I'm trying really hard to contain myself, but an amazing thing just happened. I was checking through my email, and the mother of one of my old Italian students sent me a message with the subject "holiday in italy"...you see where this is going. Basically, I taught English in this little Italian city just near the Alps/Turin in northern Italy a few summers ago, where there are very few people who can speak proper English. I've been back to visit since that summer, and had joined one of my students' family for lunch awhile back. Now the oldest daughter in the family is 17, has been to England several times, and is looking to improve her English. Naturally, her mother has just invited me to come live with them for a couple weeks this summer so that Elena can practice her English. Hello, free two week summer holiday in Italy. SO TEMPTING!! ...Only one foreseeable problem: THESIS. As of right now, my plan has been to try to finish my thesis by mid-July so that I can return home in time for my hypothetical med school education to start at the beginning of August. That means I'm already only giving myself about five months to interview professionals in the field, write and edit over 100 pages, and of course write and hopefully publish a few papers on the side... All this should be doable (despite the fact that I theoretically should have eight months to do it all, not five...), but speeding it up even a little more?? Hmm... Tricky, tricky. This is not helped by the fact that I don't know if/where I'll get into medical school, and therefore don't really know when I actually need to get all this done. That's the problem with having my future all planned out, particularly a future that is such a process (ugh), I can never really plan that much ahead because I don't really know where I'll be any further than a few months down the road, and even that's a stretch...
I did, however, finally figure out what my thesis will be. I'm going to focus on depression, after all, but ADHD will still make an appearance. Using ADHD as a comparison, I will look at the ethics of using antidepressants as a sort of neuro-enhancement, in addition to its intended treatment use (which already has all sorts of ethical implications, particularly when applying treatments to children). So with that figured out, I finished the first draft of my midyear report this weekend, and am thus taking the day off from work. I figure I need at least a day of not looking at that report before I can effectively edit it. I also need another day off because I think I've sprained my ankle again, no walking all the way to the office for me... And my sinuses decided to pick another fight with me. Oh the joys of living in Scotland. Tomorrow...tomorrow I will start researching for my first paper--who is policy/legislation really protecting? children or pharmaceutical companies? Then again, maybe I should do a little research today, as tonight I am celebrating Burns Night a day early with friends, and fear tomorrow will not be so productive...
...dreaming of an Italian vacation...
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