocolates, and a Grumpy Cat santa plushie. I bought myself a Pixelbook for Xmas so I can have a lighter computer to carry to school for making lesson plans and teaching with. (My MacBook Pro is so heavy!) I like it so far.
I'm back in Athens and working on some background reading for my thesis. Organizational, really - I'm writing the things I highlighted on PDFs onto index cards so I can sort them by topic later and make it easier to find citations when I start writing. Classes start the 9th, so I'll probably work from home this week and then go to campus the 7th & 8th to get my copies made and get my teaching materials together. Or I could change my mind and go in for a change of scenery, we'll see.
Semester's over!
18 Dec 2018 04:54 pmI got straight As again. I did surprisingly well in syntax, considering that I don't believe in X-bar theory, but logic puzzles are kind of fun, even if I don't believe that it is anything resembling the actual way language works in the brain. The online language acquisition class was easy (if tedious), and Old English is just another dead Germanic language, so that was easy enough (modulo not remembering what the vowels are in the infinitives because it's ai in Gothic and ei in Old Norse and Old High & Low German... (it's long a in OE...))
I've read pretty much everything there is to read on Class VII verbs in the old Germanic languages (though I recently remembered I have a book I need to read and there's another one I should get out of the library), and I'm taking my notes that I made in a notebook (or by highlighting PDFs) and writing them on index cards so I can organize my information for the literature review part of my thesis more easily. Next I need a research question or two...
I'm teaching 2 classes in spring (normally I'd teach one, but they asked if I could). One of them is perilously close to being canceled, but as long as nobody drops before Jan 4, we should be fine. They're back to back MWF, which means I can work on my thesis in the mornings and go to school in the afternoons. I'm auditing a class that meets TR at 12:30, so I have to go in every day, which sucks, but I never have to be there before noon, which makes up for it.
One of my students came out to me as trans in her essay on the final. I'm honored that she trusts me enough to do that, and I asked her how she wants me to call her in class next semester (because I don't want to out her, but I also don't want to misgender her). She told me her new name and said she wants to be more herself next semester, so I should use female pronouns.
And I've now had 4 students ask me for recommendation letters! They like me!
I'm still learning how to roller derby. I'm a bit frustrated with it, because I'm still not scrimmage eligible, and I'm putting in so much effort, but it's not enough. I refereed at a scrimmage tournament 2 weeks ago and really enjoyed it; I like the camaraderie among the officials. I want to give scrimmaging a try - I've never played a team sport, and I want to challenge myself to do something that's Not Like Me - so I don't want to just quit because I'm not making progress like I want to. And hitting people with my butt is a lot of fun! I know I've improved since I started, and people have told me I hit better than I used to (even 2 months ago) - but I keep not passing assessments, which is how you move up. I don't want to set a deadline, so *flail* I joined a gym to work on strength and get cardio in (it's difficult to motivate myself to run in the early morning to avoid the heat (summer) or in the cold dark (winter)). I don't know.
I've read pretty much everything there is to read on Class VII verbs in the old Germanic languages (though I recently remembered I have a book I need to read and there's another one I should get out of the library), and I'm taking my notes that I made in a notebook (or by highlighting PDFs) and writing them on index cards so I can organize my information for the literature review part of my thesis more easily. Next I need a research question or two...
I'm teaching 2 classes in spring (normally I'd teach one, but they asked if I could). One of them is perilously close to being canceled, but as long as nobody drops before Jan 4, we should be fine. They're back to back MWF, which means I can work on my thesis in the mornings and go to school in the afternoons. I'm auditing a class that meets TR at 12:30, so I have to go in every day, which sucks, but I never have to be there before noon, which makes up for it.
One of my students came out to me as trans in her essay on the final. I'm honored that she trusts me enough to do that, and I asked her how she wants me to call her in class next semester (because I don't want to out her, but I also don't want to misgender her). She told me her new name and said she wants to be more herself next semester, so I should use female pronouns.
And I've now had 4 students ask me for recommendation letters! They like me!
I'm still learning how to roller derby. I'm a bit frustrated with it, because I'm still not scrimmage eligible, and I'm putting in so much effort, but it's not enough. I refereed at a scrimmage tournament 2 weeks ago and really enjoyed it; I like the camaraderie among the officials. I want to give scrimmaging a try - I've never played a team sport, and I want to challenge myself to do something that's Not Like Me - so I don't want to just quit because I'm not making progress like I want to. And hitting people with my butt is a lot of fun! I know I've improved since I started, and people have told me I hit better than I used to (even 2 months ago) - but I keep not passing assessments, which is how you move up. I don't want to set a deadline, so *flail* I joined a gym to work on strength and get cardio in (it's difficult to motivate myself to run in the early morning to avoid the heat (summer) or in the cold dark (winter)). I don't know.
*dusts off blog*
17 Nov 2018 09:31 amI guess I haven't updated since before Readercon back in July. Wow. Between sorting through my stuff at Ben's house and coming back to Georgia and the semester, I guess I got busy.
This semester has been pretty good thus far. (It's almost over, but there's still final papers and stuff.) I have generative syntax (Chomskyan X-bar theory), Old English, and an online language acquisition class. I still don't believe that X-bar (or its successor, minimalism) are what is Really Happening in the brain when we speak, and I am definitely not a syntactician, but unless I completely screw up my final paper, I'll have an A in the class. I'm writing my final paper on let-passives (have in English) in German, Old Norse, and Old English, with modern English for comparison. (An example is "He had a house built.")
Old English is fun, but not as much fun as Old Norse. I'm kind of bummed I can't fit Beowulf into my schedule next semester, but there's nothing stopping me from reading an online edition on my own. Well, other than time and willingness to put in the effort (and not having a good dictionary). Whereas with Old Norse, I will fall down rabbit holes whenever I'm looking something up (like last night, when I was trying to find sources for the example sentences I used that weren't EV Gordon's collection/textbook).
The online class is a lot of work. Every week we have to answer a set of questions about the readings - and cite the readings specifically - then respond to 3 other people's answers. And there's a VoiceThread which we have to record an answer in (to a DIFFERENT question). And there's usually a quiz. And there are 2 papers and an article presentation. The second paper was due yesterday, and the article presentation is due after Thanksgiving.
But the most exciting thing is that I'm done with course work after this semester! I have enough hours, so I'm just going to audit one class I'm interested in (which means I don't have to write the final paper or take any tests), teach 2 classes (6 hours a week plus prep & grading), and write my thesis. On paper I have so much free time (i.e. time to write my thesis), but teaching always takes more time than I expect.
In other positive news, I will definitely be able to stay on at UGA as an instructor next year. I'll just need to do a bunch of paperwork because I won't be a student anymore. My plan is to work on my dissertation prospectus so I can apply to a program in Germany for winter 2020 (though I'd need to contact them to find out if it's possible to apply early enough for summer 2020 and defer for a semester, because I'd need to let the department here know if I'm staying or not by this time next year. I'd need to get them my prospectus by Aug 30 - so writing is a summer project.) Annoyingly, I need proficiency in another foreign language (my Russian is garbage, and I don't feel like re-learning it, so I have no idea what to learn.)
My to-do list for break is to finish the draft of my syntax paper, do my article presentation for language acquisition, and translate Old English. I should definitely read for my thesis, too. I also need to finish grading the tests my students took on Thursday. I'm going to a friend's for a potluck Thanksgiving, and depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, I might make a batch of spritz. I also need to go to the tag agency and register my car in GA now that it's insured here. I want to spend some time goofing off (watching TV) because I can.
This semester has been pretty good thus far. (It's almost over, but there's still final papers and stuff.) I have generative syntax (Chomskyan X-bar theory), Old English, and an online language acquisition class. I still don't believe that X-bar (or its successor, minimalism) are what is Really Happening in the brain when we speak, and I am definitely not a syntactician, but unless I completely screw up my final paper, I'll have an A in the class. I'm writing my final paper on let-passives (have in English) in German, Old Norse, and Old English, with modern English for comparison. (An example is "He had a house built.")
Old English is fun, but not as much fun as Old Norse. I'm kind of bummed I can't fit Beowulf into my schedule next semester, but there's nothing stopping me from reading an online edition on my own. Well, other than time and willingness to put in the effort (and not having a good dictionary). Whereas with Old Norse, I will fall down rabbit holes whenever I'm looking something up (like last night, when I was trying to find sources for the example sentences I used that weren't EV Gordon's collection/textbook).
The online class is a lot of work. Every week we have to answer a set of questions about the readings - and cite the readings specifically - then respond to 3 other people's answers. And there's a VoiceThread which we have to record an answer in (to a DIFFERENT question). And there's usually a quiz. And there are 2 papers and an article presentation. The second paper was due yesterday, and the article presentation is due after Thanksgiving.
But the most exciting thing is that I'm done with course work after this semester! I have enough hours, so I'm just going to audit one class I'm interested in (which means I don't have to write the final paper or take any tests), teach 2 classes (6 hours a week plus prep & grading), and write my thesis. On paper I have so much free time (i.e. time to write my thesis), but teaching always takes more time than I expect.
In other positive news, I will definitely be able to stay on at UGA as an instructor next year. I'll just need to do a bunch of paperwork because I won't be a student anymore. My plan is to work on my dissertation prospectus so I can apply to a program in Germany for winter 2020 (though I'd need to contact them to find out if it's possible to apply early enough for summer 2020 and defer for a semester, because I'd need to let the department here know if I'm staying or not by this time next year. I'd need to get them my prospectus by Aug 30 - so writing is a summer project.) Annoyingly, I need proficiency in another foreign language (my Russian is garbage, and I don't feel like re-learning it, so I have no idea what to learn.)
My to-do list for break is to finish the draft of my syntax paper, do my article presentation for language acquisition, and translate Old English. I should definitely read for my thesis, too. I also need to finish grading the tests my students took on Thursday. I'm going to a friend's for a potluck Thanksgiving, and depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, I might make a batch of spritz. I also need to go to the tag agency and register my car in GA now that it's insured here. I want to spend some time goofing off (watching TV) because I can.
The semester is over.
7 May 2018 02:28 pmThis is my last semester of 4 classes; two of those in a row was hell. Very stressful, especially with teaching on top.
I finished my MA in German Studies, however, and that is a good feeling. I got an A in the class I was worried about, because the professor wanted us to write Proper History Papers, and none of us were really cut out for it. So I was worried about that, because she didn't seem too thrilled that we couldn't do historiography or put things into the broader historical context and didn't seem to understand that we had no idea what she wanted us to do. So I wrote the best paper I could (about the effects of GDR-era education & language policies on the Sorbs & their culture) and sent it in.
