Right, so in the hopes of building up my CV (curriculum vitae, an academic resume), I've been applying to all sorts of things in recent months. I'm at the point where I'm preparing to take my exams (47 days!) so I need to be thinking about the next several years and how I'm going to be making a name for myself in my field.
I applied to two conferences last May (the Renaissance Society of American annual conference and Bryn Mawr College Graduate Group Symposium), found out quickly that I was accepted to RSA, and only found out recently that I was accepted to Bryn Mawr's as well. This is a very good thing. These are the sorts of things I need on my CV if I'd like to get a job later. Bryn Mawr's symposium is the first weekend in December. They want a final draft of my paper at the beginning of November. Thus, I'm giving a practice talk in my department on Oct. 21 so that I can have time to edit before turning it in. The last time I looked at this paper was April. In my scenario of things, I would have heard back from the committee over the summer and polished the paper up before I started studying for my exams full time.
The RSA conference isn't until April. That paper is due at the end of January. I won't even be thinking about it until mid-December.
I was also called for Jury Duty for October 15. I think I got my way out of that one. Can you imagine me trying to find someone to sub for my classes and trying to maintain my 7-9 hours of studying a day while serving on a jury?
I just found out today that I was accepted for a new online Italian paleography course. Typically these courses are taught in Chicago or LA for three consecutive weeks. And they're taught in Italian. This online one is a new program by the Medici Archive Project based in Florence. And it's free! I excitedly applied, even though I knew it would make my semester even crazier. This is a skill I desperately need to learn before beginning dissertation research. The course basically teaches me how to read handwritten documents from the early modern period, when Italian handwriting conventions were quite different than they are today. I looked at some 19th-century restoration reports when I was in Venice last spring and those were practically illegible. I tried to find some images of such documents on line so you could visualize what I'm talking about, but I couldn't find any. Basically, the instructors post scans of documents online, they provide some background info contextualizing the sources, and we send in transcriptions once a week as to what the document says.
I'm thrilled to be a part of this course, but I just don't know how I'm going to get this all done. I'm also sitting in on my advisor's seminar this semester, which meets for 2.5 hours a week plus requires at least 4 hours of work outside the classroom every week. AND, I'm teaching two courses this semester with 80 students. I've got a stack of 80 exams that I'm not even halfway through from last Wednesday! Plus I just joined a choir that requires about 4.5 hours a week.
I know I can do this. I'm just not sure how yet. I don't think my house will be cleaned again until Thanksgiving. I think Nick will be doing all the cooking. I think I'll be working at least 12 hours every day of the week. And I think my relationships with anyone besides Nick will suffer. Even my relationship with him will suffer. I had a professor in Colorado who said that any marriage that could survive getting the PhD was made to last. I'm confident we'll be fine since Nick is so giving and supportive. It's going to be difficult. I can do this, it's just going to be painful.
No comments:
Post a Comment