Mission accomplished

I did it. It took me about 4 months to write, and then, about a month later, I spent a weekend doing the final corrections. Last Sunday I finished the final version and e-mailed it off to be printed, and on Wednesday I got the final result.

It may not look like much in the picture, but to me it looks absolutely beautiful!

Now I just need to wait for the grade, which I should receive within a couple weeks. And then that's it! I can put my MA thesis on a shelf and move on with my life!

...which will still consist mainly of uni work, but hopefully a bit less of that and more of actual paid work in a couple week's time, when this awful period is over and I only have two classes a week left.

The end is nigh, my friends!

Public announcement

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Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make:

Today, on the 21st December, in the Year of the Lord 2012, I have finished my Master's thesis!

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I know, I know - as some people were quick to point out, there is still a whole lot of work to do, summaries and abstracts and final tweaks here and there, not to mention the workload that I still have to get through once I get the thesis back from pre-evaluation. I know all this. But that won't stop me from being really happy and bloody relieved that the thesis itself is written now. So, instead of reminding me about all that's still left to do, either congratulate me, or at least wish me something like this:

And anyway, at least I am pretty damned please with myself :D

Thesis-induced mood swings

Well, this is interesting. Yesterday morning I was still feeling all the insecurities and fears of the previous day, and I wasn't sure how this whole thing would go. Somehow I managed to get over it, though, and just start working. And, more importantly, keep working. So in the end I did 10 tomatoes on the Pomodoro-tracker. Pretty good.

And, oh yeah, did I mention I'll probably finish it by tomorrow? Oh yes. Didn't see that one coming, did you? :D

A day in the life of a thesis procrastinator

Or "yet another day..." I suppose it should say.

Yesterday the first thoughts of despair hit me. So far, I've always been fairly confident, even when the work has been tedious or when I haven't had time to work on my thesis at all. If I hit a wall, I either did something else for a bit, or just found a way around, or over, or on occasion even through the wall. I may have missed my initial deadline, but I wasn't too worried - I had the Christmas holidays.

Until I took on a massive translation for the last two weeks of the holidays, leaving me with this one week. Maybe this is what's made me all jittery - the deadline has either come waaaay closer than what I am comfortable with, or it has been pushed back so far that I've failed entirely with my plan of having my thesis done early. Sure, finishing it in, say, February would still be quite an achievement, but not what I had in mind at all.

So there's that, plus the fact that I've hit the largest, most sturdy wall to date. And I have no idea how to work with it, or get rid of it. Which, you know, is bloody a teeny, tiny bit stressful.

BUT that was yesterday. And I got through it by coldly deciding to get myself into revision - quite a large chunk of work, but one I could handle, and one that had to be done at some point anyway. So I got started on that in the evening (funny (or, actually, bloody stupid) how the majority of my day's work is done between 7pm and 9pm), which is always good, because there is nothing worse than having to start on something new first thing in the morning. That's what writers' block is made of.

So I'll take a deep breath, and just throw myself back in there. I can do this, I can, I can. Really.

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Thesis week, day 2

Yesterday's score:

Pages: unsure (mainly revision)
Tomatoes: 7
Games of solitaire: too many

Yeah, seems a bit like my blog is getting more love and attention than my thesis at the moment.

Anyway, I did spent a fair few hours by the computer yesterday, and several of those I was actually working, too. As I found it so hard to start on a new, massive task, I decided to go at it from a different angle, and attacked a bit of revision. The notes from teachers and other people in my thesis group had piled up, so I had some suggested corrections to start out with. So I got those done, which is good, of course, but it also means that now I'm right back where I started - avoiding a large task that I haven't even completely figured out yet.

