Dear Diary

Finally Target has journals that I love. Thankfully they are very expensive and so I am unlikely to be carrying these around anytime soon. But they fascinate me. 

Survival tips 101 (from a second year perspective)

This really is Dear Young Me sort of note to myself when I started grad school. But perhaps others can benefit from it as well!

• Learn to say no. There is always an organization, an activity, a party, an event that you want to get involved with or go to. But there is only so much time and so much sanity. Learn to say no (here's an interesting perspective on why saying no is important)

• If you are the kind of person who schedules things in (I often tend to plan for every hour, if not minute, of the day), pencil/type/whatever you prefer time in for yourself. It is a good reminder that you need to pause and pay attention to yourself.

New York, New York

The conference in New York was fun. I was glad for the experience of presenting, but more so to meet MDP students from other universities (and learn about work they were doing, and make friends, and just chat). It was a low-stress event and I am grateful for that. The weather was lovely, I got to stay with some really kind folks and travel was mostly entertaining. Evenings were spent mostly at an outdoor restaurant close-by. Here are my two non-blurry pictures:

 

Walking back from the conference

At a panel. Fancy.

Recollections from Vietnam

This is an old post from Vietnam (forgive the present tense)

Internet

I will say that I am quite the Internet addict. I could list the many ways in which I am but I will save myself from your judgment. Instead let me tell you what happened when the Internet at our hotel died, died (unlike its regular collapses everyday, for which we call and request for a router reset much to the staff's bemusement). Apparently a power surge/lightning bolt/something had affected more than the router and it was out for the night. This was the eve of us leaving for a five day trip, in which we believed we would have little to no Internet. Meagan decided to go to the coffee shop before it closed in ten minutes to send out some emails and I followed her. I may have updated ALL of my social media with news of the upcoming Internet blackout. I was forced to sleep all night and couldn't check email as I tend to. I woke up at 5.30 am and was out of bed at 6 am (I cannot remember the last time that happened). I got ready and went to the coffee shop where I think I babbled I have ten minutes to access 'all of the Internet'. Even I will acknowledge this is a bit excessive, especially as nothing urgent was coming my way. But the icing on the cake was arriving at our hotel and discovering that the Internet is way better than the one in Hue. Eating crow for sure.

What I Wish I Had Known When I Started Grad School

I had two reactions when invited to be on a panel about what I wish I had known when I started graduate school - one of the sessions at the Welcome Week for new graduate students. First, why would anyone ask me and I probably shouldn’t go and next, I have enough material to write a book. Luckily (for everyone involved) I did not follow through on either impulse. On a more serious note, there are a lot of things I wish I had know when I started grad school. They would have made my personal life easier, my professional development process faster and my academic career more fulfilling at the very least. While answering questions on the panel, it seemed to me that it wasn’t very fair to the students who were on a waitlist for the orientation or couldn’t make it for a host of other reasons, to not have access to this information. I also thought having this online would allow more people to share their tips and tricks and more people to access these. Elise Madden who was also on the panel helped put this together. It is deliberately brief and concise, to make it useful and not overwhelming. I would love to add to this list - feel free to comment here or shoot me an email.

Why talk about gender?

One of the aspects I felt was most neglected in terms of preparing teams for fieldwork was addressing issues of gender, race and more. These are topics that make the best of us uncomfortable and I think it often seems that a classroom setting isn't the best to have an honest conversation. My definition of what an honest conversation is a moving, evolving one but in recent times I think of it as one where we are okay speaking about the 'bad thoughts' that we have. The idea should be to generate constructive counterpoints and of course, there needs to be a base in a desire to change. I guess I see little point in saying "I dislike so and so because they are such and such and I will believe this till I die."

Settling in

I finally dropped one class and am a little short of full credit. Waking up in the mornings is making my days much better, even though I'd much rather sleep. I still don't have a functional desk at school and that is a whole story in itself. One of the key lessons I am implementing this semester: learning to say no or leave things with grace. I look forward to time, the occasional cup of tea, the fragrance of incense from far away, the not-so-gentle sounds of Netflix in the background, just life which is not a blur. I talk about the future with everyone but who knows what is coming. Only the winters are certain. Here is some bric-a-brac from across the world.

Dragonflies from Vietnam

End of week 1

Grad school life is in full swing and it is a combination of classes and speed reading, work and multiple jobs, rushed grocery trips, setting up house, dealing with limited Internet access, believing that Fall = 14 degrees Celsius, and so much more. I am very excited about this semester especially because of two classes that I am taking: Population Methods and Qualitative Research. Both (especially the latter) seem intense and like they will require a lot of work but also like I will learn a lot, something I didn't feel about all my classes last semester. I am also terrified that I am juggling a lot and something will drop, but that is always there. I am also in the process of combining suggestions and thoughts on what people wish they had known when they started grad school - I think it will be a useful resource.

Here are my first takes at the start of this semester:

• Not being new definitely makes things feel easier. Everything, moving, starting school and classes, getting around, felt less challenging and for that I am glad.
• I always feel like a fraud/impostor on the first day of class. I am not saying I am the only one this happens to, but I try and catch myself when it starts.
• Sometimes being or even just feeling different makes me feel like I have to perform or (over)compensate a certain way and that can be tiring, not to mention simply not true to myself.
• I think being just a little bit uncomfortable is good for us - I am grateful for people who will say the things we don't really want to hear.

I have lots more floating in my head, fractured, sedimented, jagged thoughts from conversations and experiences from across the world. I discuss things with people I trust (not necessarily people who share my opinion though) and I will always be glad for the fact that we often conclude that we hope at the end, all of us try to be better human beings. 

I hope you are having a interesting week as well.