The Real Deal, or [+trill]

After two and a half years of living in Scotland, I have finally been able to convince my bank that I am worthy of a standard account with a contactless card, as opposed to the “basic” one, in which being able to withdraw money from all cash points was hailed as a great new feature.

They said they couldn’t offer me it in-branch, but I was found perfectly eligible when applying online (without any fibbing and using my existing digital banking details, I should add). It’s hard to decide which is worse: banks, or estate agencies. The reason I mention it here, though, is that even though at face value it is but an admission that I deserve better services than a bankruptee, it is also a workable segue to a motif that has repeated itself a few times in my life since my last entry: things are suddenly becoming “the real deal”.

The effort and sleepless nights I have put into my coursework over the last semester have been fruitful, carrying all of my grades over 70% and thus earning me straight A’s. That is very satisfying, but I derive greater joy and fulfilment from my Gaelic Dialectology research into the phonology of the dialect of St Kilda, a distant island evacuated in 1930, in which I utilised both dialectological survey data and archive audio recordings. Once again I was reminded of how fuzzy raw data tends to be, and how scarce clear answers are in academic work. Nevertheless, after days and nights of work I reached a defendable analysis. But what’s the most important is that I know I am the first person who has examined this data at such depth. The chance to work with unexplored material is one of the perks of studying Celtic, no matter if it’s language or literature you’re mainly interested in. Anyway, I have been accepted to present this research at the Undergraduate Linguistics Association of Britain conference in Aberdeen in April – the first time I’ve ever publicly presented my work; my very own work, from start to finish. Like a real researcher.

In general, I have been very happy this year with the way my two subject areas have clicked together, as I have been able to apply the knowledge and skills gained in Linguistics to my coursework in Celtic and vice versa, which has helped increase my confidence and show me how far I’ve come in the two years. For this reason, I would emphatically advise all prospective students to look for a joint-honours programme that would interest them – don’t worry you’d end up a jack of all trades but a master of none. You’ll have the same amount of skills and knowledge, but additionally you’ll get the experience of applying them outside of assigned coursework. Like a real scholar.

Meanwhile, I have continued volunteering as an assistant teacher at the Czech nursery I wrote about in my previous entry. I am no longer doing one-to-one, but rather helping with the whole class. I still leave exhausted, but the level of fun has also remained stable. We have cover St Nicolas, clothing, daily routines, the Carnival, fruit and veg, parts of the body… It’s great to see some children starting to speak out, even though some others understand even complex questions, but still answer in English. It’s also quite interesting how three adults from different parts of the country can barely ever agree on the lyrics of the same nursery rhyme or folk song – I swear I had never heard some of the versions before. But when I was told that I was apparently becoming a role model to certain children, I wasn’t sure what to do with the knowledge. I am still not. Because that’s real responsibility.

Perhaps it’s all just me waking up from the indolence of winter hibernation and life thus being a bit more colourful. That can only be a good thing, because before the time of walks and camping is upon me, I will need all the energy I can muster to come up with a dissertation topic. I’m glad I’m learning how to play to my strengths – this is the one essay I really need to be good.

 

Opravdickost aneb [+trill]

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