Almost There

My BA thesis is downright screaming for it. My colleague from the Metropolitan University Prague and I are currently finishing up prosodic and segmental manipulation of recordings of Czech speakers of English. The work is harder than we anticipated – I myself turn to the supervisor for help more often than I would like. However, we are almost done with the preparation of this perception test and are looking forward to its execution and – finally – to the results of our efforts. Besides defending my BA thesis, I will have three oral exams as parts of the final state examination; these three are The Literatures and Culture of the British Isles, The Literatures and Culture of Central and North America, and Theory and Application of the English Language. I would very much like to start studying for these terrifying three in early April; my fellow students will of course realize just how naive this plan is. I only hope that the vision of my graduation day will force me to get over myself and start preparing on time. The reading lists are the one thing I try to keep up with on a daily basis; after all, over two hundred titles to read are enough reasons to start early.

There is still one more item to tick off before the finals come: the current semester. In my programme, Early Modern English in the second part of the subject called The History of the English (funnily enough abbreviated to HEL) and Medieval Literature of England are the core subjects. I chose Speech Acquisition II and The Basics of Speech Therapy in the Department of Phonetics. I am also taking a Spanish course and two bachelor seminars (thanks to the university bureaucracy). For once, my schedule is not overflowing with subjects – I should hopefully have time enough for early finals revision.

Despite the tough months ahead, the vision of summer holidays and starting something new keeps me up and going. Wish me luck: the next time I address you, I might have my BA title.