Tuesday, April 04, 2006

I survived :-D

Sunny Edinburgh and the geeky scholarOh what a geek am I, sitting here in the gorgeous, yet somewhat chilly sunshine in an Edinburgh park typing away at my laptop ;-) Hey at least this way I’m outside, enjoying the sun, enjoying watching the kids act like calves experiencing their first days out in the sunshine as well as studying, well at least I was until I started blogging.

Springtime . Springtime . Springtime

Needless to say the conference was absolutely amazing!!! :-D Things couldn’t possibly have gone any better, I returned home with incredibly renewed energies and absolute faith in the fact that I’m on the right shelf and that folkloristics is exactly the way for me to go ;-)
Of course the two scholars I quoted the most were there in person making me even more nervous about the whole thing, time and time again I felt like running out the door instead of getting up there and “what the hell was I thinking for choosing this topic” ran through my mind countless times.

My PhD supervisor was there as well, seeing me talk for the first time, and well apart from reading my Ma thesis it was the first time he’d ever witnessed any of my studies.

Kelly and MikelThat said, I survived giving the paper, no eggs were thrown at me (nor tomatoes for that matter), got at least five laughs, and quite bit of praise afterwards. One scholar, whom I’d quoted out context (of course explaining though what the context had originally been) approached me afterwards and I, nervous she was going to object or point out irregularities froze, instead she complemented me upon the research and saying she was writing a book in a similar field she asked for a copy of my paper. And my supervisor as well as another professor whose work I greatly admire suggested I publish it, albeit with minor adjustments to the end words ;-) I know I’m bragging of sorts it’s just that I can’t seem to get down from this fluffy cloud I’m on. I always doubt my capabilities as a scholar, my research interests, my technical English and generally just the right to be here, yet after this weekend I feel like a part of a small group of idiosyncratic people, all of whom have mutual respect for each other and who welcome the new blood and different perspectives.

Kelly :-) . Koven looking contemplative . Doc explaining...?

I know, I know, I’m always a slow one, the last to figure things out, as Halldor has repeatedly pointed out to me ;-)…at least when it comes to trusting my own capabilities ;-p

1 Comments:

At 2:13 am, Blogger Lisa said...

Yay! Congratulations.

 

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