renate.nu

The other exam that I was even more worried about?

ANOTHER A.

Also, thanks so much for all the comments on my previous awesome-post. :)

Because you know what? That first exam that I was so worried about?

I got an A.

:D :D :D :D :D

I had my first exam of the semester today, in the lovely subject of work and everyday life 1800-2000. The assignment was to examine the relationships of power that shaped the work and everyday life of the servant girls, as compared to another group of workers. I chose the industry workers as my group for comparison, and wrote 8 pages in the space of 4 hours. Now. I’d say that probably 70% of my essay is pretty darn good, whereas the remaining 30% are, well, a little confusing perhaps. I lost my train of thought in the middle of writing a paragraph, so it turned out a little…weird. I think I got my point across, but it might boggle the mind of whoever is to censor it.

And now, now I’m constantly second-guessing myself and the choices I made. Was choosing the industry workers going too broad, should I have focused on one specific branch of industry workers? Was I clear enough in how I limited the assignment in time? Are all of my facts correct? Did I understand “relationships of power” the way it was meant to?

I spoke to a girl who sat the same exam right after I handed in my paper, and she said that she was pretty happy about the assignment as “we’ve read quite a few exam papers on this topic”, and I was all “what? what!? THERE ARE EXAMPLE PAPERS WE COULD READ?”

Only you know, I said that in my head.

I’m pretty sure that if there were indeed such example papers readily available for us to peruse, then our professor would surely have notified us, because he wants us all to do well.

And speaking of doing well on written exams: I am going to, eventually, post a bit of a rant about how I feel about written school exams versus the possibility of home exams. I will, however, post this on my Norwegian blog. If there by any strange twist of internet fate should be anyone non-Norwegian interested in reading said rant, I will try to translate it once it’s done, and post it here, so let me know. The reason I’m posting it in Norwegian to begin with is simply that it’s easier for me to express my opinions on this specific topic in Norwegian, because I can at least somewhat assume that my readers there know the Norwegian education system. Also, I plan on quoting from a few Norwegian websites, and I really hate translating quotes – there’s always the danger that the quote will lose its essence when translated.

I talked to my boss today about my possible plans for a master’s degree in history, and at first she just said that well, a master’s degree is always nice and handy. Then I told her the topic I’ve been thinking about for my thesis, and she was all for it. It’s not that her approval will be a decisive factor, but if I can get her behind me, then maybe I can get approval for paid time off to attend lectures, and that counts for a LOT. Right now, I go to lectures 4 hours a week, but that’s time I have to work extra later to make up for.

And the thing is, I might be able to start taking master level classes already this fall. I’m only missing one mandatory course to get my bachelor’s diploma (it’s silly – it’s one of the courses that you’re supposed to take during your first year of studying, I just chose not to). I’d originally planned on taking at least one more bachelor level class in history, to make my bachelor’s degree more uniform and not such a patchwork of different studies, but I don’t know. The thing is, I don’t have to, and if I get a master’s degree, no one’s going to care what courses I did for my bachelor’s. But then I had also originally planned on studying this spring plus the coming fall, and then take next spring off and just work. I don’t know. It might be dangerous to take time off, too, because that will just make it harder to get started again.

Either way, here’s what I should do (later in the year, when I’ve had more time to think):

• Talk to the institute to figure out how I’d need to plan the degree when doing it part time.
• Talk to the professor I want as an advisor for my thesis, and see if he thinks my idea is any good at all.
• Figure out if work will “sponsor” me.

…but as it is, I am considering a master’s degree in history. Yes! Last semester I would say almost every day how yeah, I’d get a master’s degree, but NOT in history, no siree, not EVAH. But now, I kinda want to. I’ve even got some possible thesis subjects on my mind.

This whole change came because of one thing: I moved on from the lower level history-of-everything classes, on to the more specialised ones, where you don’t have to know EVERYTHING within a given time period (seriously, antiquity AND the middle ages? Those are a lot of years to cover.), but rather delve more deeply into a subject (more or less) of your own choosing. Obviously you have to pick from the available classes, but we have a pretty diverse group of classes to choose from. I went with history of work and daily life (HWDL), and history of technology (HT). So far, work and daily life is the best. Really. The professor is so nice, and the group is small. This is also true for history of technology, but I don’t know, for now I just feel more connected to HWDL. Our term paper subject is also a good one: Write a historically angled text about changes that have happened in a field concerning one or more groups of people, as related to work and/or daily life. Meaning? Write about almost anything, as long as it’s well researched and well written. AWE-SOME. I’m probably writing mine about the changes in work and daily life for women over the span of two generations – the first generation being my grandmother’s, the second being my mom’s. We have to find the majority of our literature/other sources from outside the course books, and he mentioned interviews as being one of the possible sources. So I’m going to interview my mom, about her life as a girl and more or less up to now, and about my grandmother’s life. I do wish my grandmother was still alive so that I could interview her directly, but that’s life. Also, my mom said that had grandma still been alive now, her memories would probably have been rather jumbled anyway.

The term paper for history of technology has yet to be given out, but apparently they’re not looking for run of the mill, straight outta the books, this-is-what-I-think-my-professor-wants-to-hear kind of stuff, but rather a more daring paper where we speak our own minds about whatever the topic is, and throw out thoughts and ideas that might seem far fetched. Both professors have specified that they don’t want us to just KNOW the facts and recite what’s been written by others, but that we think, and form our own thoughts, and as long as we can back them up with good arguments – based on our readings, and/or other sources – we can’t go much wrong. I love this. I love it when there is no right and wrong, where I can just let my thoughts spin a web of their own. It’s what I excel at. I’m so much better at that than with spewing out years and names and causes of wars. I like thinking. I like speculating. I like arguing points that the standard history books won’t, because it might take up a whole chapter just to explain it all.

This semester is going to be great. I can’t wait!

My exam is December 1. Until then, I live and breathe studying. Seriously. I get up in the morning, read a bit if I have time before I have to run to the bus, then go to work, study in my lunch break (ok, haven’t done this yet, but will starting tomorrow), work some more, go home, study, make dinner, study, shower, study, sleep. Repeat repeat repeat.

Obviously I’m also taking the time to write this, because I JUST NEED A BREAK, OK?

Anyway. After December 1, I will be free. FREE! Whatever will I do with all that spare time?

Here’s what:

• Play video games. I’ve got a few unfinished ones.
• Go to the gym. Because I need it BADLY.
• Read for pleasure.
• Watch movies.
• Decorate for Christmas.
• Bake!
• Buy Christmas presents.
• Start reading next term’s literature… But I’m actually looking forward to it!