Sunday, August 29, 2004
Sunday afternoons
I'm hoping that posting here will free my mind of clutter and ready me for a lengthy reading session. Anthony, my roommate, and I have made the trek to the University Library where we plan on reading for three hours before returning home to prepare dinner. Afterwards, I'm afraid it's back to the lab again. How long we'll remain in the library this evening will depend on how effectively I absorb the reading. While I know that the real studying has yet to hit us, I do think I can safely declare that never before in my academic career have I so dutifully prepared myself for classes.
On Friday I had a Neuroscience class in the early morning, followed by a brief e-mailing stint in the Psych. building before I returned home for lunch. It should be noted that the Olympics have been cutting into my study time a sizable amount and that afternoon was no exception. I sat glued to the television until 2 PM, when I returned to campus to meet with my advisor, Dr. Arnau. We had prearranged for a meeting that afternoon to discuss master's thesis topics, his personal research interests, and I was to be debriefed as to how his present research is being conducted.
A great deal of my assistantship this first year will be spent running subjects through his study of humor and its effects upon hopefulness. Subjects in the study are given a battery of questionaires measuring levels of hopefulness prior to and following the viewing of either a comedy video or land surveying video. In addition to potential humor/hope correlations, the study will examine possible links to creative thought. I'll be able to expound even more at a much later date.
When I finally returned home at 4:00PM, I figured at long last, my day of academia was finished. Much to my chagrin, Anthony insisted that we return to the library and study until they kicked us out at 8 PM. Three hours of reading is far more than I've ever endured on any previous Friday evening.
Without going into great detail, I'll just say that I read three additional hours on Saturday afternoon and today on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I anticipate logging even more time indoors. So is the life of a graduate student. It's the life I chose I suppose. Doesn't particularily make for great reading though, does it?
On Friday I had a Neuroscience class in the early morning, followed by a brief e-mailing stint in the Psych. building before I returned home for lunch. It should be noted that the Olympics have been cutting into my study time a sizable amount and that afternoon was no exception. I sat glued to the television until 2 PM, when I returned to campus to meet with my advisor, Dr. Arnau. We had prearranged for a meeting that afternoon to discuss master's thesis topics, his personal research interests, and I was to be debriefed as to how his present research is being conducted.
A great deal of my assistantship this first year will be spent running subjects through his study of humor and its effects upon hopefulness. Subjects in the study are given a battery of questionaires measuring levels of hopefulness prior to and following the viewing of either a comedy video or land surveying video. In addition to potential humor/hope correlations, the study will examine possible links to creative thought. I'll be able to expound even more at a much later date.
When I finally returned home at 4:00PM, I figured at long last, my day of academia was finished. Much to my chagrin, Anthony insisted that we return to the library and study until they kicked us out at 8 PM. Three hours of reading is far more than I've ever endured on any previous Friday evening.
Without going into great detail, I'll just say that I read three additional hours on Saturday afternoon and today on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I anticipate logging even more time indoors. So is the life of a graduate student. It's the life I chose I suppose. Doesn't particularily make for great reading though, does it?
# posted by Jude : 6:15 PM
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Jude, if you are considering 3 hours of reading a day to be a heavy load, what the hell were you doing for the past 4 years?!?
Mary...what is it you want me to say? That I didn't study enough in college? That Georgetown is twice as hard as Macalester? Listen closely now, I was only saying that all my life (time spent at Macalester included,) I've procrastinated far to much, which meant that no, I did not read three hours each and every night. This far removed from the experience, I couldn't even say how much I read a night! Oh sure, I paid for my nasty habits as every third day or so, I'd spend eight hours in the lab either studying for an exam or preparing a paper. Only one of my roommates during college, Ashif, ever studied more than I did and the rest of us had a good time doing whatever it was we were doing. Friday and Saturday nights should never be dedicated to studying and I'm proud to say that few of mine were!
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