So here I am at the beginning of a new year and about to begin a new semester. I’ve not made any resolutions but would be very very happy to finish the first year of the masters in June with a pass, that will suffice. And very nicely indeed thank you.
To get towards passing the first year I worked so flipping
hard on my latest essay for the Approaches Module. My poor extra mature brain worked so hard and so intensely to get the 4,000 words written that after I’d submitted it I found it difficult to verbally string a sentence together and had to lie down for two days. Ok that’s a slight exaggeration (it was one day), but I was mentally exhausted afterwards. Yet in a very weird way I actually enjoyed doing the essay – well I loved doing the research for it, but the actual writing of it…..not so much.
We had to formulate our own question – you’d think this would be easy, but it wasn’t. And I kept having to go back to the question time and time again asking myself if I’d answered my own question. Hmmm. Anyway, I decided to write about 17th and 18th century anatomists, my favourite topic! I used John Hunter, Nicolaes Tulp and a little known female anatomist from Italy, Anna Morandi Manzolini as my anatomists.
For those even slightly interested, here they are in the images I used:
I’m currently waiting on the result and am thinking of that old adage that people often used on the OU forums, a pass is a pass, is a pass, is a pass etc.
But moving swiftly on – today I start back at Leeds and am really excited to begin the next module, which is the Origins of Modern Medicine. This is the module which really tempted me into doing the MA at Leeds. I’ve read so much about this topic that I should hopefully have a bit of a head start (🤞). However even though it’s just one module I need to be in Leeds three days a week, for one hour each day, which is a bit of a pain. But I’m looking forward to getting back in the swing of things again, academically wise.
There will be a major difference this semester in that I won’t be having my usual coffee and croissant in the morning. This will take some getting used to. I’m on a weight loss mission which is going very nicely so far, (no, if truth be told it’s killing me) but we’ll see if the pull of the Caffe Nero almond croissants is just too strong to resist. I’ll still be having the coffee of course.
Nothing but nothing comes between me and one of these little beauties…I think I may have a coffee addiction, ok I definitely have, but 1000s 100s of these have got me through my undergrad and they’re now getting me through the postgrad too.
A bit of a briefer blog post this time. I’ve not had any mental energy left over from essay writing to devote much time to the blog before I start the next semester. I’m hopeful that I’ll get my blog writing and studying mojos back very soon once I start in earnest.
So here I go again, once more unto the breach etc etc….
Till next time.
Deb's Adventures in Academia 