It’s the weekend and that means coffee date! Grab a drink and sit down, I have amazing news to share!
At the end of last week, I found a call for papers from the New Zealand Studies Association (NZSA). I decided to join NZSA to be kept in the loop and to possibly attend their annual conference this year, as Dr Craig Santos Perez, one of the authors I’m studying will be a keynote speaker.
As soon as I’d sent my membership request, I received an email from NZSA chair Ian Conrich. He made me aware of the conference and call for papers, and asked whether I would be at all interested in attending or participating. At that point, the abstract submission deadline was 2 days away, so I replied that I’d love to participate, but I didn’t think that I’d be able to submit anything by the deadline. Within minutes, I was granted an extension until Wednesday this week, and I got to work. I decided to look into species extinction in Pacific poetry and found 3 poems tht deal with extinction in different ways. I pulled an all-nighter to get everything written up in time, but I managed to submit my abstract on Wednesday, around lunchtime. Less than 5 hours later, I got a reply from Ian: “This email is confirmation that your abstract has been accepted!”
I don’t think I’ve stopped grinning yet. I’m going to my very first conference as a PhD student, and it’s a multi-day, multi-country conference which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden and Turku, Finland in June of this year!! I am incredibly excited about this opportunity. Plus, I will also be able to meet up with a dear friend who just got a place in Stockholm – I’ve never been to Sweden’s capital before.
I’ll also have a job interview next week. It’s for an editorial assistant position with a global company and I never expected to get that call. Especially because I had already received a rejection by email. But apparently the system was faster than the nice lady in HR, and they want to see me. I haven’t worked in an editorial setting in years, but I am still a trained journalist with years of experience under my belt. Wish me luck!
And finally, I’d tell you that I spent this morning having brunch with one of my oldest friends and his wife. They live one town over, so we don’t see each other all that often, but we’ve agreed to make an effort and meet up once per month for coffee, brunch, or dinner. I’m really glad to hae these two in my life and I know they’ll always have my back. They know how much I have struggled with my mental health over the last year and how much my studies mean to me, and have offered to help me where possible, whether it’s help finding sources or needing food because I once again forgot to cook. I don’t think they truly know how much I appreciate that offer. Being a doctoral student who is fighting mental health issues isn’t easy, so I’m grateful for every bit of support.