Yesterday I spent all day at my parents' house, but today I had to get into town super early, as I have to go to the dentist at half twelve, and I preferred to get a free ride, rather than having to walk 4 km in the snow and taking the bus. So here I am, at the coffee room at uni, all on me onesies. Well, there seems to be some sort of commotion in the hallway, no idea who it is or what they're up to, but there's no one else in here, which is good, because at least I can listen to music. So I got here at 7.50, when the building was technically still closed, and so far I've managed to get the final report of a class done (so all coursework for this year sorted, yay!!), and send a few important e-mails. Even solitaire lost its charm (and addictive nature) yesterday.

So, I guess it's time to get back to work.

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Time to get to work

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Ok, here I am. It's 7.30 am, I've had breakfast, I've got dressed, the laptop is up and running, and I've spread out a bunch of papers and notes and stuff. The parents have gone to work, after performing their duty of getting me out of bed. I'm bloody tired, and my brain is yelling at me to bloody go back to bed, but I'll have to resist it. Not just that, I have to start working now, but I'm really not sure where to start. I haven't had a chance to work on my thesis in a while, and the last time I did, I finished the previous chunk I was working on, and it's always the hardest bit to start a new chunk. Not made easier by the fact that I'm not 100% sure about what I'll do about this next chunk of work. Crap.

Well, the thesis writing guide I read said that when having trouble getting started, just do some freewriting or something for a while, just to get started and have something on a page. So I guess this qualifies as that - a little bit of my early-morning brain-goo on my blog. Good times.

Ok, just one more comment before I get to work: "Santa Baby" was just playing on the radio. There's something seriously wrong with that song, and I don't get why someone didn't see it when it was made.

Now. Work.

5 pictures

I'd like to share five pictures with you that describe my life as it currently is 

(and has been for some weeks, but hopefully won't be for very much longer).

 This is where the magic happens - or, quite often, fails to happen.

 Thesis calendar - approaching deadline.

 Notebook that I keep with me and write down any ideas in.

The view from my window from around 5pm onwards.


How would your life right now look in 5 pictures?
If you get inspired and make your own list, let me know in the comment box!

Ps: No idea why the pictures are that blurry, they really shouldn't be...

Drowning in work

Last summer I wrote a post about NaNoWriMo, and that I planned to join this year. Now November is here, but I'm not spending all my spare time writing a novel. I wish I could be, but I have to be realistic - not only have I got my thesis to write, I've also gone from having 6 hours of classes last period to 17 this period. That's 6 courses, and 4 of them require tons of work. The deadline I gave myself when I started on my thesis was 13.12, so not long to go. I also really need to find and do some work, because cash is really tight at the moment. Really not a great combo.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel: this crazy schedule will only be on for 1½ months, then it's time for the Christmas holidays, and come spring, I shouldn't have as many courses. I still quite enjoy working on my thesis, even though the "official" fun bit (i.e. the trip to Scotland) is over, and it's starting to get a bit more difficult.

Also, one of those courses that require a lot of work is a course in literary translation, where we'll be translating the upcoming novel "Anglopolis" by Danielle Trussoni. This means I'll be part of a group that are translating an actual novel (no made up assignments) that will be published, and my name will be listed as one of the translators! I have to say, that's pretty cool!

The novel in question. Battery added for size reference.

It's dark, and cold, and at times pretty wet outside, and there are occasions where I feel like I'm drowning in work, and that my head will explode, but I have to keep telling myself that I can do this. Not long to go, I promise.

It's a real shame I can't join NaNoWriMo this year, but I think it's ok to leave that particular challenge for next year.

Back to work

I just spent 2 wonderful weeks in Scotland, enjoying the lovely autumn sunshine for the first ten days of my trip - then my brothers came over for a few days, and brought the rain with them. Two weeks is one of the longest trips I've ever done - it's usually a week or less - and somehow it seemed to be enough to get a sense of living there again. The official reason for my trip was to do interviews for my thesis, but I also managed to fit it several friends, a little bit of tourism, several lovely meals out, and lots of shopping.