I rocked the hell out of Gothic; I got a 97 on the midterm and had a 97 average on the quizzes, and I felt pretty confident about the final after I finished it, so 90s probably. But I feel a little bad about that because I wrecked the curve and my friends might not have gotten as good grades as they hoped. I'm just really good at memorizing shit, and it's a Germanic language, so...
I also had a class in German morphology and phonology, which is counting toward my LING MA, and I got an A in that. My last class was a seminar in variationist sociolinguistics, which I managed an A in even though my paper was a chaotic mess.
In fall, I have 3 classes: Syntax (TR), Old English (MWF), and L1/L2 acquisition (online), and I'm teaching 2 sections of GRMN 1002 (which I taught last fall and have a ton of materials for). Then in spring, I only need one more class to graduate.
Right now I'm on vacation until June 1, when I go back to Athens for a week or so, to work on my summer independent study of Old Saxon (and go to roller derby practice). I just watched season 2 of The Expanse, and I want to watch Black Sails, and I want to catch up on anime from the last 8 months. I'm also going to read books I've been wanting to read for ages.
I'm going to a conference Thursday - Sunday, but that's the last school-related thing this month. I'm also visiting family in Maryland on the way up to Penn State, so I can break up the horribly long drive.
I finished my MA in German Studies, however, and that is a good feeling. I got an A in the class I was worried about, because the professor wanted us to write Proper History Papers, and none of us were really cut out for it. So I was worried about that, because she didn't seem too thrilled that we couldn't do historiography or put things into the broader historical context and didn't seem to understand that we had no idea what she wanted us to do. So I wrote the best paper I could (about the effects of GDR-era education & language policies on the Sorbs & their culture) and sent it in.
I rocked the hell out of Gothic; I got a 97 on the midterm and had a 97 average on the quizzes, and I felt pretty confident about the final after I finished it, so 90s probably. But I feel a little bad about that because I wrecked the curve and my friends might not have gotten as good grades as they hoped. I'm just really good at memorizing shit, and it's a Germanic language, so...
I also had a class in German morphology and phonology, which is counting toward my LING MA, and I got an A in that. My last class was a seminar in variationist sociolinguistics, which I managed an A in even though my paper was a chaotic mess.
In fall, I have 3 classes: Syntax (TR), Old English (MWF), and L1/L2 acquisition (online), and I'm teaching 2 sections of GRMN 1002 (which I taught last fall and have a ton of materials for). Then in spring, I only need one more class to graduate.
Right now I'm on vacation until June 1, when I go back to Athens for a week or so, to work on my summer independent study of Old Saxon (and go to roller derby practice). I just watched season 2 of The Expanse, and I want to watch Black Sails, and I want to catch up on anime from the last 8 months. I'm also going to read books I've been wanting to read for ages.
I'm going to a conference Thursday - Sunday, but that's the last school-related thing this month. I'm also visiting family in Maryland on the way up to Penn State, so I can break up the horribly long drive.
Fall 2017 is now over.
22 Dec 2017 03:47 pmI wrote 4 papers (17 pages, 12 pages, 16 pages in German, 14 pages), three of them before the semester ended. One I finished about an hour ago, after grades were posted. The professor granted me an extension, which is good, because anything I would have been able to turn in last Friday, 2 days after finishing my paper in German, would have been utter crap.
I taught 2 sections of second semester German; the larger section had a beautiful normal distribution of final grades, but the smaller section only had 8 people, so no pretty graph. One reason I didn't get my papers finished was because I had to grade 27 final exams.
I got straight As for the first time in grad school! No A- in my literature classes for once (I had 2 this semester). (Yeah, the professor who gave me the extension already gave me an A...)
My paper for the Nibelungenlied class was apparently very good; I got a 94% on it, and my native-German-speaking proofreader said it was better than a lot of papers she proofread in Germany in both grammar/style AND content, so yay. I wrote about the different gender roles between Scandinavia and the Germanic area and how this is seen in the Kriemhild/Gudrun figure. I'm going to ask the professor if he thinks I can get it published. I need to add about 2000 words to reach the minimum for the first journal I can think of, so it won't be happening before summer.
My spring semester is probably going to be just as bad; I have 4 classes again, and they're all Tuesday/Thursday, though I'm only teaching one section of first-semester German with 11 people in it. Grading will be less, and I'll have 4 fewer hours in a classroom, but lesson planning still takes forEVer, regardless of how many sections I teach.
My spring classes: Variationist linguistics, German morphology and phonology, Gothic, and something about migration within Germany from our visiting professor. Gothic won't have a paper, because the professor doesn't do that in his language classes, just has a midterm and final where you translate things and reproduce paradigms (plus weekly quizzes on vocab and paradigms). I assume the variationism class will have one and the migration one. The morph/phon prof said he wasn't sure whether there'd be a paper, but there might be. He also said it could potentially be a group paper, which would possibly help.
I'm still doing roller derby, and I'm learning how to be an official, because I am pretty sure I will never be comfortable enough with being hit to play competitively. Plus it's a lot of fun to officiate, kind of like running a convention. I am also going to shadow the Bout VP and learn how to manage bouts when we have home games.
Over the next week or so (I go back to Georgia Jan 2, and we start classes Jan 4), I need to read & review for my written MA exam, which will be given the first Friday in February. I'm pretty nervous about it, because I have no idea how detailed they want me to be (ie do they want me to give verbatim citations? can I just say "Milford 1972 discusses blah blah blah"? Do I need to give citations at all?) and there is basically no direction about the test format or how to prepare, other than "read everything and take notes."
I taught 2 sections of second semester German; the larger section had a beautiful normal distribution of final grades, but the smaller section only had 8 people, so no pretty graph. One reason I didn't get my papers finished was because I had to grade 27 final exams.
I got straight As for the first time in grad school! No A- in my literature classes for once (I had 2 this semester). (Yeah, the professor who gave me the extension already gave me an A...)
My paper for the Nibelungenlied class was apparently very good; I got a 94% on it, and my native-German-speaking proofreader said it was better than a lot of papers she proofread in Germany in both grammar/style AND content, so yay. I wrote about the different gender roles between Scandinavia and the Germanic area and how this is seen in the Kriemhild/Gudrun figure. I'm going to ask the professor if he thinks I can get it published. I need to add about 2000 words to reach the minimum for the first journal I can think of, so it won't be happening before summer.
My spring semester is probably going to be just as bad; I have 4 classes again, and they're all Tuesday/Thursday, though I'm only teaching one section of first-semester German with 11 people in it. Grading will be less, and I'll have 4 fewer hours in a classroom, but lesson planning still takes forEVer, regardless of how many sections I teach.
My spring classes: Variationist linguistics, German morphology and phonology, Gothic, and something about migration within Germany from our visiting professor. Gothic won't have a paper, because the professor doesn't do that in his language classes, just has a midterm and final where you translate things and reproduce paradigms (plus weekly quizzes on vocab and paradigms). I assume the variationism class will have one and the migration one. The morph/phon prof said he wasn't sure whether there'd be a paper, but there might be. He also said it could potentially be a group paper, which would possibly help.
I'm still doing roller derby, and I'm learning how to be an official, because I am pretty sure I will never be comfortable enough with being hit to play competitively. Plus it's a lot of fun to officiate, kind of like running a convention. I am also going to shadow the Bout VP and learn how to manage bouts when we have home games.
Over the next week or so (I go back to Georgia Jan 2, and we start classes Jan 4), I need to read & review for my written MA exam, which will be given the first Friday in February. I'm pretty nervous about it, because I have no idea how detailed they want me to be (ie do they want me to give verbatim citations? can I just say "Milford 1972 discusses blah blah blah"? Do I need to give citations at all?) and there is basically no direction about the test format or how to prepare, other than "read everything and take notes."
Life in German studies:
30 Sep 2017 05:42 pmSemester 1, Professor A: class and readings largely in German, secondary literature discussion in everyone's own native language. "Write your paper in your native language because using the other one will get you a lower grade because you're not good at it."
Semester 2, Professor B: class entirely in German; paper in whichever language we want (yay visiting professors).
Semester 3, Professor C: class mostly in English. "Write your paper in your native language, because it won't be as good in the other one."
Semester 3, Professor D: class entirely in German. Every written assignment in German, including final paper.
Me: complaining about this sudden change in expectations
Other people: "It's a German Studies program, what did you expect>!?!?"
Gee, idk, two of our professors think we shouldn't even bother writing in German because it will be shit, so I DON'T FUCKING KNOW where I could have gotten the expectation that writing in German wasn't an obligation.
Semester 2, Professor B: class entirely in German; paper in whichever language we want (yay visiting professors).
Semester 3, Professor C: class mostly in English. "Write your paper in your native language, because it won't be as good in the other one."
Semester 3, Professor D: class entirely in German. Every written assignment in German, including final paper.
Me: complaining about this sudden change in expectations
Other people: "It's a German Studies program, what did you expect>!?!?"
Gee, idk, two of our professors think we shouldn't even bother writing in German because it will be shit, so I DON'T FUCKING KNOW where I could have gotten the expectation that writing in German wasn't an obligation.
Back to school!
13 Aug 2017 04:15 pmThe semester starts tomorrow. I'm prepared, but I'm not ready at all. I have my first week's lesson plans made, with the option of shifting things as I need to. I have all my books, and I am going to have many shit-tons of reading on top of my grading (of which there is more, because the language program coordinator got rid of most of the auto-graded (multiple choice etc) assignments and replaced them with free response, which takes 3x as long to grade.)
I'm not quite sure when I'm going to sleep.
My new apartment is nice so far. The property managers are very helpful and are going through and fixing everything the previous property managers never bothered fixing (or fixed badly). The central a/c is a huge plus over my old apartment.
And I joined my local roller derby team. Partly because my friend said I should try it during new skater boot camp, partly because describing a sport as "roller skating with violence" is fun, and partly because the logo is super bad ass.
I'm going to review my plans for tomorrow and the next day then try to finish one of the books for one of my classes (it's really short, and I'm already halfway through).
I'm not quite sure when I'm going to sleep.
My new apartment is nice so far. The property managers are very helpful and are going through and fixing everything the previous property managers never bothered fixing (or fixed badly). The central a/c is a huge plus over my old apartment.
And I joined my local roller derby team. Partly because my friend said I should try it during new skater boot camp, partly because describing a sport as "roller skating with violence" is fun, and partly because the logo is super bad ass.
I'm going to review my plans for tomorrow and the next day then try to finish one of the books for one of my classes (it's really short, and I'm already halfway through).
Back from Germany
25 Jul 2017 05:36 pmUh, hi, I guess I didn't update my journal very often. I kept a paper one, though! Because I needed to keep track of stuff so I can turn in a paper for the people who gave me a grant.
Hamburg was nice; I met with a professor whose research interests me, and he gave me some advice on things to look at (including some translation theory, even) and wanted to hear more about my research in the future, because it's an interesting topic. (So I know one place I'm going to send my exposé once it exists, even if the prospect of living in Hamburg doesn't fill me with glee.)
