I am now in what could possibly be described as the most difficult part of my Master’s degree – wading through a sea of words, quotes, theories, interviews and survey with the final aim of making a coherent paper on my chosen subject.

In a way, it’s like trying to piece together a shredded document – I know it is all there and that some careful thinking will help me put it together.

I am not sure what other students go through at this point, but am prone to believe that they struggle as much, feel tired and down, desperate and powerless, and then feel elated and determined to continue, proud and invincible – all at pretty much the same time.

As it stands today, I am putting together one of the two big sections of my dissertation – once these are done, I will be able to sit back and take a short breather before attacking the rest. It’s not that simple – I have to crunch around 15,000 words into around 8,000…

In two months from now, it’ll all be over and I will look back on this with, well, s sense of achievement, irrespective of the final result. Don’t get me wrong, I am aiming for the top grade, but it has all been a long, long journey. Along the way, I lost my father, my brother was diagnosed with a brain tumour (which he is fighting damn hard) and I was made redundant and had to go through the process of finding a job. And because I was successful in the latter, I had to learn the ropes at my new job. Don’t get me wrong – I am not looking for excuses. God only knows that people like my brother are faced with far more difficult circumstances, and he is dealing with it. Hope I have the same will power and interior strength to get me through these next 62 days.

(Written in dissertation mode, typos included)