Alas, all good things must come to an end eventually, and last Sunday the time came for me to return home. Which, to be honest, wasn't all bad - it is quite tiring to stay in 6 different places during 2 weeks, and besides, it was all sunny and pretty when I got home. But now the holiday (and I do call it a holiday, because those interviews were far from hard work) is over, and it's time to roll up my sleeves and get on with it. Starting with my least favourite bit of this entire process - the transcriptions.

I used to work part time as a transcriber, which I guess I should be grateful for now, since it really helps that I know what I'm doing, and have a reasonably good piece of software to do it with, but it also means I know exactly how boring transcribing is, so I really wasn't looking forward to it. But it has to be done, so I got started on it a couple of days ago, and to be honest, it's been ok. I just finished transcribing my second interview, and I have 8 to go - all shorter than the first two, luckily. So maybe it'll be ok. I can also tell you that it is a great deal more interesting to transcribe interviews on a topic that I'm interested in (even if I'm hearing it all for the second time) as opposed to discussions about engines and such, which is what I had to do when I did this for work. So, it's not all bad.

When I was about to set out on this journey called My Master's Thesis, I read quite a lot of guides on how to do it, and several apps and pieces of software to help out with the process have been suggested on various forums. So far, I've tried out the Pomodoro Technique (or the basic elements of it, at least, not the full program) and it's been working quite well. When I move on to the final stage, when I'm mainly just writing, I may also start using Written? Kitten! which sounds quite fun, and if worst comes to worst, I'm prepared to start using Write or Die. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. But the Pomodoro Technique is good in the sense that it lets you give yourself little rewards (in forms of breaks or whatever you choose to fill those breaks with) every 25 minutes, and it also records your process, so that it is easy to keep track of how many "tomatoes" you've done each day. Which feels pretty good. On Wednesday this week I did 5 "tomatoes", then yesterday 7, and I'm trying to keep that a minimum for a "full" working day. I now actually have 1½ weeks off (our so called "exam week", which is actually more of a week off, since we rarely have any exams, and when we do, they are often on the week before anyway. But we're not allowed to call it a holiday, apparently), so hopefully I should be able to get ahead quite well.

In other news, one of my best friends just had a baby today, and I'm so excited!!! Can't wait till I get to see him! :)

The Little Procrastination Guide: How to Avoid Your Thesis

These past two weekends, I've intended to get some work done on my thesis. Last weekend, however, going out for two nights in a row led to quite a comatose, unproductive weekend. This weekend I did manage to get a few things done, but nothing too notable. So, to anyone else working on their thesis, or something similar, here are a couple of ways to procrastinate, while still feeling like you're doing something worthwhile and work related:

1. DIY - Make a nice cover for your diary
A couple of years ago I remember my friend Anna having covered her diary in photos of her friends, so I thought I'd do the same. I got myself one of those diaries that let you make your own covers, printed out some (really bad quality) photos, and this is the result:

Front cover

Back cover

Despite the crappy quality and the uneven pictures, I have to say I'm really pleased with how it turned out! And it makes me smile every time I see it.

2. Time management
I tend to be a lot better at planning my time than actually following those plans, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I've seen a couple of friends making monthly calendars from post it notes on their wall, especially when there are lots of deadlines or things to get done during a certain period. It's also a great visualisation tool, so I thought I'd use it for my master's thesis (see, I was sort of working on it, right?). I've picked a deadline for it, which is mid-December, and I made this to keep track:

It covers a period of 15 weeks, starting on 3rd September, and I'll be marking all major deadlines, meetings with the professor, exams etc. on it. I'll also be removing a post it note every day, which hopefully will motivate me (not long to go now!) and not stress me (oh crap, there's no way I can finish it on time!) - it could go either way...

On Bilingualism

This spring, when I was writing my bachelor's thesis, I got to immerse myself in a topic that I've always been very interested in, i.e. bilingualism. As someone who was raised bilingually in both a bilingual family and a bilingual environment, and whose potential children will also be raised bilingually, I've always found the entire concept of bilingualism, and especially bilingual child rearing, very fascinating.

