Learning stuff

I had to make a tough decision today. The downside (yes, there is one!) of my exciting travel plans is that doing any study this semester is going to be virtually impossible – even though most of the time I’ll be away is during the university vacation, I’ll still be missing a week and a half of term-time, which would put me too far behind, plus it would be almost guaranteed I’d have an essay to write during the vacation (I’ve never known a lecturer to miss the chance of scheduling a due date the day term starts), and there’s no way I’d manage that while gallivanting around the world. I’ve known this ever since my name was first put forward for the trip, but I’ve been putting off actually making the decision to definitely not enrol. But this week is when I would have had to ask my boss for permission if I was going to take a paper, to be able to get the paperwork sorted out in time, so today I had to acknowledge that there’s no way I can travel *and* study in the same semester.

Skipping a semester isn’t that bad, but I’d already pretty much decided I wouldn’t take any papers in Semester 2, or Semester 1 of next year, because we’ll be full-on into convention planning. Which means I’ll actually be pushing my graduation date back by 18 months. That’s not the end of the world, of course – this degree has taken me 8 years already, and I’ve still got a couple of years to go, so what’s another year and a half? However, the thought of 18 months without any study is already starting to get the withdrawal symptoms going, so I may well take a nice easy first-year paper in July – it won’t contribute to my degree, because I’ve already done the full complement of first-year papers I need, but at least it will keep my brain from atrophying too much, without being as much work and stress as the third-year papers I should be doing.

Oh well, I can worry about that when I get back – I don’t have to apply until late May.

Actually, although I may not be taking any papers this semester, I *will* be doing some study. I got out my Spanish books last night, in anticipation of visiting Spain, and was horrified by how much I’d forgotten already. So I think I’ll be doing some serious revision over the next couple of months to try and get back up to speed. Of course, I’ll probably use about three words of Spanish while I’m there (at most I’ll probably have to order lunch or ask directions), but it’ll be good to refresh my memory so if I *do* need to use it, I won’t be just stumbling my way through a phrase book. And who knows, maybe I’ll feel confident enough to actually have a conversation with someone…

In other news, I’ve got rather stiff arms and legs today – those boxes must have been heavier than I thought!

(And to answer Kimi’s question, I was almost right – the house was grey brick).

72 sleeps to go!

Currently reading: The Amish Landscape by Robert Holman
Currently listening to: The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M Auel