Week 2 of online studying: Year 4

Another week of this strenuous situation that is a semester of online learning.

I am incredibly disappointed with Texts and Theories so far, because we have not had a single live class since the course introduction (by the wonderful MS). We’re at Renaissance architects at the moment and they are not particularly interesting to me, so watching the lectures comes with difficulty. I’m waiting for more interesting times.

On Monday I didn’t have much to do. No class. I only had scheduled to interview my friend for my interviewing class, but that was in the evening. I remember that I had some Pret coffees… and it rained.

On Tuesday I had an online workshop for an hour, and that’s it. I also do not remember what else I did that day. I guess I transcribed the interview I had from the night before, or at least parts of it, just enough for the discussion that was meant to happen on Wednesday.

Wednesday was not much more eventful. I had that class from 2 to 4, and it was good because finally we had not only me and the other girl from the group but also one of the boys (which meant 3 out of 4 people in our group). We had a pretty interesting discussion, so that was good. We talked about the interviews that we did, and I realised that mine is all over the place, but to be fair I had never done interviews for an academic study, so it is bound to be challenging this time.

Thursday; was it more eventful? Doubtful. I was supposed to be going to Dalmeny and meet a friend, but she had to cancel last minute so I stayed in Edinburgh instead. (God, as I write this all down it seems like this week was a boring nightmare). From what I remember, I just sat at home all day and read a book I had picked up on my Saturday walk (“Wild” by Cheryl Strayed). Things really began to happen on Friday.

On Friday I met my former flatmate around 11; there was a webinar I wanted to take part in, but as it happens with webinars, I got bored within the first half an hour, so I got up, got dressed and left. It was brilliantly sunny and I enjoyed every single minute of being outside that day. We went to Considerit, an all-vegan bakery, and she got a cinnamon roll and I got a s’mores doughnut. The doughnut was great but the marshmallow was definitely too sweet. The dough was proper, though.

I spent the rest of Friday wandering around the Old Town and walked past some of my ol’ favourites, like the Elephant House, which always remind me why I loved living in Edinburgh. I also had a bunch of teas, I didn’t really feel like coffee (strange day).

Saturday was brilliant. I booked a study desk at the library from 12-2 and that’s where I spent those two hours. It was pissing it down the whole day so there were no regrets about sitting inside. I did spend quite a bit of time walking around, though – before my desk booking began, I went to two Prets and got coffees and sat inside and typed on my laptop. At the library, I managed to watch almost the whole lecture on Serlio. And then I questioned whether I really want to do architectural history for my masters.

After I got back home from the library, I sat down and watched YouTube. I encountered this Holly Gabrielle video and wondered whether I should shoot for the stars with my masters. I spent about 24 hours convinced about that, but when on Sunday I did much more research on masters degrees in the UK, my intention changed completely.

Yes, so on Sunday it was sunny again, and I aimed to go to the library again given the successful study period the day before, but because the weather was so nice I couldn’t focus so I just wandered around Princes Street Gardens and Castle Terrace. I walked all the way to the National Gallery of Art and spent a long time looking over Princes Street Gardens East, towards the Balmoral and Waverley. It was terrific. I sat on benches and read “Art and the Home: Comfort, Alienation and the Everyday”. I also did more research on masters degrees, which gave my life direction and intention that it desperately needed, so I started week 3 with a much better mindset.