Dresden was AMAZING. I really liked it there, and the Altstadt was beautiful, even if half of everything was under construction. I took day trips to Leipzig, Bautzen, and Pirna, and Ben and I went to Saxon Switzerland, which is a place I could definitely go back and spend a week in a cute vacation rental or hotel and go hiking and work on a novel. But there isn't a university for me there, because the TU doesn't have anything that matches my research interests.
Berlin was, as usual, great. I got to see![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kriski and dirtyzucchini and kriski gave me a copy of her poetry collection, which I am excited to read. I flipped through and the one about the woman at the knitting group punched me in the stomach. Good job! I can't wait to share these with my classmates.
I also got to see some parts of Berlin I'd never made it to before, because I didn't have to go to the obligatory tourist sites. I didn't even set foot on the Museum Island!
I have all my photos up on GPhotos; let me know if you want the link (or if you have a GPhotos/gmail you want me to share it with). They are sorted by city but otherwise unlabeled. That's a huge project...
I learned that you don't have to live in the same city you are doing a PhD in, if you are doing a solo promotion and don't have to meet f2f with your advisor very often, which means that theoretically I could live in Berlin while promovieren in Hamburg and go there every other week or whatever. And that your student ID is valid at all the libraries in all the universities :O
I just don't know which city Ben would have better luck finding a job in. Both have a lot of tech/software stuff, but they're both also full of young jobseekers who are more the type (ie cheap labor) startups want. So idk. But any decision is at least 2 years off, because I won't finish here until May 2019 (that's the target) and I doubt I'll finish my thesis and immediately want to write the exposé for winter admission (October). Summer admission (March/April) might be better, even though I'll probably have to turn it in around October anyway.
... yeah, I kind of fell into a really cool dissertation idea, so...
I'm going back to Georgia on the 2nd, so I have another week here. I'll start packing up at the end of this week or the weekend. Mostly I just have to put my clothes into suitcases and streamline a lot of loose crap floating around.
Oh, and I'm going to a roller derby boot camp, so I might join a roller derby team. (My academic schedule may prevent me from participating much this semester, but we shall see.)
Hamburg was nice; I met with a professor whose research interests me, and he gave me some advice on things to look at (including some translation theory, even) and wanted to hear more about my research in the future, because it's an interesting topic. (So I know one place I'm going to send my exposé once it exists, even if the prospect of living in Hamburg doesn't fill me with glee.)
Dresden was AMAZING. I really liked it there, and the Altstadt was beautiful, even if half of everything was under construction. I took day trips to Leipzig, Bautzen, and Pirna, and Ben and I went to Saxon Switzerland, which is a place I could definitely go back and spend a week in a cute vacation rental or hotel and go hiking and work on a novel. But there isn't a university for me there, because the TU doesn't have anything that matches my research interests.
Berlin was, as usual, great. I got to see
kriski and dirtyzucchini and kriski gave me a copy of her poetry collection, which I am excited to read. I flipped through and the one about the woman at the knitting group punched me in the stomach. Good job! I can't wait to share these with my classmates.I also got to see some parts of Berlin I'd never made it to before, because I didn't have to go to the obligatory tourist sites. I didn't even set foot on the Museum Island!
I have all my photos up on GPhotos; let me know if you want the link (or if you have a GPhotos/gmail you want me to share it with). They are sorted by city but otherwise unlabeled. That's a huge project...
I learned that you don't have to live in the same city you are doing a PhD in, if you are doing a solo promotion and don't have to meet f2f with your advisor very often, which means that theoretically I could live in Berlin while promovieren in Hamburg and go there every other week or whatever. And that your student ID is valid at all the libraries in all the universities :O
I just don't know which city Ben would have better luck finding a job in. Both have a lot of tech/software stuff, but they're both also full of young jobseekers who are more the type (ie cheap labor) startups want. So idk. But any decision is at least 2 years off, because I won't finish here until May 2019 (that's the target) and I doubt I'll finish my thesis and immediately want to write the exposé for winter admission (October). Summer admission (March/April) might be better, even though I'll probably have to turn it in around October anyway.
... yeah, I kind of fell into a really cool dissertation idea, so...
I'm going back to Georgia on the 2nd, so I have another week here. I'll start packing up at the end of this week or the weekend. Mostly I just have to put my clothes into suitcases and streamline a lot of loose crap floating around.
Oh, and I'm going to a roller derby boot camp, so I might join a roller derby team. (My academic schedule may prevent me from participating much this semester, but we shall see.)
Going to Germany!
4 Jun 2017 11:33 amI finished Sociolinguistics, and I think I got an A. Grades aren't officially posted yet, maybe at the end of summer.
My flight leaves at 5:41 pm today. I'm going to Paris, where I have a 4-hour layover, then on to Hamburg. 4 hours should be plenty of time to get through customs, recheck my suitcase, and all that. I can get a Real Croissant in Paris (at the airport, ok, but whatever) and experience Parisian attitude about language in person.
I got a fancy notebook/journal thing to write about my trip in, and a set of 6 fancy pens. I have to write a short essay for the grant people about what I learned or whatever, so I'm going to make myself write down, in addition to what I did, how I can use it for teaching purposes. I can even take notes on the teaching methods/activities, though I probably won't be teaching that level at UGA ever.
It would be a lie if I said I had no apprehensions about the trip. There's so much violence happening in Europe (mostly England at the moment), and the child in charge of the US could start a war or something while I'm gone. My last surviving cat is getting older, and, while she's pretty healthy, so was Claire until she died very suddenly of a blood clot. I already feel terrible about spending so much time away from her; I would be crushed if she died while I'm away.
Something could happen to me; something could happen to Ben. Something could happen that makes it impossible for me to get home. But I can't let worry stop me from doing things. That's what terrorists want.
If you're in Germany (especially the Hamburg, Dresden, or Berlin areas) and want to do something (like get dinner) let me know!
My flight leaves at 5:41 pm today. I'm going to Paris, where I have a 4-hour layover, then on to Hamburg. 4 hours should be plenty of time to get through customs, recheck my suitcase, and all that. I can get a Real Croissant in Paris (at the airport, ok, but whatever) and experience Parisian attitude about language in person.
I got a fancy notebook/journal thing to write about my trip in, and a set of 6 fancy pens. I have to write a short essay for the grant people about what I learned or whatever, so I'm going to make myself write down, in addition to what I did, how I can use it for teaching purposes. I can even take notes on the teaching methods/activities, though I probably won't be teaching that level at UGA ever.
It would be a lie if I said I had no apprehensions about the trip. There's so much violence happening in Europe (mostly England at the moment), and the child in charge of the US could start a war or something while I'm gone. My last surviving cat is getting older, and, while she's pretty healthy, so was Claire until she died very suddenly of a blood clot. I already feel terrible about spending so much time away from her; I would be crushed if she died while I'm away.
Something could happen to me; something could happen to Ben. Something could happen that makes it impossible for me to get home. But I can't let worry stop me from doing things. That's what terrorists want.
If you're in Germany (especially the Hamburg, Dresden, or Berlin areas) and want to do something (like get dinner) let me know!
Intense. Damn.
So, class is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 15 days, in order to get an entire semester's worth of instruction in. This means we read approximately a chapter a day, with 1-2 articles a day in addition (a total of 50-80 pages or thereabouts). Taking graduate-level German classes has me saying "300 pages a week? In English? With no other commitments? Pfffff, easy."
The class has a lot of discussion and presentations, and we had an individual project and a group project. My group project is ok? I guess? but I had to wrangle undergrads, which is annoying. That's due Tuesday, and I can't start data analysis until the last data points are collected.
But the prof only counts the 2 highest tests, and I'm satisfied with my current test scores (100 and 96), so I won't take the third test, which is Wednesday. That definitely makes my weekend a little less stressful. "All" I have to do is write up my paper and put the rest of my things into boxes and take them to the office.
I'm moving out of my apartment, so I have virtually nothing in it. My furniture is at a friend's apartment, so I'm sitting on a spare couch cushion and using a lap desk. I've been eating TV dinners and things I don't need dishes for, using paper plates & bowls and plastic cutlery. I feel very College Student. Small remaining things are going to my office (cleaning supplies, what little furniture I have left) over the weekend, and Tuesday will be the final clean-up before the walkthrough, and I'm driving home Wednesday morning (staying with a different friend Tuesday night).
So, class is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 15 days, in order to get an entire semester's worth of instruction in. This means we read approximately a chapter a day, with 1-2 articles a day in addition (a total of 50-80 pages or thereabouts). Taking graduate-level German classes has me saying "300 pages a week? In English? With no other commitments? Pfffff, easy."
The class has a lot of discussion and presentations, and we had an individual project and a group project. My group project is ok? I guess? but I had to wrangle undergrads, which is annoying. That's due Tuesday, and I can't start data analysis until the last data points are collected.
But the prof only counts the 2 highest tests, and I'm satisfied with my current test scores (100 and 96), so I won't take the third test, which is Wednesday. That definitely makes my weekend a little less stressful. "All" I have to do is write up my paper and put the rest of my things into boxes and take them to the office.
I'm moving out of my apartment, so I have virtually nothing in it. My furniture is at a friend's apartment, so I'm sitting on a spare couch cushion and using a lap desk. I've been eating TV dinners and things I don't need dishes for, using paper plates & bowls and plastic cutlery. I feel very College Student. Small remaining things are going to my office (cleaning supplies, what little furniture I have left) over the weekend, and Tuesday will be the final clean-up before the walkthrough, and I'm driving home Wednesday morning (staying with a different friend Tuesday night).
Conferencing!
18 Apr 2017 05:04 pmTomorrow after class I'm driving to Atlanta and hanging out with Ally (Midnighter comics and ice skating boys), because she's driving me to the airport on Thursday.
Then I'm going to Austin for http://glac2017.weebly.com/ ! My poster arrived safely at the hotel yesterday, according to the postal tracker. I'm going to hang out with Laura, who lives there, Thursday afternoon before the conference, then there's a grad student gathering in the evening for dinner & drinks. The conference starts Friday at 8, bright and early.
(Ugh, they rearranged some of the panels, so there are some I want to go to at the same time :/ More than there were before. But it looks like there are a few mostly empty spots, so I might be able to work on memorizing Old Icelandic vocabulary...
Then I'm going to Austin for http://glac2017.weebly.com/ ! My poster arrived safely at the hotel yesterday, according to the postal tracker. I'm going to hang out with Laura, who lives there, Thursday afternoon before the conference, then there's a grad student gathering in the evening for dinner & drinks. The conference starts Friday at 8, bright and early.
