House hunting

We’re house hunting… We have been looking at houses in the city where we live now, but since recently we’ve extended our search to my original hometown where my parents still live. My boyfriend was not very enthusiastic about this, but now he’s turning around. I have a nice family, who’s always ready to help me (and vice versa) and my father cannot wait to be a grandpa and take care of his grandchildren.

This weekend we visited a house my mother found. It’s in one of the most beautiful streets of town, only 5 minutes walking from the railway station (to get to work), close to shops, schools, … So the location is perfect. My first impression of the house was that it was a bit small, but when we saw it inside: WOW!  It’s dated, it’s from 1970, but the space is huge! We could have a large living room with an open kitchen. A room for our washer and other stuff and an extra bathroom downstairs. Upstairs there are 5 bedrooms, so we could have 3 children and an office. The garden is not huge, but it’s big enough for a swing set, a garage, a terrace and still a lot of grass to play soccer.

The downside? It’s a long-term project. Part of the house needs to be renovated. But I don’t mind. If we buy a new house, it’s to expensive. We could do it, but it would mean that we have to stop traveling, and save every penny. I don’t want to live like that. If we renovate we spread the costs over multiple years. Off course, we also need to save, but less tight than if we build a new house.

This Sunday, my boyfriend will go visit with his parents. They will criticize it, I’m sure. They never renovated or worked in their house. The only thing his father did by himself was construct a sandbox for his children… My parents on the other hand think it’s a great opportunity, and they are ready to help. I have a father and a brother who can deal with electricity. Smashing walls is something everybody likes, so it’s not a problem to find some helping hands for that. I have enough uncles who renovated or built their own house, and who are willing to help us.

It would be so great to live there. I had such a good feeling about the house. Now, let’s hope the boyfriend can imagine himself living there as well…

The endless conversation…

Yesterday evening we had one of our endless conversations… Marriage, buying a house, buying a car, thinking about kids… I want my adult life to start. He wants to continue our ‘student life’, but hey, I graduated two years ago!!!

This conversation always follows the same pattern… I get sad, he asks why, I tell him my issues (I want to settle!!!), he pretends to understand, but after 10 minutes he gets mad and blames me that I push him to much.

Aaargh. I don’t want to put my life on hold for the next two years, I want it to start!

How to choose your higher education?

Yesterday evening I got a disturbing phone call from my aunt. Her daughter, one of my favourite cousins, just started her first year of higher education to obtain a bachelor degree in Social Work. But after two days of school, she came home in tears…

My aunt suggested her to talk to me, since we’re quite close. Although I could hear her shout in the background that she didn’t want to talk about it, she took the phone. I tried to reassure her and calm her down. No judgment from me, it took me a year to figure out what I wanted to study…

She feels lost in that school, there’s not a lot of guidance. And she worries that she won’t understand anything of the courses.  I tried to comfort her on that point, because maybe she’s not an genius, but that girl has some serious self-discipline! In highschool she always got something between 72 and 75%, from the first year till the last! She studies very regulary, while her sister had to peak during the exams. So I don’t doubt for a second that pursuing a bachelor’s degree is to much for her. I’ve seen a lot of students fail, although they had splendid scores in high school and I’ve seen other maybe not so bright students succeed without any re-examination, because they knew how to deal with studying huge courses. In my opinion, my cousin is such a student, she can do anything, as long as she is motivated.

And I think there’s the problem… To me, she’s chosen the wrong study. But hey, it’s difficult to make a decision, it determines your life! And you can only know if it’s something that suits you, if you try it. Because, let’s be honest, the information you find in brochures and on websites is so vague and brief…

According to me, my cousin is misguided because of the ‘social’ in the education of Social Work. Indeed, she’s very social, she blossoms when she’s among people, she likes to talk, to go out. But I think she has to realize that there’s different types of being social. Not every social person makes a good social worker, and not every social person makes a good seller, right? I think she’s more in the second category, than in the first. I see her being a PR-manager or a spokeswoman. Doing something in advertising or the media, not working in a hospital with drug addicts or helping disabled living independently.

I understand her, because I’ve been there myself. When I was 14 I started telling people that I wanted to become a medical doctor, but when I graduated highschool I found out that medicine was not for me. But than I only had a few weeks to decide on my education. On the last day of registration I enrolled myself in Classical Studies, because I always loved that during high school. But than the shit started… After a few weeks, I started feeling out of place. Although I had a lot of friends and I enjoyed being at the university, I started knowing that Classical Studies was to narrow for me. It took me a few months to acknowledge this to my parents, so I ruined a year. Thank God, they were very understanding, and the next year I re-registered for Philosophy. After a few days I already knew: this is what I have to do. And look… 6 years (or is it 7?) later, I’m know doing research in philosophy, teaching freshmen and pursuing a PhD.

So, how and when did you know what you had to study?

Renewed!

Yesterday I took a course in ‘giving feedback’, since that’s one of my tasks as a teaching assistant. What do you do with stubborn, angry, crying, apathic, … students? How do bring bad news? How do you make sure they get the message. Really interesting. Normally, my students are very well behaved, but every now and than there’s a troublemaker. So next time, I’ll know what to do!

Since the course ended at 15u, I was home early. I worked a bit on my articles, watched Gossip Girl and went for an hour of Zumba in the evening (I really need to exercise more!).

