jigsaw falling into place

As we get closer to Departure Day, I am finding out more things. It is exciting! I stopped counting each Day In The States because it stresses me out to think about. (I do know I am leaving a week from today, Wednesday the 15th. I am measuring my life in Wednesdays, much like how J. Alfred Prufrock measures his life in coffee spoons.)

Until about a week or so ago, I wasn't sure if I would be taking classes. This shouldn't have been this vague, but it was. Strathclyde does not offer a Masters in Literary Linguistics, but they do offer a PhD, and I need a Masters degree to be in a PhD program. (I believe I am a PhD-track student, but I'm not 100% sure. It's complicated, as you can see.) Way back in November 2009, which by the way feels like a lifetime ago now, I wrote up a research proposal for my application as a research ("PhD") student. Because I was not applying for a taught program - where there would be a set course structure - but rather a research program, it was unclear exactly what my first year would look like.

It looks like I will be taking two classes at Strathclyde -- one which is relevant to my research (!) and another which is a Postgraduate Research Skills Seminar of some sort. Additionally, I might be either taking or auditing classes at Glasgow University, which is our "sister school". (I am of the understanding that at Strathclyde I am in an English Department that focuses on linguistics, and Glasgow University has a linguistics department that focuses on English.)

It turns out that the day we arrive (Sept 16) is a book launch party for one of the creative writing professors. That night the English Department is having a party, which I will be attending, jetlagged and disoriented. Here I will be meeting the other postgraduates and my future professors for the first time, which will undoubtedly prove interesting.

Today I am wrapping up my research project at Harvard and Wheaton, and I still have to figure out what I am doing with my column. This weekend I am headed to Planet UNH to see a lot of people in a very short period of time. This whole-leaving-the-country thing is getting real!