I’m not going to reflect on the year that has been and gone all too quickly. But it has been enjoyable!
The real work starts on Monday as the second year of my PhD begins. It should be a year full of new experiences, in particular the fieldwork in Lisbon and Brussels should be the main highlight. There will also be conferences to look forward to and I hope to be presenting my work outside of Newcastle some time soon. More on these developments when they happen.
In preparing for the year ahead, I have been busy recently getting in contact with people in Lisbon and seeing if I can have an institutional base at a university for my time out there. Also I have been giving thought to the practicalities of the trip and trying to budget accordingly. Not easy.
But before I can get to Lisbon, the is another new experience for me. I will be a seminar teacher for the first semester on the module EU Politics and Policy. This is a module which I last encountered, albeit in a sleepy state from the back row of the lecture theatre, some five years ago!
I’m quite nervous about leading the seminars and getting to know my own little groups of undergrads, but equally excited about it and relishing the challenge. My supervisor told me that once I get over the surreal experience of walking into the room and occupying the teacher’s chair then I should be fine! The module and the EU have changed quite a bit since I took this module, but I will be up to speed with the lecture notes via Blackboard and I’m sure Jocelyn will have lots of useful advice for me.
It’s even been a long time since I took the University’s two-day course on seminar teaching, way back in February! I will have to familiarise myself again with my notes and the teaching theory that I was told on that course. It was useful, but I guess nothing is as useful as doing it for real! Anyway, it’s looking like October 5th for my first seminar, so I shall report back on how that goes.
It’s induction week next week, which means a new bunch of postgrads to welcome to politics, MAs and PhDs. I gather that they are being entertained with wine and nibbles at the Trent House. I shall attend after what should be an interesting seminar given by one of the staff. Also on Wednesday, the Politics Postgrad Society will meet to try and organise itself for the coming year. I will be happy to help out, but am not sure if I want to continue with the roundtable discussions, especially as I’ll be out of the country for most of semester 2. Maybe, perhaps, I shall help with the film night. I have a couple of Portuguese films I could show and will always be keen to help finish off any of the remaining free slices of pizza.
But before all that I need to gather all my things together and catch the train to Newcastle on Monday. Oh and I’ll have a new set of housemates to meet upon my return which should be exciting!