I have been "prepping" the whole day. It feels like I might set off to reach the top of the Annapurna, but I am only driving to Bangor tomorrow, to my university. But there has been a choice to make: which backpack? The 25L or the 30L? Because the 25 is nicer, more elegant and definitely more manageable, but the 30 is the one I bought for and used to go to Oxford last summer when I carried my laptop, food, a change and books with me every day and for the whole day. 30L it is. It just sits perfectly on my back and shoulders.
This is only to start with. Then I laid everything I normally carry with me on the floor in the living room, assessing, weighing, packing and re-packing, thinking, planning, processing, imagining the day... I am aware that is only one day at uni, but I have to consider that I will be waking up around 4.30am to be able to set comfortably off at 6am, after yoga, breakfast and general ablutions. Depending on the traffic, the journey could last between 2 and 3 hours. This means thinking about food, a change should the weather turn bad, definitely a second pair of shoes to drive comfortably, laptop, chargers, notebooks, memory bank, snacks, water, tea bags, coffee sachets... Lately the weather has been pretty inconsistent and at times particularly bad so I want to be prepared if I need to stop - or I am forced to stop - along the way. As a university student, I am - of course! - skint. But I have decided to treat myself to one of those Morrisons salads for lunch and I will only bring with me water, some snacks, dry fruit, extra coffee and my morning smoothie.
I have also prepared print-outs of the maps of the grounds and the floor of the main building where I have to meet my supervisor for our first meeting. I also have documents, a list of questions I have for her, and I think anything that I need specifically for uni. I have already booked and paid my parking, which is also very good. I have also sorted the mechanics of my body and made a calculated decision of what to do about it [related post here] and this time I will not be feeling guilty if I need to use a disabled toilets!
In the meantime, I have collected some images of the university in its splendor and of the places I want to go and work / research one day after [and thanks to] this PhD. When I started my FAD at UAL / Blackburn College I already had in mind this PhD. This helped me in planning and directing my studies and my processing with this final end in mind. Now that I am here, I want to start working on my PhD with Nan Madol in mind [and all the other amazing places out there I want to go to], and with the assistance of my usual Board of Directors, i.e. :
Dr Temperance Brennan, Jeffersonian Institute
Prof Charles Edward Eppes, California Institute of Science [CalSci]
Mr Sherlock Holmes, The Brownstone, NY 11209
Prof Henry Walton Jones, Jr, Marshall College
Prof Robert Langdon, Harvard University
Prof Daniel Pierce, Chicago Lake Michigan University
Dr Tobias Merriweather Quinn-Curtis, </SCORPION>
Prof Jasper Tempest, Cambridge University
I know that I will not sleep properly, I will not eat enough tonight, I will pace the living room opening the bags, taking everything out, and putting everything back together again. If I could set off now, I really would.
What's with me and setting off? There is always this craving for blues&greens and that horizon after this horizon; and then the other one further beyond. Ah, me and my itchy feet!
To calm winds and following seas!
onwards + upwards,
mx