(Ugh, they rearranged some of the panels, so there are some I want to go to at the same time :/ More than there were before. But it looks like there are a few mostly empty spots, so I might be able to work on memorizing Old Icelandic vocabulary...
Spring break! Time for an update.
7 Mar 2017 09:41 amUpdate the first: I was accepted into the Linguistics MA program! So I will be in Georgia one additional year (and hopefully only the one). Ben doesn't want to move to Georgia, so we will be maintaining 2 residences. I found a new apartment that is closer to campus, has 2 bedrooms and a kitchen with actual cabinet space (though still not a lot of counter space) AND is almost $100/mo cheaper. Plus it has central HVAC. I look forward to it.
Update the second: The paper I submitted to a conference was accepted (as a poster)! I will be going to Austin April 20-23 to hang out with a bunch of Germanic linguists and tell them about how cool my research about German memers on tumblr is (and get them to tell me what else to look into). I applied for a travel award through the department, and I hope I hear about that soon, because I need to book the hotel room; if I don't get the grant, I will beg for floor space with a grad student at UT (or find a roommate).
Update the third: GERMANY! I bought my plane tickets and have an itinerary. I will be in Hamburg June 5-30, Dresden July 1-13, and Berlin July 13-17 (and fly out the 18th). While I'm in HH, I will be at the Goethe Institute, so I'll be spending the afternoon there and doing as much of their Kulturprogramm as interests me (tours, excursions, museums; probably not ballet, though if there's opera, I'll go). I don't know how much free time I'll have.
The class I was planning to take in Dresden was cancelled, so now I'm on my own for there. Because of the grant I'm getting, I have to make it related to my education as a teacher, so I'm going to keep a journal of how I can use various things to teach my students. I'm mostly going to go to Cold War-related sites (including a day trip to Leipzig), but also the usual Dresdner Altstadt stuff. (I'm going to have to go to the Oper for reasons relating to the story that's coming out in fall.) Ben is probably going to come join me for part of that week. I want to try to swing a trip out to the Sächsiche Schweiz, but I don't know how much time I'll have.
Then in Berlin I want to see an exhibit in the Alliierten Museum, probably stop in the Deutsches Historisches Museum to spend more time in the modern section than I had last time, and go to the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, and if I have time/schedules work out, take another Berliner Unterwelten tour. I also want to try to see a Hertha training day (if they're there and not off in Turkey) and meet up with friends.
Classes and stuff: the 2 classes I have that aren't literature are going pretty well. Old Norse is fun, and the term paper, in which we translate something and justify our decisions, sounds like fun. Syntax seminar is harder, but also kind of fun, because we get to talk about language acquisition, and our term paper is partner work and will be about second language acquisition. Literature seminar is still overwhelming and I have no idea what I'm supposed to write about; the instructions are "choose something in the broad thematic we've discussed this semester" and we read a novel every week how the fuck do I even begin with that.
In fall I will have 4 classes again and be teaching 2 sections of 2nd semester German, I am going to die. But Phonetics & Phonology is supposed to be not a lot of work, and Language, Gender, and Culture may or may not be; Medieval Courtly Literature will be tough but fun because we're reading parallel texts of Middle High German and modern translation. Culture Seminar will be Jewish Studies because of who's teaching it, and we will have to read a lot of novels (but less than this semester, thank god).
Update the second: The paper I submitted to a conference was accepted (as a poster)! I will be going to Austin April 20-23 to hang out with a bunch of Germanic linguists and tell them about how cool my research about German memers on tumblr is (and get them to tell me what else to look into). I applied for a travel award through the department, and I hope I hear about that soon, because I need to book the hotel room; if I don't get the grant, I will beg for floor space with a grad student at UT (or find a roommate).
Update the third: GERMANY! I bought my plane tickets and have an itinerary. I will be in Hamburg June 5-30, Dresden July 1-13, and Berlin July 13-17 (and fly out the 18th). While I'm in HH, I will be at the Goethe Institute, so I'll be spending the afternoon there and doing as much of their Kulturprogramm as interests me (tours, excursions, museums; probably not ballet, though if there's opera, I'll go). I don't know how much free time I'll have.
The class I was planning to take in Dresden was cancelled, so now I'm on my own for there. Because of the grant I'm getting, I have to make it related to my education as a teacher, so I'm going to keep a journal of how I can use various things to teach my students. I'm mostly going to go to Cold War-related sites (including a day trip to Leipzig), but also the usual Dresdner Altstadt stuff. (I'm going to have to go to the Oper for reasons relating to the story that's coming out in fall.) Ben is probably going to come join me for part of that week. I want to try to swing a trip out to the Sächsiche Schweiz, but I don't know how much time I'll have.
Then in Berlin I want to see an exhibit in the Alliierten Museum, probably stop in the Deutsches Historisches Museum to spend more time in the modern section than I had last time, and go to the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, and if I have time/schedules work out, take another Berliner Unterwelten tour. I also want to try to see a Hertha training day (if they're there and not off in Turkey) and meet up with friends.
Classes and stuff: the 2 classes I have that aren't literature are going pretty well. Old Norse is fun, and the term paper, in which we translate something and justify our decisions, sounds like fun. Syntax seminar is harder, but also kind of fun, because we get to talk about language acquisition, and our term paper is partner work and will be about second language acquisition. Literature seminar is still overwhelming and I have no idea what I'm supposed to write about; the instructions are "choose something in the broad thematic we've discussed this semester" and we read a novel every week how the fuck do I even begin with that.
In fall I will have 4 classes again and be teaching 2 sections of 2nd semester German, I am going to die. But Phonetics & Phonology is supposed to be not a lot of work, and Language, Gender, and Culture may or may not be; Medieval Courtly Literature will be tough but fun because we're reading parallel texts of Middle High German and modern translation. Culture Seminar will be Jewish Studies because of who's teaching it, and we will have to read a lot of novels (but less than this semester, thank god).
After discussing it with the appropriate graduate coordinators, I am applying to the MA Linguistics program here to get a dual MA in (hopefully) 3 years. I *think* the application process is mostly a formality, because I'm already enrolled in the graduate school.
My thesis advisor thinks it's a good idea and is supportive (he's both German and Ling faculty, so he's on the committee to select grad students there, too).
This ... changes a lot of things. Like I don't want to stay in this apartment 2 more years; 20ish months was going to be pushing it as it is. So that means I need to look for a place. Fortunately, now is a good time to do that.
But the wrench: I'd like Ben to move down here temporarily, because 3 years is going to be sucktastic (especially once I hit the "oh god why am I doing this" phase and am drowning in trying to get 63 credit hours in 6 semesters) and Meyrin is getting old. So I may need a 2-bedroom (more space + office room) vs a 1-bedroom. But I don't qualify right now based on income, and he doesn't have steady income-income (capital gains don't count for that, only paychecks apparently), so he needs a job. Fortunately there are potential jobs here or in ATL with possible part-time remote work/wfh, so he may be doing that.
But moving suuuuuuucks so much.
The bigger wrench: we own a house. Do we pack our shit up and put most of it in storage (or sell some of it) and sell the house, or do we rent it out once our shit is moved elsewhere? We have a LOT of shit after living there for nearly 16 years. Also we need to replace the carpet and fix up some grody stuff from cat pee and toilet floods and fix some toilets...
But *flail* 2 MAs. Then I will be qualified for pretty much any PhD program anywhere (perhaps overqualified), should I decide to continue. I have a pretty cool MA thesis idea that I'm really excited about, so maybe I can carry that forward.
My thesis advisor thinks it's a good idea and is supportive (he's both German and Ling faculty, so he's on the committee to select grad students there, too).
This ... changes a lot of things. Like I don't want to stay in this apartment 2 more years; 20ish months was going to be pushing it as it is. So that means I need to look for a place. Fortunately, now is a good time to do that.
But the wrench: I'd like Ben to move down here temporarily, because 3 years is going to be sucktastic (especially once I hit the "oh god why am I doing this" phase and am drowning in trying to get 63 credit hours in 6 semesters) and Meyrin is getting old. So I may need a 2-bedroom (more space + office room) vs a 1-bedroom. But I don't qualify right now based on income, and he doesn't have steady income-income (capital gains don't count for that, only paychecks apparently), so he needs a job. Fortunately there are potential jobs here or in ATL with possible part-time remote work/wfh, so he may be doing that.
But moving suuuuuuucks so much.
The bigger wrench: we own a house. Do we pack our shit up and put most of it in storage (or sell some of it) and sell the house, or do we rent it out once our shit is moved elsewhere? We have a LOT of shit after living there for nearly 16 years. Also we need to replace the carpet and fix up some grody stuff from cat pee and toilet floods and fix some toilets...
But *flail* 2 MAs. Then I will be qualified for pretty much any PhD program anywhere (perhaps overqualified), should I decide to continue. I have a pretty cool MA thesis idea that I'm really excited about, so maybe I can carry that forward.
Impending winter storm?
6 Jan 2017 09:21 pmThe forecast has been calling for dire weather since about Monday. It's been raining since mid-afternoon, and it's getting closer and closer to freezing. The current forecast has it changing to sleet around midnight, then snow around 1.
Because this is Georgia, the highs Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be in the mid-30s, so stuff will melt, then when it gets down to 18 overnight, everything will freeze into a nice sheet of ice. Because this is Georgia, there aren't a lot of snow plows or brine trucks, so Monday morning is likely to be really interesting.
I'm freaking out less about the literature class, though I'm sure it's still going to be terrible. I'm also not entirely certain the professor understands how US university courses work, so that's going to be exciting.
I have created a side tumblr for collecting a corpus of posts for potential thesis purposes. There are currently 65 posts in its queue, in addition to the handful I posted before thinking about the fact that I had a lot of posts and didn't want to be banned for spamming. And I only went through the google doc I'd put together for my term paper and my likes, not my tags/reblogs. (That can wait.)
Tomorrow, since I can't actually leave the house or anything, though I might put on my rain boots and walk around the complex, I'm going to revise the abstract I'm submitting to a conference (due next Sunday).
I still don't feel like the semester is real, but I've only had 2 classes so far & TA'ed one. By next Friday, things should be better. I hope.
Because this is Georgia, the highs Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be in the mid-30s, so stuff will melt, then when it gets down to 18 overnight, everything will freeze into a nice sheet of ice. Because this is Georgia, there aren't a lot of snow plows or brine trucks, so Monday morning is likely to be really interesting.
I'm freaking out less about the literature class, though I'm sure it's still going to be terrible. I'm also not entirely certain the professor understands how US university courses work, so that's going to be exciting.
I have created a side tumblr for collecting a corpus of posts for potential thesis purposes. There are currently 65 posts in its queue, in addition to the handful I posted before thinking about the fact that I had a lot of posts and didn't want to be banned for spamming. And I only went through the google doc I'd put together for my term paper and my likes, not my tags/reblogs. (That can wait.)