While researching my topic, I learned a lot about raising children bilingually, and many things I thought I knew about the subject were proved wrong. For example, I used to think that as longs as each parent keep strictly to one language, then there is no reason why the child shouldn't become bilingual. I assumed that's the way it was, because that's the way it had been in my family. What I didn't take into account, however, was that my family lived in an entirely bilingual setting - a bilingual country, and a small, bilingual town, where the country's minority language was actually a majority language*. So what my family had was actually what many researchers call the ideal setting, where the minority language is the common language of the family (i.e. Finnish was the minority language in my town, but the common language at home) - with an added bonus of us living in a country where that "minority" language was actually used everywhere outside my hometown.

Wow, this is getting really confusing, but my point is this: when I grew up, I received a lot of input in both of my languages, both at home and outside of it, which is really as good a situation as you can possibly have. It is also quite an uncommon situation outside of bilingual areas. So, someone who's moved to another country, and has a partner from that country, will most likely have nowhere near as good a situation (linguistically speaking) as my family did. Hence my assumption that it would be enough for, for example, a Finnish woman living in the UK to simply stick to speaking Finnish to her children in order for them to learn it perfectly was way off - it really takes a lot more work and determination than that, and even then there is no certainty about the outcome, as many factors play a part.

As well as learning about raising bilingual children, my research also taught me some things about myself and my own situation, and it seems that this has been an ongoing process, as I had an epiphany of sorts yesterday. I tend to mix my languages a lot - my Swedish is spiced with Finnish and English words and expressions, and some English is added to my Finnish - because I know that everyone can understand me, and I either can't think of the right word fast enough, or there is a better way of saying it in another language. Obviously I don't do this when speaking to monolingual people, but most people I know speak at least two languages, so it's never a problem. However, I have friends who grew up speaking only Swedish or Finnish, and they don't tend to mix languages as much as I do, which sometimes makes me feel like I'm not quite at their level linguistically. In the literature on bilingualism, however, it was clearly stated that this mixing of languages (i.e. code-switching) isn't a sign of lacking linguistic abilities, but simply a communication tool used by bilinguals. So the fact that I'm mixing languages more than my friends are (even though they all speak at least two or three languages now) is just because I grew up with two languages, and got used to making the most of them, so now I'm doing the same thing with all my languages.

I'm looking forward to taking my research to the next level with my master's thesis this autumn - I'm sure I'll learn loads more about the topic in the process.

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*Confusing? Basically, the majority of Finns speak Finnish, and Swedish is the minority language, but in my home town Swedish is the majority language, with a minority of Finnish speakers

Project MA Thesis

As I may have mentioned in one or two posts this year, I wrote my bachelor's thesis this spring. This fall, I'm starting on my master's thesis, cos that's just how fucked up awesome our uni system is (really, it is pretty good, cos it's my choice to do it like this - normal people would leave it till the following year). I figured, since I'm already in a research-y state of mind, and I'm basically continuing from where I left off with my BA thesis anyway, I might as well just keep going. And I've managed to find a topic that I find interesting enough to spend ages researching, so that's good. Oh, and the fact that I'm planning to do the interviews for my thesis in Scotland may just have motivated me to do it asap. Just a little bit.

It's only July, and I don't go back to uni until September, but I've already got the ball rolling - mainly because of my inability to wait for anything unless I really really have to. I sent out e-mails to a few people that I thought might be able to help me out with finding people to interview - not expecting to hear anything back for a while, as most people are probably on holiday at the moment - but I got immediate responses, and really positive ones as well! These lovely people are really happy to help me out with anything I may need. Score! And then I sort of promised I'd have questionnaires ready by the beginning of September, because leaving it any longer than that would probably have them wonder why the hell I got in touch with them in July. So, I guess I'd better get started!

