Dear all,
Yes, I'm still here! Life and work are busy, so I don't have a lot of time to update this blog...
Work is extremely busy this time of year because of graduate admissions coming in. That means lots of paperwork, a lot of queries from prospective students, and a lot of overtime. Hopefully though by next year the paperwork side of things will be greatly reduced, because of the college going "live" so we can receive applications online, but for now I will still have to type in a lot of stuff that somebody in the university has already typed in somewhere else. Answering queries is normally one of my favourite jobs, but because I'm so busy silly questions do get quite annoying. My favourite one last year was: "Do you think my golf-clubs will fit in my room?". It does keep you amused;)!
A few weeks back I finally received the application form for the AUA Postgraduate Certificate (see below), and I also received news that the college will pay more than 1/3 of the cost of the course, which is of course great news. I was a bit taken aback however, and suddenly felt very insecure about what to do next. Before I had to make the decision I thought I really had made up my mind, but when I really had to sign the form I was suddenly not so sure. Thankfully Derek helped me to have a sensible approach to the decision-making process, and together we came up with a plan. I did some research into the kind of roles I would be interested in pursuing in the future by emailing other members of the AUA and asking them about their working day, I asked for extra information about the course, and I looked at other options I have for the future. In the end I concluded that the course is a good idea after all. Some of the "job-descriptions" I received back were very interesting indeed, and I do now believe there is a good career to be had in HE management, and one that I would actually enjoy pursuing. Preferably I would like to move into student-welfare related roles, and then specifically focusing on international and graduate students, and I would also be interested in doing research for policy development. It seems that there are plenty of challenging roles out there in these areas. In the back of my mind there is still the urge to go and do a PhD, but I just know that a PhD in Scottish Literature at the end of the day will get me nowhere, as unfortunately the number of opportunities available is simply too small, and therefore I would be back at square one after 3.5 years. It is difficult for me, but I have to just be realistic and sensible about these things. The certificate will give me a chance to speed up my career progression into a role with the responsibility and intellectual demands that I crave, and it will teach me a lot of new skills that will come in very handy in my current role too. I know: don't I sound sensible!
Life is busy too, with lots of activities. I am still trying to keep up my review writing, although it is difficult to find the time to read, let alone write; I will be starting as an online 'travel correspondent' (rather a big word!) for www.volkskrantreizen.nl, the travel website of a Dutch newspaper, writing about Cambridge and Glasgow and about any of my travels; I am also still learning to drive (and no, I have not crashed (yet;))!); Derek and me also go to circuit training at our local gym once a week. And so on top of that I will be starting my course hopefully in October, which should take up about 6hrs a week. Maybe I'm mad?!
A few weeks ago Derek and me spent a long weekend in Dublin, which was lovely! I will be writing about that on the Volkskrant website (but in Dutch I'm afraid!), and on Friday we are going to drive up to Fife in Scotland to spend a week there with my parents and brother. Hopefully we are lucky with the summer weather, as that does seem to have finally arrived here in Cambridge. Otherwise I have plenty of books to read, so I will have no problem amusing myself!
Hope you are all well!
Love,
Mariken
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