Tomorrow, since I can't actually leave the house or anything, though I might put on my rain boots and walk around the complex, I'm going to revise the abstract I'm submitting to a conference (due next Sunday).
I still don't feel like the semester is real, but I've only had 2 classes so far & TA'ed one. By next Friday, things should be better. I hope.
Fuuuuuuuuuck.
3 Jan 2017 07:50 pmI got the syllabus for the literature seminar today.
I'm going to fail.
We have to read in their entirety 6 books, totalling 1660 pages, plus probably 500 more pages of excerpts and secondary literature. Here is the info from the syllabus:
Course Requirements
Regular attendance
Participation and careful preparation of all readings: Complete all of the readings on time
and come to class prepared, with questions, etc.
Class presentations: Give a presentation on one primary text and author.
Three response papers in German, the papers should be included a discussion of interesting
questions and present a first interpretation.
Final research paper of 10-12 pages in English or German
Grade:
Response papers 20%
Class presentations 10%
Class participation (attendance, preparation) 30%
Final paper 40%
I will get at best a B- in this class. Because I can't read 2000 pages for one class, and I can't convincingly bullshit my way through something I've read a third of (which is apparently a thing you learn to do as a literature major??? I studied chemistry, y'all). In literature seminar last semester, we had to write comments on the course discussion forum about the texts, just a few sentences minimum, and I struggled to get a paragraph, so SURE YEAH 3 response papers will be g r e a t. And I'll totally be able to participate in class.
I am going to leave that class in tears every fucking week it'll be great.
OH AND FUN TIMES??? I've gotten 2 of the books for the class and neither of them is the first 2 books we need to read (by Feb 2 and 9). The library may have them but not 7 copies of it (because I doubt I'm the only person who hasn't received their books yet).
So I can't even get started on the 400 pages I need to read by Feb 9 because the books aren't here yet. Y a A A a A a Y
I'm going to fail.
We have to read in their entirety 6 books, totalling 1660 pages, plus probably 500 more pages of excerpts and secondary literature. Here is the info from the syllabus:
Course Requirements
Regular attendance
Participation and careful preparation of all readings: Complete all of the readings on time
and come to class prepared, with questions, etc.
Class presentations: Give a presentation on one primary text and author.
Three response papers in German, the papers should be included a discussion of interesting
questions and present a first interpretation.
Final research paper of 10-12 pages in English or German
Grade:
Response papers 20%
Class presentations 10%
Class participation (attendance, preparation) 30%
Final paper 40%
I will get at best a B- in this class. Because I can't read 2000 pages for one class, and I can't convincingly bullshit my way through something I've read a third of (which is apparently a thing you learn to do as a literature major??? I studied chemistry, y'all). In literature seminar last semester, we had to write comments on the course discussion forum about the texts, just a few sentences minimum, and I struggled to get a paragraph, so SURE YEAH 3 response papers will be g r e a t. And I'll totally be able to participate in class.
I am going to leave that class in tears every fucking week it'll be great.
OH AND FUN TIMES??? I've gotten 2 of the books for the class and neither of them is the first 2 books we need to read (by Feb 2 and 9). The library may have them but not 7 copies of it (because I doubt I'm the only person who hasn't received their books yet).
So I can't even get started on the 400 pages I need to read by Feb 9 because the books aren't here yet. Y a A A a A a Y
First semester wrap-up
20 Dec 2016 08:04 amGrades are in. History of German: A. Teaching College German: A. Languages in Contact: A. Seminar in German Studies: A-.
I was honestly concerned I'd get a B in SGS, because I have no idea what I'm doing in that class, and 40% of our grade was a term paper, which I had no idea what I was doing for. I'd never written a literature term paper which had to rely on other people's ideas and various theories of X (in this case, memory). I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. I much prefer talking about what is in the text itself - symbolism, characters, narrative arcs, tropes - than about what other people have said about it (which is apparently what they call "research" in this field?).
I mean, I wrote several thousand words on narrative arcs and themes in the first season of Iron Blooded Orphans (and would do it again), but that isn't what you're Supposed To Do In A Real Term Paper, which is complete bullshit IMO.
I would have been pretty upset with myself if I didn't get an A in Teaching, after the Goethe Certificate and all. The principles are largely the same, but for US secondary education, the application is a little different, because we have a mostly homogenous, English-speaking group, and we can use some English in class.
History of German was kind of annoying; we had a lot of little homework assignments to turn in every session, and he basically never graded them or turned them back. He didn't give back our midterm before the final. (I got a 96 and a 91, respectively, according to the Blackboard-equivalent UGA uses.) It was interesting, in that it's useful to know why German does some of the weird things it does (and, by extension, why English does), and there's a lot more sociolinguistic stuff in the last section of the class. Also we got to talk about why nationalism is bullshit and language purity movements are stupid and why capitalism is garbage (though that was my point, mostly; we read Marxist philosophers and historians, what do you want me to do?).
Contact was neat, and the comments the prof left on my term paper should be useful in me turning it into an abstract for the big German linguistics conference in spring. They're due 1/15, so I'm going to need to figure out what to do with it pretty quick. I want to look at sociolinguistic aspects of bi-/multilingualism for my thesis, I think, so that should be really helpful for me.
Spring semester, I have Seminar in German Literature (topic: the metropolis in literature), Seminar in German Linguistics (topic: syntax of some variety, using Universal Grammar), and Old Icelandic. I'm also auditing 4th semester Russian.
I am actually really glad that the old department chair got a new position as assistant dean, because that means his Goethe seminar (which would have been mandatory) was cancelled, and I can take Old Icelandic. And I don't have to have 2 horrible literature seminars in one semester. I'm already cranky that I have to take one 3 of 4 semesters as it is.
I was honestly concerned I'd get a B in SGS, because I have no idea what I'm doing in that class, and 40% of our grade was a term paper, which I had no idea what I was doing for. I'd never written a literature term paper which had to rely on other people's ideas and various theories of X (in this case, memory). I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. I much prefer talking about what is in the text itself - symbolism, characters, narrative arcs, tropes - than about what other people have said about it (which is apparently what they call "research" in this field?).
I mean, I wrote several thousand words on narrative arcs and themes in the first season of Iron Blooded Orphans (and would do it again), but that isn't what you're Supposed To Do In A Real Term Paper, which is complete bullshit IMO.
I would have been pretty upset with myself if I didn't get an A in Teaching, after the Goethe Certificate and all. The principles are largely the same, but for US secondary education, the application is a little different, because we have a mostly homogenous, English-speaking group, and we can use some English in class.
History of German was kind of annoying; we had a lot of little homework assignments to turn in every session, and he basically never graded them or turned them back. He didn't give back our midterm before the final. (I got a 96 and a 91, respectively, according to the Blackboard-equivalent UGA uses.) It was interesting, in that it's useful to know why German does some of the weird things it does (and, by extension, why English does), and there's a lot more sociolinguistic stuff in the last section of the class. Also we got to talk about why nationalism is bullshit and language purity movements are stupid and why capitalism is garbage (though that was my point, mostly; we read Marxist philosophers and historians, what do you want me to do?).
Contact was neat, and the comments the prof left on my term paper should be useful in me turning it into an abstract for the big German linguistics conference in spring. They're due 1/15, so I'm going to need to figure out what to do with it pretty quick. I want to look at sociolinguistic aspects of bi-/multilingualism for my thesis, I think, so that should be really helpful for me.
Spring semester, I have Seminar in German Literature (topic: the metropolis in literature), Seminar in German Linguistics (topic: syntax of some variety, using Universal Grammar), and Old Icelandic. I'm also auditing 4th semester Russian.
I am actually really glad that the old department chair got a new position as assistant dean, because that means his Goethe seminar (which would have been mandatory) was cancelled, and I can take Old Icelandic. And I don't have to have 2 horrible literature seminars in one semester. I'm already cranky that I have to take one 3 of 4 semesters as it is.
Nice break.
25 Nov 2016 05:37 pmUGA gives you a whole week off for Thanksgiving, which I think is pretty fucking great, because it gave me a lot of time during which I could frantically write papers and work on projects, without having to do annoying shit like "go to class" or "teach class" or "prepare to teach class" (though one of the things I did was revise a lesson plan).
I wrote a term paper (14 pages) and an essay (3 pages) for the same class; I made a rough draft of my final project for pedagogy seminar; I read a large stack of papers for my literature seminar term paper; and I made a study guide/quick reference for History of German for our take-home final (12/1-8). I did all the rest of my Russian homework for the semester, and I did half my homework for HoG Tuesday.
Lest you think all I did was work, I watched cartoons with Ben, and I mostly took evenings off to hang out with him (and the cat) and read comic books. And on Sunday, we went to see Arrival, which was REALLY GOOD YOU GUYS, go watch it. It's like The Martian but with less cardboard characters/dialog/acting and for language nerds. Today we took a walk to catch and hatch Pokemon and stopped by the pub for a quick beer.
For Thanksgiving, we went to a friend's house and did a potluck with some damn good food followed by boozes. (Becherovka: tastes like cloves and gasoline, but it grows on you.)
I'm going back to Georgia tomorrow morning, boo. I need Sunday to go grocery shopping (because I can't go during the week), plus traffic should be less sucktastic than it will be on Sunday. I might go to the office and print out the papers I need to read for pedagogy seminar on Tuesday and my paper & essay drafts so I can revise them.
Six more days of classes, then finals start, and my first semester of grad school will be over. Holy shit.
I wrote a term paper (14 pages) and an essay (3 pages) for the same class; I made a rough draft of my final project for pedagogy seminar; I read a large stack of papers for my literature seminar term paper; and I made a study guide/quick reference for History of German for our take-home final (12/1-8). I did all the rest of my Russian homework for the semester, and I did half my homework for HoG Tuesday.
Lest you think all I did was work, I watched cartoons with Ben, and I mostly took evenings off to hang out with him (and the cat) and read comic books. And on Sunday, we went to see Arrival, which was REALLY GOOD YOU GUYS, go watch it. It's like The Martian but with less cardboard characters/dialog/acting and for language nerds. Today we took a walk to catch and hatch Pokemon and stopped by the pub for a quick beer.
For Thanksgiving, we went to a friend's house and did a potluck with some damn good food followed by boozes. (Becherovka: tastes like cloves and gasoline, but it grows on you.)
I'm going back to Georgia tomorrow morning, boo. I need Sunday to go grocery shopping (because I can't go during the week), plus traffic should be less sucktastic than it will be on Sunday. I might go to the office and print out the papers I need to read for pedagogy seminar on Tuesday and my paper & essay drafts so I can revise them.
Six more days of classes, then finals start, and my first semester of grad school will be over. Holy shit.
