Robert Kennedy College - Finish Strong

Nick's videos has been a source of great inspiration to me personally, and I use them a fair bit for my motivational speeches.  

As I come to the end of my program, I am inspired by this message - finish strong.  I have had nearly a week of no sleep - because I have been working on the dissertation at night, due to work commitments in the last quarter.  Having work almost every day till the 13th of December, and not wanting to wait until the very last minute, I started working from 8.00pm - 3.00pm on week days and almost a full day on Sunday to finish off the dissertation : and yet, with all this, I am not a 100% happy with the end result...

For everyone who is doing the dissertation with me, good luck - and may I see all of you along with myself at Graduation in November 2013 !

Finish strong guys !

Robert Kennedy College - The final countdown...

63 days more - and I have barely begun !  The dissertation is becoming a true challenge - and I am all in knots !  I have all of the ingredients I need - but the cake seems to not want to bake !  Somethings missing - and I don't know what - and I can't seem to write !  I have done the research, I have the outlines done - but no matter what I do, I ma finding it so hard to sit down and piece it all together !

63 days more !!!!

Back to work !!!

Robert Kennedy College - A bug and a heart attack !

Bugs - oh my - they truly DO give you heart attacks !!

Imagine my horror in getting a mail stating I have failed my Dissertation Proposal.  Came two days back and I am still reeling !

Apparently it was a bug in the system - rather than saying I am to go check my marks, it said I had failed - and oh my did I panic !  I had already started on my dissertation work based on the feedback given, and I must admit, for all my optimism and positivity, I sank really low - not for a moment did I think that it was a bug in the system !!!

Here's the reply I got for my inquiry - and I must admit, it is a GREAT example of being able to turn a mistake into a moment of inspiration !

Dear Vidusha,

An erroneous email about failure in this module was sent a few minutes ago. Please disregard that information, which was caused by a system bug.

What the system really meant to tell you is that your proposal grade and feedback is accessible through the Gradebook.

Thank you for your understanding and we hope this short lived scare will only give you a spike of adrenaline towards completing the dissertation!

Best regards,
RKC Studentcare

Robert Kennedy College - Oops !

I am generally very methodical and organized - but... as they say, every dog has his day - and I had mine on the 30th of July.

I had completed my Dissertation Proposal and blissfully waited till the 31st to upload it as I had thought the deadline was the 1st of August !  Imagine my sheer horror when I realized it was the 29th !!!  In blind panic I uploaded it - and wrote to the professors about the honest mistake, and waited for two agonizing days for the 'all clear' to come !

A word of caution for all MALIKs - NEVER wait till the last minute.  ALWAYS check the deadline date - and ensure you give it on time.  It is really sad to lose marks purely out of missing the deadline !!!

Robert Kennedy College - The Long Kiss Goodbye !

The dissertation proposal is almost done - and with it, starts the long kiss goodbye...

The dissertation will be a long hard slog - and I am bracing myself for it.  I managed to pass all 4 subjects in one sitting - and sincerely hope the dissertation will be a pass too...  I must admit I am not looking forward to the copious amount of reading I will have to do - not to forget the chasing I will need to do to get the interviews done, along with the rather ambitious survey !

However, the dream of coming back to York for graduation keeps me going...

Robert Kennedy College - The jitters !

The euphoria of the residency is only a faint memory - fast going to oblivion with the immediate panic of submitting a project proposal for the dissertation in two weeks.

I thought I had it nailed when I came from the residency : and that sense of triumph and jubilation soon disappeared when I started collecting content and writing the proposal.  All the things George and Alistair warned me against are coming true : and I have realized that the original topic I decided on was far from being realistic : given the work load and the honest acceptance that I knew nothing about the area I had trying to do my dissertation on..

A mail from a fellow MALIK Residency student (William) truly cheered me up - and in this moment of despair it was truly lovely to know that you were not alone in this moment of challenge !

So it starts : with sheer fear and desperation...

Robert Kennedy College - Love at first sight !

There are those moments when one falls in love : at first sight.  York as a city, and St John as a campus was to me just that : love at first sight.  I came to York on Sunday - and no sooner I got out the station what I was greeted with was a gust of cold win, and a breathtaking city.  I love history, and knowing that York had a history stretching as far back as the Romans made it very appealing, and seeing the city dotted with alleys that seem to come straight off a Harry Potter movie !

The campus with its iconic building stood out - and somehow was able to blend the heritage of an old city with the minimalistic post modernism without jarring the eyes.  LOVED the aesthetics of the entire campus, and reveled inside the bunker type interiors !  It certainly was not everyone's cup of tea : but for me personally, it was thrilling, and very very appealing...

I told my wife that I had a wide grin on my face throughout my stay - which would certainly have looked comical to the passing on looker : but it was impossible to hide my joy !!!