Week 1: What the heck have I gotten myself into?
Hello folks, I am normally a pretty private person with very limited personal social media so blogging is something very new to me.
For many years I have thought about going back to school to do a Master’s degree. It was not possible for me to think about doing this until now, for a variety of reasons. I am finally here.
I was worried about how much older I might be compared to the rest of the students, wondering how I would be accepted, especially when reading through the course outlines to select my options. So many choices to pick from, and I can only sign up for 80 credit hours! With my first short list I was going for about 180 hours (HAHAHHAHAH WHAT AM I THINKING? So the list was shortened as follows).
Letting my fellow students assign part of my grade? Scary! Group work? Eeeeek, will it be like it was in undergrad with all the work falling on one or two people? How will it work when I am attending remotely? Will I be able to make the time and keep up since I have to continue working? I aimed for courses with papers that were weighted heavily and limited group work. Attending actual sessions? Given the time change between my home and the UK this was another thing I avoided… although I noted that there appeared to be some courses with a few days of class…. not really knowing what that would mean.
Now here I am, registered in my courses for semester 1 and 2 for the first year of my two years of study.
So far, there have been meetings at 2am, 4am, 7am, and a LOT of different places to look for information. Amazing that all the books and resources are availability digitally, but I swear I am going to need stronger prescription lenses soon with all my screen time (between work and study and of course Netflix and Twitter).
By far, the hardest part is going to be the time difference. I have met only a few of the other students, but they all seem really nice and very open to forming some great relationships. I do wish I was there in person, as I think it would have been better to focus my study rather than trying to juggle everything, but maybe I can do that next year.
We have excellent tech support and interactivity so far, and I have joined a team to help improve the experience for future.
Reading non-fiction and academic literature is nothing new to me, but the articles and books I am reading now… some of it is hard to read. I feel pretty rusty and worry that I will not be able to make my brain work in this way or at the times of night it will need to, but I am a worrier by trade.
How do I pick only a few readings when I want to read EVERYTHING? Maybe I can make the time…? (HAHAHAHAH WHAT AM I THINKING? So the list was shortened as follows).
What do I want to learn about that I don’t know as much about right now?
What books do I already own in hard copy? (hooray for screen relief)
What is essential – is it only one book? Can I buy it here in Canada?
And when I dig in, is it easy to digest? Does it hold my interest? Are there any dog or cat references?
Excited but still anxious, and already pretty tired. It’s funny to do homework beside my teenager.
Hi Darcie, I also have a lot of difficulty when reading a lot on the computer, but I find e-ink devices much more gentle on my eyes. I don’t know if you have the budget for toys, but if you do–or if you know anyone who owes you a swanky birthday present–this thing ( https://www.amazon.com/BOOX-Android-G-Sensor-Digital-Notepad/dp/B08H83GCBT/ ) has been a life-saver for me. The Boox devices are e-ink tablets running on android systems, so on mine, for example, I have the Kindle reader installed for ebooks bought on Amazon, and then I use built-in software for reading and annotating PDFs of articles I download. Some local libraries also use apps like Overdrive or Libby for borrowing and reading ebooks, and these apps can be installed on it as well.
Thanks Theresa, I already know I can count on you with helpful suggestions!! I bought a Remarkable last year but haven’t tried to read with it, but I suspect it may be similar. Taking a lot of breaks is helping, but my screen time is way way up due to working all day and reading/studying at night 🙂 . I will check out the library options!
Hi Darcie! Nice to meet you 🙂 I can resonate with much of what you’ve shared (including the being a private person bit and not having much social media). I’m also on your side of the world, so more than happy to connect as and when you’d like, during the day time haha
Thanks Maryam for commenting on my post, I wasn’t very confident in posting it so to know it helped us connect make me feel happy! I would love to take you up on connecting when we are fully awake :P.
Hi, I am Hanyu Wang, and I will be your TA for the course this year. You blog took me back to the year when I just arrived in Edinburgh and attended my first week of MSc courses. I remember myself panicking a lot about the reading material and the assignments. It could take us a few weeks to get used to the new student life and get everything under control, but I am sure you will be there. Please just take baby steps and enjoy your life. About the screen time, I find the blue light blocking glasses quite useful. I am not sure whether you wear glasses at all, but you could have a look at it.
Hello Hanyu! Thanks for the advice. You are correct! Slowly starting to get a bit better as far as settling in and its nice to have a bit of fun (honestly enjoying blogging and having some fun teams chats with my classmates!) I do currently wear glasses with blue light filter – but maybe it is time for an upgrade! I am looking forward to meeting you in one of our classes! Was DIS your program too?
Hi Darcie! It is very exciting to see you returning to school after many years to study for your Masters degree. You must have done a lot of thinking before making your decision and that is something I need to learn from you. I should stop and think more about where I want to go.