Back in 2015 during my Master’s degree, I found this awesome blog hop called Weekend Coffee Share. It was a weekly catch-up on life, the universe and everything, like we’re sitting down together for a coffee and a talk.
I want to revive this tradition and start Coffee Shares on this blog as well. I know this site looks barren right now, but that is due to a complete overhaul of the site I’m working on. So grab your warm drink of choice and come sit down while I tell you what’s been going on.
It’s been a pretty successful week, which has really helped to improve my mood and well-being. As of last Friday, the contract to sell the house my sister and I enherited from our dad is now signed. After half a year, we secured a buyer. That’s a huge headache gone. This also means we now need to get busy sorting out the office and archive, and this week we took 4 car loads of old files and books from the archive to the local waste-to-energy plant to make space on the shelves for what we’ll definitely need to keep (by law), plus a few family memories.
In March 2022 I had to interrupt by PhD studies for personal and health reasons. I’m now finally, officially back at the School of Advanced Study. Both my supervisors were very sweet welcoming me back, sending me high fives and being really enthusiastic about working with me again. This positivity felt really good. I know a lot of people struggle with their supervisors and/or departments, but I love my academic family and really hit the lottery!
On Tuesday, I randomly found a Call for Papers which concerns my favourite show and book series, Outlander. A fellow fan and Peaker Writer had been asked to resubmit an abstract although the deadline of 15th January had passed. So, figuring they might still be looking for presenters, I whipped together my very first conference abstract for a paper titled: “Reading and watching Outlander through an environmental and eco-critical lens.” I submitted it on Thursday to the University of Glasgow. Since then I found out that the deadline has been extended to 15th February, so my abstract is not considered late and I’m in with a shot. I could easily have written about 4 or 5 topics the CfP suggested, just off the top of my head, but I figured I should probably stick close to my PhD topic of eco-literature. Other paper ideas I had included “The use of language and translation in Outlander“, and The ‘Outlander Effect’ on tourism in Scotland”.
Both my supervisors were impressed with my abstract, and I will print out their encouraging words as a reminder that I am, in fact, not an imposter, as I’ve been dealing with Imposter Syndrome lately. I’m also already writing the next abstract, as I signed up to NZSA and was granted a deadline extension until Wednesday to submit something for the 27th Annual NZSA Conference which will take place in Stockholm and Turku in June.
So with all this – and my co-supervisor’s advice to celebrate small achievements – in mind, my friend Robin and I went out for cocktails last night. He has passed all his teaching supervisions and now only has his exam to go to be a fully-fledged teacher, and I’m still riding that high of being back in my field and not having lost my touch. We got home around 1.30am, so that’s why I’m nursing this cup of coffee like the lifesaver it is. The Long Island Iced Teas were totally worth it, though.