Today was the department meeting. One of the topics was the renewal of my mandate as a teaching assistant and researcher. I had to write a rapport about my research and teaching activities and other services I provided to the department. During the meeting I had to step outside, but 5 minutes later I was invited back in, and yes, I can stay. Although such a procedure is a bit for form’s sake, it’s still a bit scary. You never know if they want to keep me or not…

administration… and the start of the new academic year

It’s over and out with the silence at work. Today was the first day of the academic year, so the corridors are full with students.  During the summer I created the habit of working with my office door open, so today every student that passed my office and had a problem thought that I was some sort of secretary. Sigh…

“I don’t know where auditorium B is”, “Where is the lessen Advanced English 2″? “Where can I find misses X, I have an apointment about my curriculum.”  Aaargh.

But, I don’t blame them. The administration at our university is a mess! They have a new program “Oasis”. It is supposed to be the website for students: enroling, choosing your courses, checking your grades, … everything goes through Oasis. Unfortunately it’s pure chaos.

Last year I took some courses in the law department, a shortened program to obtain my bachelor degree in Law. This year I want to continue the program, so I follow a mix of  courses from 2nd and 3rd bachelor. But when I re-enrolled through Oasis, I was only registered for courses from the 1st bachelor… The solution? Registring the old-fashioned way: with pen and paper.

Weekend, Finally!

It was a busy week! On Sunday we had what we call an ‘academic session’. One of the professors here is retiring on 1st October. To honor him and his career there were some speeches and a reception. On Monday the conference started. Three days of lectures, presentations, talks on Logic and Philosophy of Science.  Mine was in the last parallel session, on wednessday evening…

I think it went okay, although I was a little bit nervous… The questions from the audience were mostly requests for clarifications or confirmations, so that’s good right?

On Thursday I needed to work on my articles. However, it was as if my brain refused to work with me. And this morning when I wanted to start working, my computer refused to boot… Some essential .dll file was missing. Took the stuff to the ICT crew and half an hour later they told me that it has died. So, now I have to work two weeks on my own laptop, and then I will get a new desktop, with 22-inch screen, nice keyboard, memorysticks, … Yeay!

Tomorrow is my day off! Lingering around the apartment, catching up on my reading, doing some shopping and then in the evening a nice family dinner with my parents.

Talk to you Monday!

Conference …

No posts yesterday, or today… I’m currently on a conference, in my own hometown. Today I had to chair a session, and tomorrow is my own presentation, for which I still have to prepare a lot! Tonight it’s also the conference dinner, so it will be a short night (drinks-food-working).

Scientific conferences give me a dual feeling. On the one hand it’s nice to finally see the people who’s articles you read or who’s books you comment. On the other hand, there is some much to do in one day that it is difficult to really absorb all the information you get. And after three days you’re exhausted! I suspect that not a lot of people will be at the office Thursday

Wish me luck tomorrow!

Weekend!

Today I went to the mediastore to hand in my Canon Powershot G10. Last summer I dropped it and there is a crack in the screen. Thank god I took an extra insurance, so they will fix it for free of give me a voucher for a new one. Let’s hope I  get the voucher, because in Ooctober the Powershot G12 will be released in Belgium!

In half an hour my friend C. is coming to pick me up, and we will have a nice evening with L., another friend. Girl time!

The weather is quite nice here and allthough the gardens are still green, I already dream of the beautiful colors of the fall…

Florence and the Machine

I didn’t know this band, until I’ve listened to the soundtrack of Twilight – Eclipse (yes, I like the vampire stuff, so what?).  Florence and the Machine is on the cd with ‘Heavy in my arms’. I don’t know if I like to song itself a lot, it’s certainly not bad, but that voice got to me!

So I went looking for an album, and I bought Lungs.

I think I’ve listened fifty times to the album by now, I just love it!

The songs I listen to are very much related to the mood I’m in. Right now I’m a bit angry (see previous post), so Howl is a good song.  If I’m feeling down about my life, which does not go according to plan, I listen to Blinding.

For those of you happily in love, you can listen to You’ve got the love. There are also some songs on it, to which I can listen anytime: Cosmic love, Dog days are over and Rabbit Heart.

Click here to preview the album on Amazon.

Wtf?

I don’t know what happened today…

L. and I had a relationship when I was 16 en he 18, so it’s been a long time ago. A year ago we ran into each other again, and since then we are some sort of friends. I helped him with his dissertation for his MBA, he entertained me when I was bored. We went out to dinner, beers or cocktails a few times. Each time I had a lot of fun, but I don’t think I gave signals that I wanted more, because I don’t.

Three weeks ago we went out for a dinner in a nice restaurant, his treat, as a thank you for all my help with his dissertation. Afterwards we had some beers in an Irish pub and then he drove me home again. We had a nice talk that evening, and at some point I noticed him steering the subject to my future. Did I want to stay in my current relationship, was a really happy? I told him the truth… that I loved my boyfriend, but that there are some issues to resolve.  It’s not easy to decide about a man you’ve been with for more than 4 years!

A few days after that dinner, I texted him with a date (which is tomorrow) on which I was available again, asking him if he wanted to do something. He agreed, but ever since than I got the silent treatment on my cell or online… No texts, no messaging, no facebook. Today he appeared on Live messenger, and I asked him if he was still available tomorrow… This was the conversation:

- I suppose you’re not meeting me tomorrow?
- Hi
- Hello
- So?
- No, I’m not coming over tomorrow
- Okay, that was all.
- I don’t want to send the wrong signals
- Er…?
- I don’t want you to think that something more is going on here.
- I’m not thinking that.
- I thought so. Got to go. Bye.

What the hell was that about? I’m pretty sure I didn’t gave any signals that I want more with him. Yes, I laughed with his jokes, but that was because they were really funny. I didn’t dress slutty. I didn’t touch him ‘by accident’ (which he did, btw!), I didn’t kiss him, …

I’ve send him an e-mail asking for explanation, because I really don’t get it…