I found a blog with advice on thesis-writing, and it had a post titled "How to get started on your master's thesis". One of the points there was that you should tell people you're writing your thesis. Don't say "I'm about to start working on my thesis," tell them you are working on it. Because "thinking it makes it so", as comedian Simon Amstell puts it (in a different context alltoghether, but it works anyway). So I did just that.

Another piece of advice the blog post gave me was that you shouldn't just create an empty Word document and label it MAthesis.doc. Instead, when you finally do create that document, label it worldchangingresearch.doc. So I took the notebook I've been carrying around and using to jot down ideas I get for my thesis (as my professor recommended) and named it Amazing and World Altering Research 2012. It sure will be!

So, I've got in touch with a few people, I've got some thesis writing guides from the library, and I've booked my tickets for Scotland (first things first!).
The journey has begun (dun dun duuuun).

Now what?

I've been working my arse off this spring. Well, sort of - depends what you compare it to, of course, but because everything's relative, and I only compare it to how much I usually work, I get to state that this spring, I've been working my arse off. I'll be getting nearly as many credits for this spring as I usually get in a year (see, those months in Edinburgh didn't slow my studies down, honest!), and I've started, and completed my bachelor's thesis. Which, to be honest, and considering my track record, I wasn't sure I'd manage, at least not by the deadline. (One of the perks (or maybe the perk?) of living with your parents for a while - you don't have to rely only on your conscience to nag you into getting stuff done.)

The point of this post isn't to show you all how very good and efficient I've been (well, maybe just a little bit). It's to say: today, now that I've finished my last class, and my last assignment, and the only exam I had to do, what am I supposed to do with my time? I still live with my parents (i.e. in BFN) for another month, so not much to do here. It's not like I was always working up till now either, but even when I was just hanging out, doing nothing, I always had all the work that had to be done at the back of my mind. I had a few nights when I didn't really need to do any work, but at some point I still ended up going back to my thesis, just because I had nothing better to do, or because I felt some weird urge to work on it. Scary shit.

So here I am, done with all the stuff that needed to be done for uni this term (except some final little fiddling with my thesis), with absolutely nothing to do. First world problem?

Oh, I'm not too worried. It's just the usual culture shock when moving from term into summer, but I'll manage. A few days from now I'll look back at this post, and laugh at it in contempt. Except that I won't, because in a few days time, I'll be back in the burgh. Hell yeah!

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5 good things right now

Here are five things that are pretty great at the moment:

1. Spring
Spring is here! Sure, there are still piles of snow all over the place, and I haven't been able to change into my spring jacket yet, but in the city the streets are pretty bare, the sun feels warm, and it's light out in the mornings! Besides, it's almost April and Easter, and then spring is definitely here!

2. Thesis
Today it's exactly one month until the day I need to do the presentation of my Bachelor's thesis, and I need to hand in a draft in a couple of weeks. I'm not stressed, though, since I've been way ahead of schedule the entire time. It's supposed to be 15-20 pages, and I have about 18 now. Not far to go now!

3. Summer job
The search is over! And it's taken the stress and agony of the whole process with it! I got a summer job! And it's even in my own field! And pays quite well (for being an internship)! And it's really close to my flat! And the fact that I got it is, in general, really, really great!

4. Travel
In less than three weeks I'm going to Rome. I haven't been there before, and despite being a massive planner, I haven't even figured out what you can do in Rome, but I'm sure it'll be great (although it's Easter, and not the best time to go there, since that's when everyone else is there). I was planning to study a bit of Italian before going, but that plan didn't work out, what with everything else going on. Oh, well, at least I can order wine, and that's what matters!

5. Visits
I've already had two of the friends I made in Scotland visit me, and the next one will be here in just a week. Can't wait! Oh, that reminds me, there's someone I need to remind to start planning her visit, since she promised she'd come...

Picture: weheartit