My ModCloth order came, and all the dresses fit! One of them may be too low-cut for work, but I have scarves I can use to accessorize over my cleavage/bra.
I'm working on my final project for pedagogy seminar, and I'm using a poem by Selim Özdogan, a Turkish-German poet from Cologne, and it's great. Here's the last stanza followed by a not-very-poetic translation from me:
Wenn wir uns umblicken
sieht es aus
als würden wir uns irgendwohin
bewegen
aber selbst die besten unter uns schaffen es nur
auf die Dächer von Gefängnissen
und
keinen Schritt weiter
If we look around ourselves
it seems
as if we were going
somewhere
but even the best of us only manage to get
to the roofs of prisons
and
not another step further
This would be a great thing to discuss in a college class; get the students thinking about whether they want to follow a life script laid out for them or whether they want to break the mold.
Saturday night there was a party to celebrate the release of one of our faculty's book, and one of the professors said she liked my new tattoo and said it was very suited to me. It made me happy.
My sister and her husband are visiting tonight, and I need to get this project's outline done before they get here (in 45 minutes I think), but I just wanted to mention this poem because it made me happy.
I'm working on my final project for pedagogy seminar, and I'm using a poem by Selim Özdogan, a Turkish-German poet from Cologne, and it's great. Here's the last stanza followed by a not-very-poetic translation from me:
Wenn wir uns umblicken
sieht es aus
als würden wir uns irgendwohin
bewegen
aber selbst die besten unter uns schaffen es nur
auf die Dächer von Gefängnissen
und
keinen Schritt weiter
If we look around ourselves
it seems
as if we were going
somewhere
but even the best of us only manage to get
to the roofs of prisons
and
not another step further
This would be a great thing to discuss in a college class; get the students thinking about whether they want to follow a life script laid out for them or whether they want to break the mold.
Saturday night there was a party to celebrate the release of one of our faculty's book, and one of the professors said she liked my new tattoo and said it was very suited to me. It made me happy.
My sister and her husband are visiting tonight, and I need to get this project's outline done before they get here (in 45 minutes I think), but I just wanted to mention this poem because it made me happy.
School is good.
4 Nov 2016 10:36 pmI chose the icon because I had that phrase tattooed on my arm about a month ago. Here's a picture of when it was fresh. I should take an updated one now that it's healed.
Since I last posted, I've mostly focused on studying, lots and lots of reading, oh god the reading in a humanities program. We're on our 4th novel in the literature seminar, plus all the other readings for our other classes.
I decided to accept the grant to go to Germany next summer, and I'll be spending June in Hamburg and the first half of July in Dresden. If I can have a bit of couch, I'd like to spend a few days in Berlin before I head home (though I may have enough of the grant left over to get a room if I have to). The GI in Hamburg says that out of legal reasons (!?!) we cannot use the internet connection in the homestay apartments, which means I'd only have internet access from whenever I get to the GI (noon, say) until 7 pm when they close, and I'd be in class 1-6 ish. So, uh, no. But they have a guest house with private apartments for 700 Euros for the month, where there's wifi to use all day, but it's way more expensive than the homestay (which is still like 500 Euros.)
So, if any of you know anyone in Hamburg who's looking for a one-month WG-mate, put us in contact. I made an ad on WG-Gesucht and have gotten 4 responses...which are probably all scams, because the first 2 refused to Skype and both want me to pay them in advance (which is against the TOS). The other 2 have really garbled English and German, so I'm guessing also scams.
I went to my first conference as a grad student! We hosted WILA, the workshop on immigrant languages in the Americas, and I met a lot of neat people, including the guy who wrote the textbook we're using in History of German (who was also our professor's thesis advisor), several of the current grad students in that program, and a very friendly, happy Norwegian dude who sings in 2 bands (and I bet it's death metal, because a) Norway and b) he's so happy). It was nice to be able to talk to other people who are interested in linguistics, because I am currently the only student in the department (out of 7) who is a ling person. It's depressing.
So anyway, while I was helping clean up one evening, I talked with one of our profs, and I mentioned that I felt a bit adrift, like I don't know what I should be doing to get the most out of grad school or how to figure out if I want more grad school after this. We talked about that some, and her experiences in grad school (where they had a bigger, PhD program, so the environment was different) and how they had workshops on things like writing CVs or submitting papers to conferences. I asked if she thought we could implement that here, and she suggested that I ask my peers.
So I messaged our facebook chat and had a few in-person conversations before deciding to send a Google survey to everyone. The short version is that most people are interested, and I may be presenting the results and a proposal at the faculty meeting next week (if it's ok for me to attend, because I'm not the grad student rep; I need to ask on Monday).
While I was reading for History of German for Tuesday, I learned about a sociolinguistic approach to historical linguistics, Sprachgeschichte von Unten, and I may have said, "holy shit, this is amazing" and looked up the references in our library and previewed the ones that we had ebook access to, then ordered one of them because a seller on Amazon had a used library copy for $20. (It usually retails for $200.) It's coming from the UK, so I had it shipped to the house.
Speaking of ordering things, I ordered 3 fall dresses from ModCloth because they had a sale on dresses and I had store credit from returning a top that really didn't fit at all. After the sale, I got them for $30 each--almost half price!
On Monday, I get to register for classes. I'm required to take Seminar in German Literature (this time: the Metropolis in German Literature, which sounds interesting but because I can't take literary criticism seriously, I will probably hate it anyway) and Seminar in Linguistic Theory (Syntax, and I'm told the professor rocks). I have 1 placeholder class (3 hours), 3 hours of masters research (for the reading list), and an elective. I'm taking Old Icelandic, because I can. I'm also taking 4th semester Russian, though I'll probably switch to an audit for less stress and because I can't get credit for it anyway (because it's an undergrad course). I'm TAing 2nd semester German, which might be my fall real teaching assignment. It'll be helpful, because I'll have a lot of lessons and materials prepped.
I'm probably submitting a poster to GLAC, the Germanic linguistics conference in spring. It's in Austin this year, but I'll have to miss 2 days of classes right before the end of the semester (like, it's the 20th-23rd of April, and our last day of class is the 26th). But if I tell the professors in advance, maybe request extensions if necessary... IDK. I need to talk with the linguistics/German prof sometime this week...I should email him.
Right. I should get some sleep. Tomorrow is groceries, laundry, cleaning, and working on my microteaching that's due on Tuesday. After I finish that, I need to look over some secondary literature to come up with ideas for a 10-page paper for literature seminar, and also read the second half of the current novel and a couple essays by its author. Plus I need to decide finally on an 'authentic material' for my final project for teaching seminar (due Tuesday).
All the work. So much reading. The glamorous life of a grad student!
Since I last posted, I've mostly focused on studying, lots and lots of reading, oh god the reading in a humanities program. We're on our 4th novel in the literature seminar, plus all the other readings for our other classes.
I decided to accept the grant to go to Germany next summer, and I'll be spending June in Hamburg and the first half of July in Dresden. If I can have a bit of couch, I'd like to spend a few days in Berlin before I head home (though I may have enough of the grant left over to get a room if I have to). The GI in Hamburg says that out of legal reasons (!?!) we cannot use the internet connection in the homestay apartments, which means I'd only have internet access from whenever I get to the GI (noon, say) until 7 pm when they close, and I'd be in class 1-6 ish. So, uh, no. But they have a guest house with private apartments for 700 Euros for the month, where there's wifi to use all day, but it's way more expensive than the homestay (which is still like 500 Euros.)
So, if any of you know anyone in Hamburg who's looking for a one-month WG-mate, put us in contact. I made an ad on WG-Gesucht and have gotten 4 responses...which are probably all scams, because the first 2 refused to Skype and both want me to pay them in advance (which is against the TOS). The other 2 have really garbled English and German, so I'm guessing also scams.
I went to my first conference as a grad student! We hosted WILA, the workshop on immigrant languages in the Americas, and I met a lot of neat people, including the guy who wrote the textbook we're using in History of German (who was also our professor's thesis advisor), several of the current grad students in that program, and a very friendly, happy Norwegian dude who sings in 2 bands (and I bet it's death metal, because a) Norway and b) he's so happy). It was nice to be able to talk to other people who are interested in linguistics, because I am currently the only student in the department (out of 7) who is a ling person. It's depressing.
So anyway, while I was helping clean up one evening, I talked with one of our profs, and I mentioned that I felt a bit adrift, like I don't know what I should be doing to get the most out of grad school or how to figure out if I want more grad school after this. We talked about that some, and her experiences in grad school (where they had a bigger, PhD program, so the environment was different) and how they had workshops on things like writing CVs or submitting papers to conferences. I asked if she thought we could implement that here, and she suggested that I ask my peers.
So I messaged our facebook chat and had a few in-person conversations before deciding to send a Google survey to everyone. The short version is that most people are interested, and I may be presenting the results and a proposal at the faculty meeting next week (if it's ok for me to attend, because I'm not the grad student rep; I need to ask on Monday).
While I was reading for History of German for Tuesday, I learned about a sociolinguistic approach to historical linguistics, Sprachgeschichte von Unten, and I may have said, "holy shit, this is amazing" and looked up the references in our library and previewed the ones that we had ebook access to, then ordered one of them because a seller on Amazon had a used library copy for $20. (It usually retails for $200.) It's coming from the UK, so I had it shipped to the house.
Speaking of ordering things, I ordered 3 fall dresses from ModCloth because they had a sale on dresses and I had store credit from returning a top that really didn't fit at all. After the sale, I got them for $30 each--almost half price!
On Monday, I get to register for classes. I'm required to take Seminar in German Literature (this time: the Metropolis in German Literature, which sounds interesting but because I can't take literary criticism seriously, I will probably hate it anyway) and Seminar in Linguistic Theory (Syntax, and I'm told the professor rocks). I have 1 placeholder class (3 hours), 3 hours of masters research (for the reading list), and an elective. I'm taking Old Icelandic, because I can. I'm also taking 4th semester Russian, though I'll probably switch to an audit for less stress and because I can't get credit for it anyway (because it's an undergrad course). I'm TAing 2nd semester German, which might be my fall real teaching assignment. It'll be helpful, because I'll have a lot of lessons and materials prepped.
I'm probably submitting a poster to GLAC, the Germanic linguistics conference in spring. It's in Austin this year, but I'll have to miss 2 days of classes right before the end of the semester (like, it's the 20th-23rd of April, and our last day of class is the 26th). But if I tell the professors in advance, maybe request extensions if necessary... IDK. I need to talk with the linguistics/German prof sometime this week...I should email him.
Right. I should get some sleep. Tomorrow is groceries, laundry, cleaning, and working on my microteaching that's due on Tuesday. After I finish that, I need to look over some secondary literature to come up with ideas for a 10-page paper for literature seminar, and also read the second half of the current novel and a couple essays by its author. Plus I need to decide finally on an 'authentic material' for my final project for teaching seminar (due Tuesday).
