So yesterday was Friday and as far as days rank it was fascinating because I don't have a ranking for it. It had so many ups and downs, just incredible.
First off I had an incredibly frustrating meeting with my advisor where she essentially told me the paper structure was a little shaky and I was like okay fine that makes sense. Then she started picking on the content and it was one of those situations where I had 1500 hundred words to cover themes and examples...and at a certain point she was recommending I talk about aspects in depth that really HAD NO real value to answering the question in the framework I set about using. Maybe my framework was off, but when I voiced it in my defense she didn't argue with it, so WTF...seriously...
There were also instances where she said, well you could talk more about such n' such, and I could LITERALY point to places ON THAT page, where I brought it up, my point being: okay clearly the paragraph structure wasn't perfect because as you were reading it you thought to mention it "wasn't" there before you got to it (and then clearly she forgot I ever said it to begin with so her comment was still there from higher up on the page). GARGGGGGGGGGGGGG. Talk about being completely irrelevant. She suggested to me before to frame the paper using themes of power, soverignty etc then fine I did, but whoops I forgot to include international institutions, organizations and laws (hello!). I'm sorry, even if those are relevant, I would need about twenty five hundred words. The additional mixed message I got was: always connect each paragraph back to original idea (right ok sure), but don't be repetitive and maybe you could cut down some areas where you said something too many times to gain more space...yet when one combines that with a dose of "make sure to elaborate on this point/provide examples" and I'm sorry, but she's got to be on crack. I can't help sounding disrespectful, she's doing me a diservice here. Make up your god damn mind what you actually want to see change and STICK with a coherent message. Even if there are multiple things to rework, please please (for the love of all that is holy) make sure they don't conflict when explaining! (Thanks much).
So I've decided to submit it to my professor of the class I'm taking. If he has the same reaction, fine she is justified and clearly I missed something. If he doesn't pick on me then forget turning papers into her (she's my advisor in the IR department so she grades my IR papers instead of hte professor to ease up his workload) I'm doing them for him because there is no reason my grade should be screwed over because of her. I'm sorry but No.....just no.....manipulate system, no issues...none. So that was all before ohhhh....11AM? (with no coffee).
Then came class and thankfully because I read the articles AND their summaries I managed to participate a fair amount (huzzah!)...and then had a fifty minute coffee break where I power read through um.....corportism (yawn). Could think of no real way to contribute to that excuse for a discussion...also found out that my sociology TA made a goof with the presentation schedule and mistakenly told me/partner that the topic of terrorism was in fact open...and it wasn't, so now I have to do a presentation on a topic that I don't like on a week that is packed with stuff. Hells yes, awesomeness.
Library then to spend money printing out more reading...and finally I went to Russell Square cafe and stared into space for a while. Headed to book mom a room, HORRAY.....at a cute little place near where I live, again sweet deal.
After that I was fried. And then came back to dorm, and after about five minutes a friend knocked on my door looking for laundry soap (we jointly share) and said, "you have a penis drawn on your door." Sure enough some drunken idiots drew a penis on the door in what seems to be permanent black marker...(delightful huh?). I was like oh great, nice ending to a day already. It was only seven at that point. She told me to report it and then said a small group of people were going to smoke Shisha and did I want to come? So I reported the artwork...and headed up to my room to get ready to go.
Day picked up significantly from there. We went to Edgware Road and suddenly were in a completely different (Arab) part of London. Wow....
We were a group of six, three girls three guys and as we headed along to the Shisha place I couldn't help noticing how all the groups out and about were all men. I was reminded it is "slutty" for Arab women to wander around (even with men). Then of course we sat down outside for the shisha (chilly, but they had heaters out there so it was actually kind of nice) and of course all the other groups were men as well. Then they finally came and I think we got apple and grape flavored shisha...never actually really smoked stuff like that before. It came as part of those stands and the put coals on top so when you inhale the flavor combines with the smoke from the coals and etc. They had those long like tubes with the fancy ends that you pass around...quite a cultural experience. We also had really good mint tea to stay warm and easy relaxed conversation...it took the edge off I have to admit and I was like okay so it was a bad day, but it's over and tomorrow begins anew... Then we went to a nearby market and they made these hot flat breads (think pizza but pita dough style) with a thyme paste (pesto style) cooked on top and folded up...delicious (strong) street food. ohhhh soo tasty.
Headed back and before bed had a chat with a friend who is a grad student here and she assured me LSE professors are ridiculous with their paper comments generally. Maybe so but anyway....clearly there will be attempts to clarify, but uggg what a freaking crazyy day.
