*blows dust off the cover*

Hello? Anyone still out there?

Well, I know it has been 4 years but I am back! And I have big news! Last time I updated this blog, it was 2016 andI was writing my master thesis. It was titled “How an author’s culture influences their work: A comparative study of cultural variations in Australian Literature.” I’m happy to report that I got 100% on that thesis and graduated summa cum laude!
For the last 3.5 years I have been teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) and German as a Foreign Language (DaF) at a language school in my town, but now it’s time for new adventures!

From October I will be studying for my PhD in Cultural Studies! I just got accepted into the School of Advanced Study at the University of London as a distance learning researcher. My research will be based at the Institute of Modern Languages Research and my topic concerns multiculturalism in Pacific Literature.

I’m actually amazed by how quickly I got this place! I had reached out to my Top 6 University choices (SAS University of London, University of Sussex, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Leeds, Anglia Ruskin University and University of Birmingham) and all except Birmingham got back to me within less than 24 hours interested in my project. My future PhD supervisor even gave me feedback on my reearch proposal within 24 hours of receiving it. And most of that feedback was along the lines of “take out that sentence” or “reword this bit” or “will you also consider xyz?” My application was completed on 30th July (that’s when my last referee sent in a reference) and within three hours of getting the application complete message, I got invited for an interview. My interview by videocall was on August 5th at 3pm and on August 6, 2020 at 11.01am I got the following letter:

I got an unconditional offer to my dream PhD programme!!!

Of course I accepted immediately. I get to finish my education in the UK, where it all started with my B.A. in 2007. And because I start in the academic year 2020/21, I will still be classed as an EU student despite Brexit. This was my last chance to study as a Home/EU student in England. It will all be by distance learning, and I am studying part-time to be able to work alongside my studies.

That also means that I will be crazy busy over the next 6 (yes, six!!) years and I get to dust off StudyReadWrite, because guess what? I’m back! I’ll be learning even more about researching at doctoral level, I will read a lot of Pacific / Pasifika Literature and as always, I will be writing; both academic and creative during NaNoWriMo where I continue to dabble in different formats and genres. And I’m sure that I will have a lot to share while studying for this PhD!

So, let’s pop open a bottle of bubbly, because there’s every reason to celebrate! I’m the very first in my family to be admitted on a PhD programme!