Hello,

Well, my last post was wishing everyone a New Year so I thought it was only fitting that I post something to celebrate the year's end.  Why has the year finished just as we're about to go into summer I hear you ask - well, as I explained in the previous post, academia doesn't tend to follow the usual way of the world!

As of last week, I have no more students to teach until October and I have passed my research board to qualify for my University to have me come back next Oct.

However, just because 95% of University contact has finished until the autumn, this does not mean my work is done and I can have a long holiday.  It simply means that I now have 3-4 months of independent study and research to deal with, after all, I am still being paid to work over the summer! 

Students in general are not viewed in a particularly flattering light.  This was once again brought to my attention when I was talking to some friends of a friend the other day and was subsequently 'abused' by so called real-world people by their claims that I do not have a proper job.  In my view, I do have a job, in fact I have three jobs: I teach, I research and I contribute to my community. 

Teaching, as anyone knows who has ever been involved in that kind of work, is a very intensive job where you are expected to work more hours than you are paid on a daily basis simply because your students are exactly that, 'your students'.  Even though you try not to let it take over, you take responsibility for their learning and if they have a problem (be it personal or work related), you offer yourself to them and try to help.  Research is a crazy 'job'.  I get paid by a funding council and they expect results.  In order to get these results, I need to work and this type of work cannot be bound by a 9 to 5 system - after all, we can't stop ourselves thinking and I can't count how many times I've been cooking or out with friends etc and have reached for pen and paper to jot down random inspirations before I forget them!  Finally, I work in my local community as a volunteer which is a nice distraction from other work but is still time consuming.  Yes, I choose to do it, but my research is based on my community and I find this is a way I can give back something of what I take.

In short, that's a lot of hours dedicated to some sort of work every week.  From Oct to June, I work 7 days a week and often go past the 70hour per week mark - I won't say this is the case for everyone I meet, but for the most part, people who criticise students do not do anywhere near this amount of work and are quite happy to take their evenings and weekends off without so much as a second thought about their job.  However, I do this because I love what I do and I consider myself lucky to be able to work with new challenges everyday and with people who share a similar sense of pride in their work.

Therefore, this is a post for everyone out there whose profession has, at some point in time, come under attack by people who think they know better but in fact do not.  Every job has a value and therefore should not be judged by stereotypes or popular opinion.  It is true that I do not fight crime and my research will not save lives but when someone attacks my work, they attack me and all those others like me who live lives that are truly misunderstood because people can't be bothered to open their minds.

xJx

Well, the title might seem a bit odd but let me explain -

Today is the first official day of my university's new academic year.  I've been in a 'school' environment for as long as I can remember so even though my calendar tells me the year runs from Jan to Dec, I find it very hard to think like that.  Instead my year runs from Sep/Oct to Aug/Sep.

This week is freshers week and it gives us (as full time students) a chance to meet the new students, catch up with old friends who've been away over the summer doing research and get acquainted with any changes that have taken place in the department during the 'off season'. 

To be honest, I'm not much of a people person.  I was diagnosed with ME when I was 13 and therefore spent my teenage years on my own with only a couple of close friends and family around me to break up the days.  In order to get to and progress through university, I've had to sacrifice a lot of 'social' activities in favour of work as I only have so much of myself I can give at any one time.  However, being at university has brought me in contact with so many wonderful and supportive people and provided me with the 3 of most wonderful friends a girl could wish for. 

Why do I tell you all this you might say?  Well, with minimal qualifications, the university took me in showed faith in my abilities and for that I will be forever grateful. 

In fact, this gratitude is why I find myself volunteering for all sorts of 'jobs' around this time of year to help out.  I was working on the Help Desk this morning for the depatment and I met people from 12 different countries within the first 15mins of being there - and I loved every minute of it.  It's so fantastic to have the oppertunity to find out about such a diverse range of cultures.  Among other things, I also work on potential student visit days throughout the year where I get to meet and talk with sixth formers who are so enthusiastic about going to uni and it's really great to see some of them come back to the dept after their A-Levels

So, there you have it - Jenny, who after so many years of being alone and suffering mild panic attacks whenever she met new people, is a people person after all (she just needs reminding of it every now and again!) 

Happy New Year Everyone

xXx

Hello Everyone,

Thanks to the invite from Drew and Be, this is the first time I've ever been a part of an online community (with the exception of Facebook) and therefore, this is the first time I have ever written 'a blog' - I do not even know what'll happen when I figure out how to post this or where it'll end up posted come to that.

Oh well, the reason I'm giving it a go is because this year has already provided me with so many 'firsts', I thought it'd be a shame to let this chance pass me by.  Many of these firsts have been little things like watching my first Eurovision Song Contest from start to finish, having my hair cut above my shoulders for the first time and trying my first ever cheeseburger. However, some have been more emotional, like the first time I've been dumped, or significant, like the first time I saw my name published in an academic text and the first time I organised a departmental conference.

Even though these mini events do not mean much outside the context of my life, and may be regarded as insignificant in the greater scheme of things, they are all relevant to my development as an individual. They have helped to make me realise that life's full of opportunities to do things we simply haven't done before - it's just up to us whether we take advantage of them or not  xJx