Jul 20, 2006

Over the Pond, Day 4 -- Aquinas, Aquinas, Aquinas...

And more Aquinas. I'm so tired of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and so glad that this paper will be (largely) completed tomorrow. I'll have a few additional articles to incorporate during August, but the bulk of it will be submitted. Hooray! Then, on to Augustine.

I'm still pretty tired, as I arrived exhausted from travel and have been working pretty late to finish this damn thing. Overall, though, my time with my advisor, Robert, has been excellent. He's very encouraging and gracious and very knowledgeable. We constructed a good working outline for my thesis (in England you write a dissertation for a masters, and a thesis for a doctorate -- I always get them confused), as well as a timeline for its completion. It will only take me... 5 more years.

What???? That means I will have spent 8 years (ok, part-time, but still) on this project. I feel faint.

But upon reflection, it makes sense. This took Robert 5 years, fulltime, no spouse, no child, no job. And this field is fairly different from my previous studies. Ok, I feel better now. A little.

I'm off tomorrow to spend a couple of days at the Northumbria Community up near Scotland. I'll rest, read, and join them in praying the Daily Office. It should be wonderful. Then, off to Harrogate for a day or two. I'm not sure when I'll get back online, but I'll do what I can. Thanks for joining me on the journey!

To close, the daily highlights:

1) Spending several great hours with Robert, his wife Margaret, and their kids Iona and Jamie tonight over dinner. It felt just like family, especially when 4 1/2 yr old Jamie made me read a western Veggie Tales book with my genuine Texas accent. That was fun!
2) Ummm.. more good tea and orange marmalade at breakfast. Honestly, that's all I can think of today.

1 comment:

Lazymom said...

Glad your enjoying yourself. We miss ya!!!