Thesis dreaMS Part 5 – reflections of a slightly mature disabled PhD student.

A coming together of generations

Also known as the week I felt my age.

Look at this beautiful place! In my day, these were the places that were full of people studying, because books were the way to get the knowledge that others had written. Not anymore! This part of the library is upstairs and rather empty, while downstairs is full of computers. Lots and lots of them. I like books. Add a couple of Bernese Mountain dogs and a load of chocolate to this picture and I’m in heaven. I found the book I needed. It looked like it had never been read before. There’s something very exciting about actually finding the book you want on the shelf in the library. I like books.

This week, my 9 year old granddaughter came to stay. She started at her new school and talked about the research she was doing for her science project. A lil researcher in the making! Her mum took photos of our respective backpacks – guess which is hers and which is mine…

My granddaughter went to enrol in the local library and was so excited when she was told she can take 100 books out at a time! Can you tell she’s my granddaughter? I was equally excited when I was told at the university library that I could have books out for longer because I’m a graduate student! I like books.

In one course, we discussed a reading, and a student commented on how difficult she had found it because it was history and she had to look the context up. I thought it easy because it was so relevant that the context could be seen as current affairs. Ho hum. I’m old.

I ordered a whiteboard/flip chart stand that arrived while my granddaughter was here. Yes, it’s large, and yes, I’m sure it’s not ‘normal’ to have one in your living room, but who wants to be normal? My granddaughter got it ready for me before she left:

Nice of her to get me started!