#PhDjourney

[thesecrethistori-an]

New setup for a new academic challenge! (I'm starting a PhD)

[theprophetingrid]

Grad school is wild because you'll spend 5 straight months minding your own business and trying to fix a very specific problem, and then someone will come up to you one day and just drop the most feral departmental drama. What do you mean one professor probably murdered another? That girl you don't like is getting fired for drinking ultrapure lab water? There's a guy stealing toxic chemicals from other labs "to banish demons?" I'm over here trying to improve my standard deviation for months on end and across the hall there's a whole HBO show going on, apparently.

[belovedbibliophile]

survived my first year of grad school & I have the photos to prove it 🤞

[coruscatingdust]

view from my workspace | the Old Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

[lepetitmini]

day spent trying to make a preliminary literature review happen. nothing went quite as planned- i tipped too much milk into my tea and only read 3 of the materials out of the 5 i’d planned. not beating myself up too much- it’ll happen. ended the day with a lovely walk with some friends and a gorgeous view from tower bridge. also, if anyone knows how to fix that little “sign in” thing in the corner (i’ve already signed in 33817417373 times), help would be much appreciated.

[pefkaes]

05.02.2025 // day 349 // submitted my first draft chapter and ethics application, ft. coffee and my favourite chicken sandwich!!! it's the little things that count, isn't it?

i love how my research timelines are always unrealistically optimistic. i had been high on energy when i had submitted my last progress review...and then i simply crashed. i was sketching out a new timeline last night and surprisingly, i'm still on track despite being completely unproductive since november. i still don't know what i'm doing but watch me exude the confidence of a mediocre man in academia

ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ

[katiajewelbox]

Today I submitted my PhD thesis.

[re--laaaaaxer]

15:41

Currently, I am at a cafe and transcribing an audio interview that is almost three hours long. I love doing research and don't mind doing the grunt work, but I do not fancy transcribing because I recoil at listening to my own voice. I'm like, goodness, why do I sound like a ten-year-old.

Anyway, I hope you guys are doing alright over there and are doing much better than I am. 🏵️

Remember to hydrate and rest when needed.

[amentainsularis]

July was as precarious and as messy as my working desk during field season

[meandtheveggies]

more dissertation editing!!

[justgivemethephd]

15.11.2024

Happy Friday everyone!

I am completely dead. I had to start lab work at 6:45am today and I will be running my analysis until probably around 8pm or 9pm, so I'm basically surviving on coffee at this point. Buuuuut fortunately it is giving me plenty of time to work on my upgrade report, for which I have written about a quarter of the introduction so far. Considering I started writing it yesterday and already know exactly where I want to go with it, I think that's pretty good. I'm hoping I can have something resembling a first draft by the end of next week, and then with a bit of luck one of the post docs in my group will agree to read through it.

Other than that nothing much has happened. I've been quite busy but I've done almost everything I wanted to do this week, which I'm super happy about. I'm still not feeling 100%, but at least I am feeling more consistently motivated. I had a meeting with both my supervisors today for the first time in a while and it was also good to be able to discuss what I've been working on and plan with them what I will be doing in the next few months. I think it allowed me a moment to consider everything I've done in the last year and kind of centre myself again. After feeling like I've been spinning out of control for so long, that's also a big relief. Overall, I'm doing a lot better mentally than I have been in the last few weeks, and I'm looking forward to the weeks of hard work that are coming my way.

My boyfriend will be out of the apartment this weekend, and while it would do me some good to rest on Saturday I'm really tempted to take myself out on a solo date. I've been meaning to go to a modern art museum, and considering I have to run some errands anyway maybe I could kill two birds with one stone. We will see what happens, but it kind of all boils down to my energy levels at the end of the day. Plus, I'm starting to play dungeons and dragons with my friends again on Sunday, so I have to consider that this won't be a rest day either! Still, I'm looking forward to a hopefully relaxing time.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Please take care of yourselves and take some time to reset.

_____

🎧 - 'My Marmalade' by Katya Lel

🎮 - World of Warcraft

📖 - Once upon a broken heart by Stephanie Garber

[thesecrethistori-an]

A quick underwhelming breakfast

PhD Day 14: feeling very tired today (it's not even 7 am yet). I have so many things to do and so little time. My big deadline for my grant proposal is getting closer and closer and I feel like all these other tasks get on the way.

I just need October to end to be able to focus on the research :)

[tibonanj]

In the 1970s, excavations at the Newton Slave Burial Ground uncovered the grave of a man believed to be a healer or spiritual figure. He was buried with powerful objects: metal jewelry, an iron knife, and a short-stemmed clay pipe likely made in Ghana.

Among his burial items was a necklace made from a mix of beads, some with fascinating origins.

One glass bead, made with European powder glass, was probably crafted in Ghana.

Another, a cylindrical carnelian bead, came from Cambay, India ; a region known for carnelian bead production since the first millennium. These beads were traded through East Africa, across the Sahara, and into West Africa.

Other elements of the necklace could have been acquired in Barbados, but together they reflect a deep continuity of African cultural traditions in the Caribbean.

Scholar Jerome Handler used ethnographic sources from West Africa to interpret the necklace, and strongly argued that the man was likely seen as an obeah or healer by the enslaved community at Newton.

This burial is one of the most powerful archaeological cases for the survival of African spiritual identity through the horrors of the Middle Passage and slavery.

[dustineverypage]

Academia tumblr, how do you find your phd topic?

[galliro]

Biggest struggle of my PHD so far:

Reading things correctly