All the work. So much reading. The glamorous life of a grad student!
I didn't get one of the grants to go to Germany this summer, and I was cool with that. I'd planned to spend half a month here and the other half home, alternating like, and get some reading in for the MA exam (February year 2).
Or, alternatively, if I can get my shit sorted and find something interesting, apply for grants to do field work for my thesis.
Today I got an email from the soon-to-be-former grad advisor (because he's the new department head) asking me to his office, which made me really nervous (because yikes, did I do something bad?) He said it was good news when I got there, and they got another $6000 grant from the foundation and I can go. I just need to make plans and such.
My options are to spend 6-8 weeks somewhere like the Goethe Institute or to be a Gasthörer at a university. (That's someone who goes to lectures but isn't officially at the university, and they work it out with the professors in advance.)
Benefit of B is that it's much cheaper, so that grant will go a lot further. 6 weeks at the Goethe Institute in June/July is half the grant already, then add airfare. Benefit of A is that I can focus on the language, rather than learning something in German. Which could be interesting, but as I'd only be there for like the middle third of a semester, I don't know what I'd actually be able to learn. Plus at the end, I can take the C1 exam.
I'm looking at a 4-week intensive in Hamburg followed by 2 weeks in Berlin. (I'd like to be back in the US for more than 1 week before classes start on August 10.) I'd have to take the C1 exam in Hamburg, because it's only offered at the end of the month, but ehn.
But sometimes tbh spending the summer chillin with my spouse and cat seems like a good idea... IDK. I haven't had a chance to talk to Ben about it and won't until Friday. *flail*
Or, alternatively, if I can get my shit sorted and find something interesting, apply for grants to do field work for my thesis.
Today I got an email from the soon-to-be-former grad advisor (because he's the new department head) asking me to his office, which made me really nervous (because yikes, did I do something bad?) He said it was good news when I got there, and they got another $6000 grant from the foundation and I can go. I just need to make plans and such.
My options are to spend 6-8 weeks somewhere like the Goethe Institute or to be a Gasthörer at a university. (That's someone who goes to lectures but isn't officially at the university, and they work it out with the professors in advance.)
Benefit of B is that it's much cheaper, so that grant will go a lot further. 6 weeks at the Goethe Institute in June/July is half the grant already, then add airfare. Benefit of A is that I can focus on the language, rather than learning something in German. Which could be interesting, but as I'd only be there for like the middle third of a semester, I don't know what I'd actually be able to learn. Plus at the end, I can take the C1 exam.
I'm looking at a 4-week intensive in Hamburg followed by 2 weeks in Berlin. (I'd like to be back in the US for more than 1 week before classes start on August 10.) I'd have to take the C1 exam in Hamburg, because it's only offered at the end of the month, but ehn.
But sometimes tbh spending the summer chillin with my spouse and cat seems like a good idea... IDK. I haven't had a chance to talk to Ben about it and won't until Friday. *flail*
I went to DragonCon and even got most of my homework done before I went, so I didn't have to spend half the con in my room studying. I still mostly just hung out with friends and looked at costumes, but it was worthwhile, because I got to see people I hadn't seen in a year.
Grad school continues apace. I'm still enjoying my 2 linguistics classes (History of German and Languages in Contact), and I think Teaching College German is going OK (thanks, Goethe course!). I'm not overly fond of the literature seminar, but I like the second book we're reading better than the first (so far; I'm only on chapter 2.) It's by Günter Grass, so it's dense and complex, sentence wise, and it looks like it's about modern right extremism, which is always interesting.
My classmates are generally nice, but I haven't really Made Friends with any of them. We spend time together at school and sometimes out of it (which reminds me, I want to ask our facebook chat if anyone wants to get dinner this week after either seminar or History of German). Part of it may be because I live a little over a mile away (and not in the same apartment complex as all the Germans apparently) but also because I'm really boring and come home and do homework at night and go to bed at 10.
Thankfully I'm busy enough with homework that I don't have time to sit around being sad about my extrovert battery draining (though dragoncon helped that a lot).
On which note, since I got groceries, cleaned the bathroom, and did some prep for the class I TA, it's time for dinner and some homework so I don't have to do ALL THE HOMEWORK tomorrow.
Grad school continues apace. I'm still enjoying my 2 linguistics classes (History of German and Languages in Contact), and I think Teaching College German is going OK (thanks, Goethe course!). I'm not overly fond of the literature seminar, but I like the second book we're reading better than the first (so far; I'm only on chapter 2.) It's by Günter Grass, so it's dense and complex, sentence wise, and it looks like it's about modern right extremism, which is always interesting.
My classmates are generally nice, but I haven't really Made Friends with any of them. We spend time together at school and sometimes out of it (which reminds me, I want to ask our facebook chat if anyone wants to get dinner this week after either seminar or History of German). Part of it may be because I live a little over a mile away (and not in the same apartment complex as all the Germans apparently) but also because I'm really boring and come home and do homework at night and go to bed at 10.
Thankfully I'm busy enough with homework that I don't have time to sit around being sad about my extrovert battery draining (though dragoncon helped that a lot).
On which note, since I got groceries, cleaned the bathroom, and did some prep for the class I TA, it's time for dinner and some homework so I don't have to do ALL THE HOMEWORK tomorrow.
It's the little things...
10 Aug 2016 08:14 pmThe 1st of August, right after I moved here but before I cut my finger, it rained really heavily for a while in the afternoon and overnight. There's some construction going on across from my department's building, which apparently is affecting the drainage, because the ground floor/basement (where the TA offices are, of course) flooded.
(The rain was kind of like this, taken 4 days later.)
University maintenance got there with dehumidifiers and fans and cleaned it up, but they had to replace the carpet (and probably some other stuff). One of the offices had tile under the carpet, so that added to the delay. So, long story short, none of the TAs have offices right now. My teaching mentor is letting me use her office to drop my stuff between classes and if I need to work quietly. There's also currently an empty office which the profs are letting us use in the meantime. They aren't sure when it's going to be finished, but they hope before the end of the month. (There are also 2 classrooms down there, which we need.)
These stitches are annoying the crap out of me, and I can't wait to get them out.
My apartment is an ongoing saga of maintenance requests. First, my hot water was nearly boiling when it came out of the tap. Apparently the hot water heater had been set as high as it goes. Then when I decided to try my mailbox key, it worked, but there was no point, because the lock mechanism was absent entirely. (A lot of mailboxes have that problem here.) I picked up a washer and nut and a flange off the ground, where there are dozens, got my wrench, and fixed it myself.
Then my air conditioner started leaking inside, which resulted in a new unit being installed, because the old one was clogged and pretty fucking gross actually. And now my oven doesn't work properly. I decided to make a pasta bake, turned on the oven, and the upper element (broiler) didn't heat at all. The lower element did, so it baked, but not efficiently at all. Also there was a mysterious smell of gas, which is doubly bizarre because there isn't even a gas hookup here.
Now for some more positive things.
I'm really excited about History of German, and there's a small conference that we're hosting in October, which is required for that class. It's during fall break, which is kind of a bummer, because I had planned to go home that 3-day weekend, but I'll survive. I can go the previous or following week, maybe. I'm done at 11 on Fridays, so if I don't have a lot to get done and don't have to wait too long for buses, I can head home in the early afternoon.
We're supposed to attend all departmental events, like conferences and colloquia and invited speakers, which I understand but I hope doesn't conflict with spouse visits.
The other grad students are nice. One of them is also a nerd and he has piercings (like, plugs and snakebites and a septum, etc) and he watches Steven Universe. There are 2 Germans and another American woman. I seem to be the only linguistics-focused person, but I'm ok with that. After the horrific experience of my residency, I was apprehensive about living alone and being in a place without people I know, but I think this should be better. (And I have friends a mere couple hours' drive away in Atlanta if I need it, and Ben's 5 hours away, rather than across the country.)
My course load this semester is History of German, Teaching College German, a post-war literature seminar (I don't recall the title), and Languages in Contact. Next semester I have 3 required courses and might be taking Russian 4 (I'll need to catch up/keep up on my own this term somehow).
I may or may not have explained earlier that I need a second non-English language for the MA, and I picked Russian for reasons. I took a year at UNC, and I was going to continue this semester but a) it doesn't fit into my schedule and b) it's an undergrad course and doesn't count toward university requirements of 12 graduate-level credits. But the program director and the Russian head are working with me to find something that works. Which is good! They seem to want us to succeed.
Now I'm going to see if I can find the new Steven Universe and watch that. And probably redo my toenails. Tomorrow's the first day of teaching! (I have accelerated elementary German, which is for people who've had some before but didn't place into 2000 level.)
(The rain was kind of like this, taken 4 days later.)
University maintenance got there with dehumidifiers and fans and cleaned it up, but they had to replace the carpet (and probably some other stuff). One of the offices had tile under the carpet, so that added to the delay. So, long story short, none of the TAs have offices right now. My teaching mentor is letting me use her office to drop my stuff between classes and if I need to work quietly. There's also currently an empty office which the profs are letting us use in the meantime. They aren't sure when it's going to be finished, but they hope before the end of the month. (There are also 2 classrooms down there, which we need.)
These stitches are annoying the crap out of me, and I can't wait to get them out.
My apartment is an ongoing saga of maintenance requests. First, my hot water was nearly boiling when it came out of the tap. Apparently the hot water heater had been set as high as it goes. Then when I decided to try my mailbox key, it worked, but there was no point, because the lock mechanism was absent entirely. (A lot of mailboxes have that problem here.) I picked up a washer and nut and a flange off the ground, where there are dozens, got my wrench, and fixed it myself.
Then my air conditioner started leaking inside, which resulted in a new unit being installed, because the old one was clogged and pretty fucking gross actually. And now my oven doesn't work properly. I decided to make a pasta bake, turned on the oven, and the upper element (broiler) didn't heat at all. The lower element did, so it baked, but not efficiently at all. Also there was a mysterious smell of gas, which is doubly bizarre because there isn't even a gas hookup here.
Now for some more positive things.
I'm really excited about History of German, and there's a small conference that we're hosting in October, which is required for that class. It's during fall break, which is kind of a bummer, because I had planned to go home that 3-day weekend, but I'll survive. I can go the previous or following week, maybe. I'm done at 11 on Fridays, so if I don't have a lot to get done and don't have to wait too long for buses, I can head home in the early afternoon.
We're supposed to attend all departmental events, like conferences and colloquia and invited speakers, which I understand but I hope doesn't conflict with spouse visits.
