Posted on by sipokazinyeleka

Self-help during the wait

The chase is wonderful — in fact, it’s thrilling! Nothing is as fulfilling as meeting a deadline or completing a task even before the deadline (impressive, I know). However, there is that horrible, anti-climactic period after you’ve submitted all your chapters, and you can’t do anything but WAIT… For a constantly busy person, that is an almost frightening experience.  All the interviews and motivational speeches I’ve listened to never told me about this phase of research, and my colleagues don’t really talk about it. So how did I stay sane while waiting for feedback from my supervisor? Here is what unfolded.

I read

Nervous-Conditions-Tsitsi-Dangarembga.jpgBooks – good, old-fashioned novels – handily took my mind off grammatical errors, responding to reviewer comments, and italicized references (as I take a breath). Reading gave me the opportunity to laugh and also to understand the struggles other people go through.  The characters I read about in some of the books came alive, and I was able to escape boredom as it was.   It was also a real relief to be reminded that all reading does NOT have to be scientific. I have a new appreciation for authors; they too have become a part of my study, a comforting part.

I travelled

It’s been said that we travel not to escape life but for life to escape us and to this statement, I concur.  As you’re on your way, it’s amazing how free-spirited it feels to look at passing fields and hopefully soon, passing countries. The scenery in our country is so beautiful and glimpsing others’ lives, I was able to empathize with my fellow country men and women as they face challenges on a daily basis, challenges different to my immediate ones.  To my amazement some parts of the country are drought-stricken while others battle with snow — all in one season — and yet both situations threaten the survival of their livestock. This of course immediately spoke to me of threatened food security. All this reminded me to count my blessings rather than complaining about desiring a life of relaxation.  Traveling and meeting strangers is an education in itself, one I don’t want to ever neglect.

I improved on a skill or two

This may sound a little ambitious, but really, why not?  What better way to be useful to my community and myself than to learn something new?

“I would suggest something out of your comfort zone, something that will allow you to tap into someone else’s world” said the inner me to the lazy me.

So, I bought cooking books and boy did I cook up a storm! Nobody suffered while I fed them, and now I am left with the challenge of identifying a new comfort zone to escape. Self-development is a huge part of my journey, and working on non-academic skills reminds me that there is more to myself than just academia and or science.

Perhaps a number of things are happening around you, outside of your research field, take a moment to appreciate them. It surely does go a long way to staying  sane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on by Mathapelo Seopela · 2 Comments

THE NEOPHYTE VS THE ADEPT

University has been a place where we walk into great halls or auditoriums with anticipation of what the future holds! There we spend numerous hours, every day of the week, all in hopes of gathering sufficient information to make it through to the next semester! Every once in a while we have a brief dialogue with the lecturer, while only the bravest ever attempt to make a remark during a lecture or even oppose or have a conversation regarding a subject in a class! Fear of the loudmouth and know-it-all tagline, has kept many a student silent — and there is heavy cultural pressure to “respect your elders” by never questioning authority… But this can be detrimental to a student hoping to get into postgraduate studies, for a variety of reasons. The most critical of these being the ability to communicate and express an opinion. Having being in a “traditional” university style environment, I was in for a bit of “enlightenment” if you will, on this Fulbright endeavour!Mathapelo UMCES CBL

I find myself in a very different environment at the University of Maryland. The research laboratories of the university are collectively known as Centre of Environmental Science, all of which are completely detached from the main university. Here, the community is comprised, solely, of postgraduates and researchers, running various research projects. I’ve been used to boundaries between students and lecturers, so this collegial working environment was an adjustment, culturally and academically. Students didn’t even have to leave the centre for classes –  in fact, I was quite impressed that classes were offered via a video network. Even more-so, the small size of the class meant that it would be more interactive too. These “seminar” classes are held once a week for two hours, where we have discussions, with all the lecturers and classmates, about our thoughts on a paper we had to read up on in preparation for the class. The introverted aura I spoke of earlier will not do here as everyone’s perspective is considered important. In fact, part of your final “grade” is built on your vocal participation in class.

This was a bit challenging — even though we were warned at the orientation — that we must actively participate in classes right from the beginning to ensure that we understand, but also to pass the grade! Statistics, we were told, have apparently shown that those don’t do this at the inception of the graduate life, would be quiet the entire semester. Listening to these warnings and having gone through the experience of this newer academic culture, a new thought for African science emerges: Why are we building a culture of individuals who do not question, where an answer is either right or wrong? When do we get to a state where there is fluidity in teaching and learning, in both content and delivery? I know there are differences in teaching style between lectures on the same campus, between universities, and between disciplines. And large classes often discourage opinionated discussions. But there is a lot to learn in acknowledging that one is not always right, and being open to other opinions could be the beginning of education. For both students and lecturers.