It’s official…..I am in the data collection phase!! Yippee! I have two interviews under my belt and a few more in the works. It feels good to be a little bit ahead of schedule with this aspect of the project. I had originally thought that I would start data collection in July or August, but my first interview was on June 27th. Not too shabby. The momentum is still building and hopefully it will continue to build. There is always something a little anxiety provoking at this stage in the game where you worry that you won’t get enough participants or that the whole stage will take much longer than anticipated. Only time will tell and sadly, I don’t really have any control over this, I will just have to wait and see.
The next big hurdle is my upgrade viva/oral comprehensive. In England, when you begin a PhD you are actually registered as a Masters student (MPhil). You have to upgrade to a PhD after the first year. My legendary presentation to all the other medical students, submission of a 70 page thesis and an oral comprehensive to two examiners are the steps required to upgrade. Sounds like a lot of work. Why did I think this was a good idea? All that is left to do for me is book the upgrade viva/oral comprehensive. Hopefully this will happen sometime in August. Then by September I will have achieved ABD status – All But Defended.
In professional circles, I’ll be known as:
RM, B.A., B.H.Sc., M.A. PhD(c)
How obnoxious.
About Me
- B & B
- Leeds (aka Bumtown, UK), West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
The Idiossey - Definition
Odyssey n. An extended, adventurous wandering.
Idiocy n. 1. A condition of subnormal intellectual ability in the lowest measurable range. 2. Something extremely foolish or stupid.
Why would two people leave their loving families, fun friends, excellent careers, nice house, comfortable lives, familiar surroundings and the greatest country in the world to move to a city Charles Dickens referred to as the most disagreeable in England?
I direct you to the definition of Idiocy above.
But its not that simple. There were opportunities in England which were not available in The New World which we were compelled to pursue. So we did. Now we'll make every effort to see the best and worst of the lands of our ancestors while we also attempt to take the most advantage of the aforementioned opportunities.
I direct you to the definition of Odyssey above.
We hope that this blog will be a chronicle of our Idiossey and allow us stay close to those of you who will be missed by us.