The other grad students are nice. One of them is also a nerd and he has piercings (like, plugs and snakebites and a septum, etc) and he watches Steven Universe. There are 2 Germans and another American woman. I seem to be the only linguistics-focused person, but I'm ok with that. After the horrific experience of my residency, I was apprehensive about living alone and being in a place without people I know, but I think this should be better. (And I have friends a mere couple hours' drive away in Atlanta if I need it, and Ben's 5 hours away, rather than across the country.)
My course load this semester is History of German, Teaching College German, a post-war literature seminar (I don't recall the title), and Languages in Contact. Next semester I have 3 required courses and might be taking Russian 4 (I'll need to catch up/keep up on my own this term somehow).
I may or may not have explained earlier that I need a second non-English language for the MA, and I picked Russian for reasons. I took a year at UNC, and I was going to continue this semester but a) it doesn't fit into my schedule and b) it's an undergrad course and doesn't count toward university requirements of 12 graduate-level credits. But the program director and the Russian head are working with me to find something that works. Which is good! They seem to want us to succeed.
Now I'm going to see if I can find the new Steven Universe and watch that. And probably redo my toenails. Tomorrow's the first day of teaching! (I have accelerated elementary German, which is for people who've had some before but didn't place into 2000 level.)
Kitchen misadventures
3 Aug 2016 09:25 pmI was cutting carrots yesterday afternoon, and one of them rolled, resulting in (eventually) 3 stitches and a tetanus shot. About 2 hours after it happened, I drove myself to the closest urgent care (after getting the bleeding to stop enough to put a bandaid on, then waiting until I was sure I wasn't going to pass out and also drinking sugary tea; I also ascertained that the trip was covered by my NC insurance).
If I'd been home, I'd have yelled for Ben (or called him, if he had a job) to drive me to urgent care while I held a paper towel on my finger. I don't really know anyone here yet, but maybe I could have gotten one of the apartment people to drive me, but they probably wouldn't have wanted to wait.
I'm not super worried about future events, but I'm trying to decide which of the department staff to tell "ok, here are things that could happen; probably won't, but if they do, here's what to do."
I'll update more about my apartment and life here later. I'm so sick of driving across town for things at Target, though >:[ I've been here not quite 5 days, and I've gone to Target 3 times. This Target's layout is a fucking mess, too, so good luck finding anything.
If I'd been home, I'd have yelled for Ben (or called him, if he had a job) to drive me to urgent care while I held a paper towel on my finger. I don't really know anyone here yet, but maybe I could have gotten one of the apartment people to drive me, but they probably wouldn't have wanted to wait.
I'm not super worried about future events, but I'm trying to decide which of the department staff to tell "ok, here are things that could happen; probably won't, but if they do, here's what to do."
I'll update more about my apartment and life here later. I'm so sick of driving across town for things at Target, though >:[ I've been here not quite 5 days, and I've gone to Target 3 times. This Target's layout is a fucking mess, too, so good luck finding anything.
Grad school update
3 May 2016 12:58 pmSince I last wrote, I've gone down to Athens to find an apartment. I looked mostly at complexes, but stopped by a few Craigslist roommates wanted places. One of them was almost perfect, but I didn't want to flake on the appointment I had the next morning, so I missed out because the other person who looked at it said yes first. Boo. So I went back to my favorite complex from the previous day, took measurements and a couple pictures, and filled out an application.
I don't know how long their application review process (background & credit check) takes, but hopefully I'll know where I'm living come August really soon. This place would let me move in Saturday the 30th, which is great, because Ben will (hopefully) have a new job by then and be less able to just fuck off to Georgia for half a week to help me move in. (He may need to take Monday off for the drive back, but 1 day is easier than 3.)
I'm making a list of what I can scavenge from the house and what I need to buy, and I'm organizing everything on a spreadsheet. As I pack things into boxes, I'm listing them and color coding so I know what I've packed already and don't have to go "augh did I already pack my extra pens? What about the hand towel?"
Of course, there are a lot of things I'm still using and will be, but we have an overabundance of dish towels and such, so into a box it goes. I'm most likely going to be leaving fall/winter things here until late September or October; I can put them into their usual off-season storage bins and set them aside, then if they fit in whatever vehicles we take (my MINI and a rented something), yay; if not, they can come down later. Not like Georgia is colder than here very often.
I also need to learn how to reupholster a couch. I thought mom knew, so I asked if she would come down and help, but she said that was all grandpa, and that was that. :P So DIY tutorials on the internet will be my friend. Anyone know of a particularly good one?
I don't know how long their application review process (background & credit check) takes, but hopefully I'll know where I'm living come August really soon. This place would let me move in Saturday the 30th, which is great, because Ben will (hopefully) have a new job by then and be less able to just fuck off to Georgia for half a week to help me move in. (He may need to take Monday off for the drive back, but 1 day is easier than 3.)
I'm making a list of what I can scavenge from the house and what I need to buy, and I'm organizing everything on a spreadsheet. As I pack things into boxes, I'm listing them and color coding so I know what I've packed already and don't have to go "augh did I already pack my extra pens? What about the hand towel?"
Of course, there are a lot of things I'm still using and will be, but we have an overabundance of dish towels and such, so into a box it goes. I'm most likely going to be leaving fall/winter things here until late September or October; I can put them into their usual off-season storage bins and set them aside, then if they fit in whatever vehicles we take (my MINI and a rented something), yay; if not, they can come down later. Not like Georgia is colder than here very often.
I also need to learn how to reupholster a couch. I thought mom knew, so I asked if she would come down and help, but she said that was all grandpa, and that was that. :P So DIY tutorials on the internet will be my friend. Anyone know of a particularly good one?
I'm going to grad school!
2 Apr 2016 01:04 pmI got my official acceptance letter from UGA in the mail yesterday, and now I have a million forms and things to fill out. I haven't gotten my funding offer from the department yet, but I have some unofficial news from the program director in email, so when that's official and formalized, I'll let y'all know.
So yeah, I'm going to Athens, GA, for 2 academic years to study German linguistics. Whee!
So yeah, I'm going to Athens, GA, for 2 academic years to study German linguistics. Whee!
We lost Claire a few weeks ago. It hurt too much to write about, so I didn't. It was very sudden; she had a blood clot, and there was nothing we could do.
My GP agrees with me that I have Raynaud's and probably some form of Ehlers-Danlos (hypermobility type).
I should be hearing back about grad school soon. Russian class is going well.
My GP agrees with me that I have Raynaud's and probably some form of Ehlers-Danlos (hypermobility type).
I should be hearing back about grad school soon. Russian class is going well.
I took the GRE a week ago and finally submitted my grad school application. I don't have official scores yet, but the computer told me when I was finished that I had 163 verbal and 155 math, on a scale of 130-170. (They rescaled it to make 50th percentile for math, around 152, actually in the middle, as opposed to 680, where it used to be. I am still rubbish at GRE math, but give me actual algebra problems to solve, and I am fine.) They can't give you a preliminary score on the essay part, obviously.
I have officially applied to grad school! This is terrifying. I haven't submitted my writing sample yet; I'm still working on making it not terrible. I want to get in, but I'm nervous about what will happen if I do, and scared I won't. And I won't know until probably April -_-
One of the professors I talked to while I was visiting last month said a PhD is worthwhile, because then you can teach at a university (adjuncting, not just full-prof). But I don't think I want to do that; I mean, it's a lot of work for crap pay. So I have no idea what I'd do with a PhD that I can't do with an MA.
So I've been researching what you can do with a Linguistics PhD (though German studies is also a possibility; I think I want to focus on sociolinguistics/dialects/ethnolects/language contact for my MA thesis, so ling is more appropriate probably.) And it's like, well, you can be a professor, or work for the government, or if you do computational linguistics you can work for machine translation places, or you could coordinate language education programs. (This is the most useful thing I've found thus far, and it's not that helpful.)
So anyway, friends, do any of you have experience with this sort of thing? I don't want to put myself through the torture of a PhD program if I'm not going to use the degree and if I don't need to. (I'm looking into programs both here and in Germany. Not very seriously at the moment, bookmarked for later.) I haven't completely ruled out the idea--if during my MA studies, I read a paper that's really cool and I get inspired for a PhD thesis, yay; if not, I'll have an MA and be able to teach community college here & elsewhere. I'm like 99% sure I don't want to do a PhD because of the effort etc.
Let's see... I took my car in for an alignment today because they told me my back tires were wearing unevenly, and they need to replace the control arms ($500) and at least the rear tires ($250), preferably all (another $250). I said just to do the rear tires, because this is all really expensive. Hopefully they'll have it done today so I can get my car back before I have to go to class tomorrow.
Speaking of class, Russian is going well. It's not too hard yet, but I'm waiting for the shoe to drop in second-year. First-year is all basics, like all 6 cases, verbal aspect, and verb conjugations; I don't even know what's in second semester yet.
Um, I'll be having a fandom yard sale sometime eventually, once I have time to catalog (photograph) my stuff. Which could be a while.
I have officially applied to grad school! This is terrifying. I haven't submitted my writing sample yet; I'm still working on making it not terrible. I want to get in, but I'm nervous about what will happen if I do, and scared I won't. And I won't know until probably April -_-
One of the professors I talked to while I was visiting last month said a PhD is worthwhile, because then you can teach at a university (adjuncting, not just full-prof). But I don't think I want to do that; I mean, it's a lot of work for crap pay. So I have no idea what I'd do with a PhD that I can't do with an MA.
So I've been researching what you can do with a Linguistics PhD (though German studies is also a possibility; I think I want to focus on sociolinguistics/dialects/ethnolects/language contact for my MA thesis, so ling is more appropriate probably.) And it's like, well, you can be a professor, or work for the government, or if you do computational linguistics you can work for machine translation places, or you could coordinate language education programs. (This is the most useful thing I've found thus far, and it's not that helpful.)
So anyway, friends, do any of you have experience with this sort of thing? I don't want to put myself through the torture of a PhD program if I'm not going to use the degree and if I don't need to. (I'm looking into programs both here and in Germany. Not very seriously at the moment, bookmarked for later.) I haven't completely ruled out the idea--if during my MA studies, I read a paper that's really cool and I get inspired for a PhD thesis, yay; if not, I'll have an MA and be able to teach community college here & elsewhere. I'm like 99% sure I don't want to do a PhD because of the effort etc.
Let's see... I took my car in for an alignment today because they told me my back tires were wearing unevenly, and they need to replace the control arms ($500) and at least the rear tires ($250), preferably all (another $250). I said just to do the rear tires, because this is all really expensive. Hopefully they'll have it done today so I can get my car back before I have to go to class tomorrow.
Speaking of class, Russian is going well. It's not too hard yet, but I'm waiting for the shoe to drop in second-year. First-year is all basics, like all 6 cases, verbal aspect, and verb conjugations; I don't even know what's in second semester yet.
Um, I'll be having a fandom yard sale sometime eventually, once I have time to catalog (photograph) my stuff. Which could be a while.
