Academic news

So I finally completed the Gibraltar blog post - see below. Part of the reason for the delay is that I've once again been busy with my dissertation. In a previous post I had characterized my supervisor Jane as possibly a bit of a slacker; that may still be the case, but she has sure made up for it now!

Last Tuesday she completed her review of my dissertation and sent me a long and helpful e-mail about specific things that can or should be improved. Fortunately, she had good things to say about my paper in general and has confirmed that it would pass and get me the MPhil degree as-is. But she wants me to make it the very best paper I can, and I suppose that sounds like a good idea. :)

On Friday I went over to her house at 1:30 to discuss the paper and her comments in more detail. I expected to spend a couple hours there, but she ended up wanting to go over every page and every comment she'd scribbled on my draft - and it's 75 pages long! So I was there until 5:30, but her suggestions and discussions were truly helpful.

Here is the kitchen table where we worked:


The tall thing on the table that looks like a bottle of mustard is a white plastic statue of the Ephesian Artemis, which Jane had picked up on her visit to Ephesus. She brought her out to keep us company and provide inspiration. She's a funny lady.

During my visit I got to meet her husband and 6-year-old daughter, which was great. Jane is American but her husband is so very English, and her daughter (named Claire like another little girl I know) has the cutest English accent. I commented on that and Jane said she still couldn't believe that she produced an English daughter.

Jane lives on the southern outskirts of town and although I had walked most of the way there, I was very cold and hungry when I left so was extremely pleased to find a black cab before I had to walk too far. I love British taxis so very much.

Since then, I've been hard at work putting Jane's suggestions into practice. This mostly involves technical changes to footnotes and such, but I'm also having to do a little more research and writing. I will be so glad to have it done! I think I've said that before... :)

In the meantime, I've been getting official notices about the upcoming examinations. My exams are now officially scheduled for June 14 and 15 and my verbal defense of the dissertation will be on my birthday, June 29. I also now have the full list of rules for the examinations, which is quite extensive. One very positive thing I've learned is that I can expect to have my results in the week of July 2. I was afraid I'd have to wait all summer to see if I had an MPhil or not, so that's excellent news.

Okay, I've recorded the boring stuff for posterity. Now you can read about me getting bit by a monkey in Gibraltar!