Monday: All I remember is that I stressed all day about interviewing that one person for my class on interviewing. The interview wasn’t that scary altogether, the guy was easy going (although with a deadpan face) and I enjoyed the conversation. I think though that I enjoyed the conversation so much that the interview ended up being a bit pointless and not contributing to the report I’m supposed to write by… wait, what?! This day next month (November 12th). Will I get it done on time? Only time will show. God knows it’ll be a pain for the eyes.
Tuesday: Sunny day, met a friend, felt oversocialised at the end of it. Had a one-hour live session at 10am. Transcribed the interview from Monday.
Wednesday: I felt terribly self conscious about my looks but we had a 2-hour live tutorial, again mainly work in our small groups, and I wasn’t in the right mindset so I felt incredibly bored all throughout, but I got through it. At 5pm I went to an online reading group for game studies but I didn’t talk a lot. I just listened to people and my understanding was pretty sinuous, we discussed gamification and ludification and the differences between the two. I thought I had understood what the author meant in the article we had read, although I began to question it on the basis that other people had so many doubts about it. In the evening I couldn’t sleep so I watched the entire season of “Emily in Paris” in one go. Finished around 1 am. Not something I should keep up if I want to be able to read things off the screen, but you can’t always do the wise thing.
The highlight was going to a tiny local bakery for a bagel to reward my interviewee. The bagel was still warm! (And I was so tempted by the elderberry cheesecake on display).
Thursday: Another day, we had a group PT meeting at 1pm and again, I wasn’t feeling up for it. I had to try and seem optimistic though, given there were a few first-years there, one of whom was locked down in Pollock. I couldn’t give tips on how to plan out weeks though, because I myself had struggled (?) with it lately; I said instead that I try to keep my notes organised, and that’s more important than planning my time. It rang true even to me.
Friday: It was a golden day. I had my first live tutorial for Texts and Theories and it was brilliant. I even said something. The lecturer was absolutely lovely, just like she always is. The topic turned out to be Really Fascinating instead of Completely Boring (Hawksmoor’s English Baroque). I complemented my tutorial with About Buildings and Cities episodes on Hawksmoor’s churches.
After the tutorial I met up with my ex-flatmate and got coffee at Peanut Press. We wanted to go to Don’t Tell Mama but it was full (obviously, as it was 2pm) so we went instead to get Greek pastries and then flat whites at Peanut Press and we sat outside. It was freezing but quite sunny, so it was a very nice afternoon.
Saturday: I had to print some stuff off so I went to the art library and printed two papers (one for diss, one for Texts and Theories – Boullee’s essay on architecture). I also got one book out – one that I encountered when doing Writing Landscape last semester – and I had access to the ebook, but I took the opportunity to get it in hard copy. It’s such a smart book. I’m sucking the smart out of it. I’m absorbing it like the Reliance Building absorbs smoke out of the air.
We baked cookies with my flatmate, me – just for the sake of baking cookies, him – for the sake of eating them. We put peanut M&Ms in them. I still believe that home baking is an absolute waste of energy and resources.
And Sunday: oh, what a blessed day. It was nice weather all day but I didn’t go outside, apart from a morning shop to get yoghurt. Completely unexpectedly, I ran into my ex-flatmate (the one I saw on Saturday) on the way to the shop (they were getting the flu vaccine nearby). It was very nice.
Then I spent the rest of the day at home, just working on my dissertation and chatting on a forum. Blissful. Getting back into the mindset of I Love Being A University Student In Isolation, because it seems like we’re going in that direction again.
For the About Buildings and Cities episodes on Hawksmoor head to: Part one, Part two.
Their website is aboutbuildingsandcities.org. They’re great, I used to be a patron on Patronite, but I’m currently thinking of studying for a Masters in London and the thought of it alone is chilling.
kotersey 