Yesterday, my office mate at work overheard me trying to contact the international student office at my home institution to update my file there. So he asked where I was studying and that led to asking what I was writing the dissertation on.
Turns out his partner is writing on many of the same writers, and some similar themes, but her dissertation is organized around a quite different (but fascinating) set of questions. She even has a chapter coming out in the next few months on one of the novels that I'm writing about!
As I'm having this conversation, I'm thinking, "How grand! I would love to speak to this person, and share ideas." My office mate tells me his partner is like me - writing a dissertation from a distance. I get even more excited when I realize that this might be the academic connection that I've been trying to make in this town since we got here two and a half years ago! Here's someone else who not only is as academically isolated as me (and presumably would love more connection), but is also working in my area!
Then my office mate tells me his partner's flying out tomorrow to her home institution for the next 5 to 6 months.
Damn.
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2 comments:
Does it tempt you at all to follow her example? It would me... but then, almost anything would at the moment.
You mean to go back to my home institution for several months?
Sorta.
I do really long for that sense of community. But I don't know how I'd support myself while doing so and I'd miss my family terribly...
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