Viva, or Dr des.

Dear all,

This is Dr des. Ossianknits. I had my viva a week ago, and I passed with minor corrections. Yay!

I was dreading the whole affair. I get very nervous about exams and interviews, but this one was actually fun. I hung out in my supervisor's office beforehand. We chatted, I gave him his gifts (a 19thc copy of Ossian and a knitted tie (which I forgot to photograph); he put on the tie immediately and it looked very nice), and we waited. We talked about possible questions (and thought of possible answers), and I wasn't nervous. The viva itself was also very nice - in fact, it was quite fun. My examiners are very lovely people. It was much more like a conference than an exam. We talked for about an hour and a half, mostly about editorial technical things (which is where my corrections come in), and they very kindly suggested publishers and research ideas. I am going to start my corrections properly next week.

Why next week, you ask? Because my shiny new husband is leaving for America tomorrow: he is off to deepest darkest Connecticut for 5 weeks, for a fellowship at the Lewis Walpole Library (where we read books and played croquet last year).

So? What now? Since the viva I have knit a sock, started shawl (for the lady examiner), applied for a couple of jobs, marked essays, and dyed my hair PhD-blue (it's the colour of our dress gowns and hoods). Life is good.

Comments

[Roobeedoo]

Woo hoo! Especially the PhD-blue hair! If not now, when else could you do it?!

[Ossianknits]

Its quite good, isnt it? Its currently bright red/orangey...