My life is more or less getting back to normal, and although I'm not sure I'll have time for reviews soon, I thought I'd update you on what's been happening in my corner of the world while I was trying not to fall victim to a permanent depression :)
1) My freshly printed master's thesis is lying on the table in front of me! It's been a lot of work (especially during this last week before the deadline, of course :) I NEVER do anything in advance, I'm a typical student :) ), and I'm so happy I'll submit it tomorrow! Here, I've made a picture for you:
My phone takes crappy pics, but the binding does look serious, right? :)
2) I'm one exam, one thesis defense and one state exam from becoming a master! I really hope it all goes well, and of course I'm going to prepare like hell next month! This state exam is a serious thing :(
3) Family time is coming! I'm flying home for three weeks this Friday and then my mom will come to my graduation in July! There is at least one positive thing about crisis in Russia - tickets are very cheap now :) My mom has always wanted to see Czech Republic! We are both so excited!
4) I'm in the middle of my Ph.D. application, and although I'm far from being sure I want to actually BECOME a Ph.D., work here at the university is kind of fun, pays well and will hopefully provide me with more traveling soon! We'll see how it all goes, my life's a bit of a mess right now, so planning is difficult.
5) As for books, I've been reading a bit these past weeks, although my attention spun has never been so short! I've finished Watership Down (not impressed) and The Warden (blah), read The Republic of Thieves (I did like it, but far less than the previous books in the series. Although my mood did affect the reading), and nearly finished Starship Grifters, which even made me laugh sometimes. I think I'll made a mini-reviews post on them sometime soon, so stay tuned :) I've also started Outlander, but it's only irritating me so far, so I'll probably put it aside if this situation doesn't change in the next 50 pages.
6) I've been neglecting my own reading for Language Freak Challenge because of total lack of time and concentration, but I did catch up on my RSS feed, and I know we already have at least one review this month! Wait for the recap post in the end of the month and don't forget to post your review posts if you read something for the challenge!
Wish you all a nice end of spring and see you (hopefully) soon! :)
Wow! You have so much going on! I definitely don't blame you for taking a break from blogging...and your thesis looks beautiful! Congratulations on being so close to being done with your master's!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :) The printing was very expensive, but I was surprised how cool it looks, so I don't regret paying so much for this :)
DeleteOh wow, look at your thesis! Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWatership Down is so 70s that you might have to have read it more than 20 years ago to really like it.
Have a great visit home and post pictures! I promise I will start reading my Danish book after this week. It's finals week at my work, and after that I feel like I'll be able to do it.
Yes, WD certainly feels outdated... It's probably not the book to survive the test of time and become a classic... Thank you and good luck with your Danish and finals week!
DeleteGlad to hear that you are feeling a little better! Your thesis looks wonderful ……. definitely professional and academic. If you get your Ph.D. we might have to start calling you Dr. E. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI liked The Warden but I'm reading enough heavy, serious books to enjoy the little mental break it gave me. I agree with you about Outlander. It starts out as irritating and if you read enough it becomes painful. I didn't read any more books in the series.
I've read one Spanish children's book so far for the challenge, which reminds me, I must do a review. I'm not sure what I'm going to tackle next.
Enjoy your time with your family!
OMG, "Dr." sounds so weird! I haven't really thought about it yet :)) Thank you and I'm looking forward to your review! :)
Delete1. I'm glad to see that you are doing better now. Having personal problems and writing masters at the same time? You are a superwoman, I tell you. I,m so happy you are doing so well in your education! And you are almost there! That thesis looks very serious indeed, I wish you all the luck in upcoming exams.
ReplyDelete2. Why you no like Watership Down... :( I saw you finishing it up on Goodreads and had to read it too. I have to say I really liked it. The only beef I have with the book, is that the whole story is basically about the lengths rabbits would go to get laid. Very strange... Otherwise, I got pretty attached to the characters.
3. Yes to the Outlander. It is so chick lit, and not even a good chic lit. I'm still in the beginning, and the only aspect I truly enjoyed were the conversations the heroine had with her husband about Scottish folklore and tradition. I'll do my best to finish the book though.
Have a great time with your family! I want to visit Russia really bad, especially now that tickets are cheep, but I'm swamped by life :(
. Thanks a lot! I'd prefer NOT to have to be a superwoman, but it's not that I had any choice... :)
Delete2. I'll write my reasons for not liking it in the review, but it was not because I felt like everything is happening just in order to "get laid". They were more interested in baby-rabbits, I think, and it was all quite practical...
3. Oh, I didn't even like these conversations. Nothing really new, and feels like an information dump. well, we'll see how it continues, but right now I'm unenthusiastic...
Thanks a lot! Well, I have no idea about the situation with the US-RUS tickets, but between Czech Rep and Russia they are like two times cheaper now than usual O_O So maybe it's more available than you think!
Wow, your thesis looks very professional! Congratulations! :^) I read Watership Down but I was MUCH younger, and I liked it, but that was a long time ago, so... -_- I had the same reaction to Outlander - a coworker lent it to me and I didn't get very far - I just couldn't get into it. I felt bad giving it back to her, but life is too short and my TBR Pile is too big :^) Have a wonderful trip home!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) Well, I agree that for children it might be good, but then I hated tear-inducing books about animals even when I was a child :) IDK, Outlander has really high ratings... I still can't believe it's all that bad! So I'm waiting 50 more pages to see if something interesting start to happen :)
DeleteI agree - you are a superwoman. I remember that when I was going through my worst break-up to date (here's to no more of those coming along :p), I couldn't even get out of bed, basically, not to mention reading or functioning like a normal human being. The thesis looks very good indeed!
ReplyDeleteAlso, exciting travelling news. I envy your mum, though I've been to Prague, I'd really like to visit some other places in Czech Rep as well (we have friends living in ... um... what was that beer-related place... Plzen). I hope you will have lotsa fun!
Outlander - I read about half of it last summer, but then put it down because reasons. I think I wasn't quite ready for it to be that erm, chick-lit-ish. Everyone kept saying how awesome and etc it is, and I guess I had wrong expectations. Maybe I'll pick it up again with a different mindset some day...
Thanks, Riv! Well, strictly speaking I didn't get out of bed much either :) With all the practical stuff done and all the theoretical stuff you can find on the Internet, you can finish your diploma without actually getting up :) I've ordered pizzas more times than ever in my life! But yes, definitely, here's to no more of that!!!
DeleteTo my shame I have to admit that I haven't been to Plzen yet, although I've been living here for three years already! Moving around without a car is not extremely convenient in Czech Rep :( We plan to visit Prague and Vienna and wonderful caves which are here near Brno! I'm sooo looking forward!
Oh, I was also soo not ready for THAT amount of chick-lit stuff in the book O_O I had to listen to you when you told me so :) But high ratings tend to blind me... I think I'll have to put it down too.