PhD diary
A journey as a doctoral student between 2017 and 2020. I keep these posts because, looking back from my early days, I can see how much my perspectives have shifted as a reminder of the learning journey.
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Never too early to prepare for the viva
I’ve recently read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami and found his story fascinating. His tone of writing is brisk and has transparent honesty. Also, I recently flicked through the book Stepping Stones to Achieving Your Doctorate and am reading about preparing for the viva. My favourite guidebooks on read more
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Weeks 138 and 139: One month’s work
On Friday, I submitted my working drafts of Chapters 5 and 6. Writing for 30 consecutive days was a fairly long challenge, and the last five days were very intense. I crossed out the date on the calendar before going to bed every night, which filled the whole of August. What a sight! Between January read more
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Week 137: Raw data
Two weeks to go until my next deadline. I’ve been listening to my data – audio files I collected last year – to finalise the transcripts that go to the appendices. It feels so different to hear my interview questions and their responses now. The participants were frank, added jokes between their narratives, and gave read more
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Week 136: Writing a findings chapter
After two days of intensive work as a translator in London, I got back to my thesis writing this week. I was excited to finalise my findings chapter and was planning two weeks to complete it. But it’s been a slow start, going back and forth between the previous chapters to make the link clearer. read more
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Weeks 134 and 135: Summer holiday
I am writing this post in a hotel room near Kensington Gardens in London, after an eight-day holiday in Sicily. This was probably the first holiday that I indulged in during my PhD. In a villa in Sicily, we had a very limited internet connection, and I had a zero chance to open my draft read more
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Weeks 132 and 133: Feeling Relieved
It’s nice to write in my journal after crossing out the tasks to be completed for the week and while feeling a sense of accomplishment: “My work is done!” Luca and I used to enjoy Friday Pizza on Friday evening if I finished all my targets for the week on time. We turned on music, read more
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Weeks 130 and 131: Carry on
Week 130 was too busy to sit down to write. To my shame, I asked my supervisors to reschedule our meeting as my chapter draft wasn’t ready in time for my supervisory day. I felt really guilty, but I’d made slow progress over the month. We’ve postponed the meeting until late July, and I’m now read more
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Week 129: Little indulgences
On Monday, I took a nice walk in the Victoria Embankment Gardens, dropped by my favourite pastries shop, Melba, and had a honey lemon ginger éclair and English breakfast tea. The weather was beautiful, and I genuinely felt relaxation and excitement on these longest days of the summer. (The longest day of this year was read more
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