Another week has flown by and I have hardly had time to let my feet hit the ground. Items on the list of priorities have been: A 1,750 word mid-term (roughly seven pages), two econ examinations (one in essay format and the other quantitative), and my first meeting with my supervisor for the research I am doing on East Timor.
The mid-term was for the class I am taking on The Bloomsbury group. The Bloomsbury group was formed of a number of prominent individuals of the early twentieth century chief among them being: Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Vanessa Bell, E.M. Forester, John Maynard Keynes, Roger Fry, and Lytton Strachey. The group was very influential in bringing about change in the social and creative aspects of English society. Through their post-impressionist exhibitions they introduced artists such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Cézanne, and Gauguin to the British public. What I did for the mid-term was research and write about the influence of a secret society (of which most of the men in the Bloomsbury group were members) called the Apostles, named so because of the number of members and religious views of the founding members in 1820, on the Bloomsbury group. Basically was the group ever able to escape from the influence of the Apostles and their beliefs. Through the research stages of the paper I was able to read many of the original manuscripts of group members including John Maynard Keynes. It was surreal to hold in my hands J.M. Keynes’s original works and see his corrections; what an experience.
The two economics finals that I took were worth 45% of my overall grade each! There was no stress preparing for those… Ha. Unfortunately because of other obligations during the week I was only able to study for the essay exam (two hours to respond to two questions with answers ranging from 1500 to 2000 words a piece). I took the essay exam on Thursday (which I believe I should do pretty well on) and then the quantitative exam on Friday. I was able to pull off an hour of study time right before the quantitative test which greatly helped. I am just really glad that I am able to retain information through lectures and do not require last minute cramming for things.
I met with my supervisor for the first time Friday morning, before my econ exam. He had been assigning me readings on economic development and education in third world countries for the last few weeks while he was away. Now that he has returned we have started, in earnest, to sort out what my specific research will be and how we can formulate that into a workable thesis. My supervisor’s name is Rid Dasgupta. He is originally from India but has lived in the USA for most of his life, including his undergraduate years. He worked on President Obama’s campaign and was extremely politically active this last year so once he found out that I was LDS he started asking a bunch of questions which had been formed because of Mitt Romney’s run in the primaries; way to get people’s attention Mitt. We veered off course in our discussion and spent about a half an hour talking about the church. He was really excited to hear that there was a ward here in Cambridge and wants to attend a meeting this next weekend.
Well I am off to read a few of E.M. Forester’s essays. I hope you all are having a wonderful time and that everything is going well. Know that I care for you all and wish I could be with you during these summer months.
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