There is no such beautiful walkway anywhere around here, or at least I haven’t found it, but I have been invited to wander down a new and promising path.

When I went to the lecture by Dr Clandinin in Jerusalem, I was asked for a lift  by a doctoral student who lives an hour or so from me. On the long drive home we had a great chat about her work and mine, about taking first steps in academia and of course about the seminar we had just attended. On the way, she told me that she was a participant in a small group of doctoral students and researchers which meets every two months or so to read work in progress, to discuss it and to give and receive feedback.

This week I received an email inviting me to join this group and of course I happily accepted.  Although I really don’t have time to take on more obligations, this is an opportunity too good to miss. I need to talk about my work and research in general with people, face to face. I also need to begin to understand how the academic world ticks over here. Again, I am feeling the loneliness of off campus research and if I am serious about pulling this through and successfully doing the work I am dreaming of doing, I need to develop additional support frameworks.

This morning I sent the four group members a letter of introduction and I will attend my first meeting in early February. I’m looking forward to it!

 

royalty free photo: http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=244692