How Can it Already be Thanksgiving Weekend?

I cannot believe that this weekend is Thanksgiving. I really can't. It doesn't feel like enough time has passed since the end of summer to warrant the Thanksgiving weekend yet. Of course, I'm sure if we were home and all the ads for Thanksgiving and posters for Octoberfest were out then we'd be feeling a bit more in the mood, but I still can't believe its even October! We are going to hold a Thanksgiving dinner again this year for a few friends, and we're just planning all that now.

I've somehow gotten myself wrapped up in all sorts of work for the school, which is really a good thing, because I like to be kept busy and like to be known and network a little with profs who I might someday work with as an equal, but it all kind of snuck up on me. In fact, it all started the first or second week of September, when I decided to find out if the rumour was true, that the school had decided to cancel its annual trip to The Burn for postgrads. When I found out it was indeed cancelled, I started a letter-writing campaign (my first one!), but within a couple of days (and without submitting a single letter) the decision was reversed and the trip was back on! Apparently word had gotten out that a bunch of us were working on something, and the threat of rebellion got them to miraculously find the £600 or so needed to make the weekend away financially viable and cheap enough for student budgets.

It turns out that wasn't the end of it, however. The trip continues to face challenges, the biggest of which I think is that the prof who was in charge of selling the trip to the students at a major finding meeting gave everyone the wrong price. Having misread the nightly cost for the weekend cost, he reported that the trip would only be £20, instead of £60. Oops. But the school managed to find more money to bring the cost to a more middle-ground of £45. That price is contingent however on 25 students signing up and paying their deposits by October 15th. And so my job continues. The Grad Committee at some point appointed me the student rep/promoter of the trip, so now I'm running and blogging about last year's trip, and posting photos to entice students to come. I started a discussion group on the school's social networking site, which I'll be monitoring and answering questions on. All because I wanted another weekend away (and another chance to play snooker)... :)

In July I was approached by the new Head of Grad Studies to help organize and run a series of lunchtime workshops for postgrads on modern British and Irish history, the first of which was held yesterday. This has been a neat experience, coming up with ideas for discussion topics, inviting professors to come speak, and designing a poster and writing up promotional blurbs on the network. We had 13 students show up, which was excellent. There's only 3 workshops per semester, so now that the initial planning and first workshop are over it should be smooth sailing. Or at least it would have been if I hadn't offered to be one of two students to give a 10 minute work-in-progress presentation/ pretend conference paper at the November date. Well, it'll be excellent practice. I've only given one conference paper in the past, and that was almost 5 years ago and I was a nervous wreck.

Tutoring also started last week. I'm teaching 3 tutorials per week, like last year, and its the same course as last year so I've been able to re-use my teaching outlines from last year for the most part, with the addition of a field trip to the National Museum of Scotland which is just down the street from the school. I love the whole 'free museums and galleries' thing they have going here. I don't know why Canada doesn't put more money towards preserving and showing off our heritage and culture that way, by getting rid of admission costs and opening these spaces up to everyone. Anyway, its off to a good start. They're all worried about the first essay being due in a week and a half, but I've devoted my entire tutorials this week to essay writing, which helps calm them down. And then in honour of Monday having been the 40th anniversary of Monty Python first airing on BBC, I've been spending the last five minutes showing the witch trial clip from Holy Grail on my laptop, which has gone over very well.

Finally, I've put my name up for consideration to be part of the new student-staff liason committee that the School of History, Classics and Archaeology is forming to get feedback from postgrads, so we'll see if I get elected. It felt a bit odd putting together my 60 word statement about me and my 'qualifications' -- it felt a bit like my (unsuccessful) run for high school student council all over again. Well, at least this time I won't have to give a speech.