Some time last December a dear friend told me that to finish his dissertation he went away and worked on it far from his usual environment. And that is how I finally finished. I took time off work and spent days at cafes and libraries around the city, without the usual excuses and distractions. All of the sudden I started enjoying the process. I got into a rythm and things fell into place. I also demanded from my supervisor a clear plan and specifications about what he wanted to see. This was crucial. I always tended to go astray everytime a new topic surfaced, a new idea, a new literature. I also tended to decide “what I was interested in”.
My advisor said: This is an academic exercise in which you need to show that you can do a job. Keep what you are interested in for your future research agenda… It was a blessing.
Yet, I asked him: How come the professors don’t say that upfront? He was surprised. For him it was obvious, but for me or most of my struggling classmates it never was.
Granted, I was told many times that the dissertation was not supposed to be a masterpiece and to not pick something we really cared about, as both pathways would end up without a happy ending. But a blunt: “this is you showing that you are a professional” would have really helped. It is obvious, yet…
Anyway, I did it. And finishing felt GLORIOUS! For a few weeks I was walking in clouds. Graduation was spectacular (photos coming up) and then came life without perhaps the best excuse I will ever have… More on that next time.
Mariangela Parra 