Yeah, I know it’s not cool to be a graduate student. Especially when your field is something that most people consider boring: history. But I love it. However, it is a little weird that the only job skills I have are related to being a student: my experience is limited to reading, writing and researching. I can even make pie charts on Excel, so maybe we could count ‘rithmetic as the fourth R in my arsenal.
This is where I do most of my work. And yes, that is my G-mail open and a G-chat window. Very glamorous.
In my brief career as a graduate student, I had an important “first” last week: my first conference. The conference was held in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, near Paco’s hometown of Zinacantán. I stayed with his parents and took a combi (public transportation in a converted VW bus) to the city every morning. At the conference, I presented in a panel with three other speakers. I shared a bit about my thesis research, with the requisite PowerPoint. I was nervous, especially because I did the presentation in Spanish, but people had questions for me about my project and seemed interested at least, so I was satisfied.
Here I am presenting. It was a small auditorium, but the speakers opted not to stand on the stage. I opted not to stand up at all. Obviously, I also opted not to dress professionally.
I met other people who research similar topics, which was exciting. Honestly, it was exciting just to learn that people other than me care about what I study. Sometimes research and writing can be a very solitary endeavor.
Since I was in Chiapas, I made sure to eat a lot of tamales, since the tamales they sell in Guadalajara just aren’t as good. My favorite are tamales de mole steamed in banana leaves…Paco asked me to bring back a dozen, and I did. They freeze well!
In Chiapas, I also enjoyed being spoiled by Paco’s parents, who fed me lots of delicious food all week long. They say I’m their nuera consentida: the daughter-in-law they spoil. This is an extremely agreeable status, let me tell you.
At the moment, I’m back in Guadalajara working on my thesis, studying for the GREs, and spending time with Paco, who left for a conference in Cuba (¡!) before I returned from Chiapas, so we didn’t see each other for two whole weeks.
By the way, I wanted to share my new procrastinating activity with my readers: making “mixtapes” and uploading them to this website called 8tracks. I have mixes for studying, working out, and most relevant to the blog, an “México: From Ranchera to Rock” mix that contains a wide variety of Mexican artists. I wouldn’t want you to think Mexican music is all mariachi! Here’s my homepage if you’re interested in checking out my mixes: isorachel’s 8tracks. Or to go directly to the Mexican music mix: Ranchera to Rock.
By the way, it was two years ago yesterday that I moved to Mexico! Time flies when you’re living life…and having lots of fun.
