{"id":821,"date":"2018-06-08T18:36:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T18:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/?p=821"},"modified":"2020-12-20T15:48:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T15:48:55","slug":"finding-what-works-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/finding-what-works-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Location: Finding what works for you\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello All!<\/p>\n

Over the past few months I feel like I\u2019ve been extremely busy! Busy attending conferences, doing guest lectures, giving a presentation in front of my department, applying for grants, and continuing to collect contextual information from both primary and secondary sources for my thesis. I\u2019ve been doing whatever I can to help the team gear up for the coming field season and I\u2019ve also been picking away at the enormous task of writing my thesis. It\u2019s safe to say that there have been several times over the past few months I\u2019ve been feeling a little overwhelmed. Somehow, I always manage to get the rest of it done, however, sometimes I haven\u2019t been able to meet my thesis writing goals. I\u2019ve quickly learned that writing this is a tricky process! \u2013sometimes the words just flow onto the page, and other times, it can be like pulling teeth.<\/p>\n

In April, I decided to take a quick trip home to Nova Scotia. It was so good to spend time with my family and friends who I don\u2019t get to see very often these days. The trip was also a wonderful opportunity for me to step away from my work, even it was just for a long weekend. Though my visit flew by, I did leave home feeling as if I\u2019d managed to recharge a bit. I came back to St. John\u2019s ready to work but within a matter of days, I was already feeling overwhelmed again \u2013and even a little guilty for having taken that time off (silly, I know). I came to realize that it was time for me to look everything over and seriously change my approach. I needed to come up with a way to stop feeling weighed down by the amount of things I had to do, especially if there was any way I was actually going to get them all done! This brings me to where I am now \u2013and that\u2019s back in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon!<\/p>\n

What am I doing in Saint-Pierre this time you might ask? Well, it\u2019s something of a research trip meets writing retreat. I am at the local museum most days, combing through their impressive library of books related to the history and culture of the islands as well as their collection of primary sources which largely pertain to the later history -from the 19th<\/sup>-20th<\/sup> century. While this continued research is certainly enhancing my understanding of the islands\u2019 historical trajectory, I am also here simply to write. Like Anna so eloquently put it in her fabulous post last week<\/a>, this time away from home is \u201ca source for new ideas and renewed motivation.\u201d Although not an adventurous vacation (-I am still very much living the graduate student life!), this trip is similar in that it is a much-needed break from the graduate student atmosphere. No more lab, no more office, instead I\u2019m spending time back in the community I research. I\u2019ve been here for two weeks now and I am already having a great time. The pictures here were taken on one of many walks out to \u201cLa Pointe\u201d on the southeastern edge of the Saint-Pierre harbour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Being back in the culture I\u2019m studying has also really helped me with my work. Most archaeologists and anthropologists work within a cultural context that\u2019s different from their own. As a result, I\u2019ve never thought much of me being an Anglo-Canadian working in a historical French context. Instead, I saw my graduate student research as the prime opportunity for me to actually learn French. That said, I\u2019ve been working on this project for coming up on 2 years now and I\u2019ll fully admit, I\u2019m still not speaking it. I will say that I have been busy learning many other tools of the trade along the way so I haven\u2019t actually been able to spend as much time improving my French as I would\u2019ve liked \u2013and truthfully, the time I have invested into has proven it\u2019s difficult for me. Some people seem to take to other languages like nothing but what I\u2019ve come to learn about myself is I\u2019m just not like that. It\u2019s funny because I usually consider myself a fast learner but when it comes to mastering my second language, that\u2019s a whole other story it seems.<\/p>\n

For the most part, not being fluent in French while also being part of this research project has not been an issue for me. Luckily, there is no language barrier when it comes to reading the archaeology! As well, being Canadian, I have had some level of exposure to French quite literally all my life. My reading comprehension in French is not bad but the formal or \u201cold-timey\u201d language of historical texts can still be quite challenging. However, being back here in Saint-Pierre and surrounded by the language all day, has worked wonders. Both my verbal understanding and reading comprehension has significantly increased \u2013it\u2019s as if a switch has flicked on in my brain! I\u2019m not struggling nearly as much to work through some of these French texts half as much as I was when I was trying to read them back in St. John\u2019s<\/p>\n

Overall, this trip has turned out to be exactly what I needed to create a positive mindset for me to get things done. Coming back here has allowed me to establish the right environment to work through my thesis. Figuring it out, finding what works for me, realizing the right environment, and finally forging this right mindset for the current chapter of my graduate student research proved challenging! But here I am \u2013still with a ton of work left ahead of me before I complete my degree \u2013but I\u2019m also finally in a place where despite all of that, I still feel like I can breathe! It took so long for me to get here, but now that I am it feels so so good. When it comes to writing a thesis, or carrying out graduate student research more broadly, what works for some other people might not work for you \u2013and that\u2019s totally ok. It\u2019s taking the necessary steps to ensure you\u2019re in the right place (-be it literally or figuratively!) for getting it done that matters. Since being back in Saint-Pierre, I\u2019m beginning to figure out more and more what works for me. The past couple of months before coming here were not for nothing because gaining a better idea of what doesn\u2019t work is really important too \u2013after all, you\u2019ve got to start somewhere!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An old friend of ours. We first met him last summer at the Point where our excavations took place.<\/p><\/div>\n

As always, thanks for reading!<\/p>\n

~Meghann<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

  http:\/\/www.tb-credit.ru\/zaimy-na-kartu.html<\/a><\/span> <\/a> <\/a> http:\/\/www.otc-certified-store.com\/antivirals-medicine-usa.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello All! Over the past few months I feel like I\u2019ve been extremely busy! Busy attending conferences, doing guest lectures, giving a presentation in front of my department, applying for grants, and continuing to collect contextual information from both primary and secondary sources for my thesis. I\u2019ve been doing whatever I can to help the … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-meghann-livingston","4":"post-821","6":"format-standard","7":"category-student-blog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1657,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions\/1657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}