http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jshindl/ls/16types.htm


Sort of related--an interesting webpage that describes the learning style of 16 different personality types. Mine--ENFP--is exactly right!!!

Oh and I would write poetry and novels, and occasionally have book signings at some cool independent coffee houses.

You sort of start to wonder if its not like a system where everyone is taking in each other's washing! I mean, who READS all of the mass of publications, but other people desperately trying to get published or finish a degree--its just sort of self perpetuating--as well with conferences--who goes but the same groups of people who need to get conference stuff on a CV for one reason or another?

And then some accents sound strangely like baby talk--even when being spoken by a chav looking hoodie wearing sort --like the word "bruvver" for brother---it makes me think of a toddler learning to talk!

Exactly--English being my first language as well, albeit American style--how hard can it be to say the letters of the alphabet? That said, British accents have a huge variation on how vowel sounds are said...Someone on the phone asked me recently for my house number, which I heard as health number, and it took my brain a few seconds to sort through the vowel sounds to get to house number...in the meantime I had replied I had none! How I heard health as house...who knows!

But the variation on vowels----keeps my brain scrambling. People pronounce them inside out, sidewise, sometimes half swallowed, sometimes sort of run into the sounds in front or behind them, or adding consonant sounds behind and around them...like if you said Olivia and I are going to the shop...it comes out in some accents OliviaR and I ...an "r" getting thrown in between two vowel sounds where one word ends in a vowel sound and the next word starts in a vowel sound!

Oh yes, that counts!!!! That is the kind of experience I am wanting to have--doing something that is fun and challenging, that has nothing to do with a PhD, with people who have no idea what a PhD is, and its not necessary to have them understand!

I want the added adrenaline of a sport where you run and huff and puff and have some competition. I am used to this, and I think that the lack of this is making me

and then it was more confusion on the I---I said EYE and the person said, UH? and I said..well, maybe, its EYE as in ICECREAM, and then to the A, I said AYYYY and the person said EYE, and I said...god knows what my name looks like--ULAEOA, I think!

heheheheheh I have been the source of reverse culture shock today!!!! I don't know why this makes me laugh but it does. When I went to pay my rent at Bleak Towers, the Bleak Tower worker was completly undone by the expiration date on my card--done in the American style of month/day/year. Pointing at the date ( a number greater than 12--taking up the place of a month in British date style) she asked--how do you figure this expiry date then? That sort of made my day for some reason...

That, and when on the phone still trying to sort out this banking conundrum confusion, I was spelling out all of my names Olivia Bloggz. The person on the phone got frustrated, not understanding how I was pronouncing letters! I thought--well turn about is fair play, its not as if your accent is exactly crystal clear to me! I said OH, and that sounded like EWE or something to the person, who came back with EH? and AH, and I said no OH as in ORANGE..

I am highly extroverted by any measure--and it has not been a problem with the Phd. It does mean making sure I get enough people contact, because a lot of the PhD is done alone. On the other hand, I am thrilled at the chance to do presentations--I love to be talking in front of, with, near, around people! I think extraversion, like any trait, can help you or hurt you--its a matter of how you channel it and how you use it in your situation.

I am trying to get some information from my university on sporting things that they have I could join in. It seems like there are some activities, but the information on the website is sparse. I am not looking for anything beyond some fun recreational activity--they seem to have some women's and mixed basketball on offer--which would be fun--and a sport I can do ( with broken fingers and all to prove it!) but would not be adverse to trying a new sport, just to do it. I am horrible at soccer ( err...football..) I gave it up after getting a ball kicked in my head and giving me a concussion, in the US, but I would try again if there were tolerance for someone who was bad at it.

Do other people do sport through their university? What has your experiences been? Is this mainly something only undergraduates do? Given that I am a ( very) mature student--oh who cares! That is one benefit of being over the hill--you don't have to care!

I am trying to get some information from my university on sporting things that they have I could join in. It seems like there are some activities, but the information on the website is sparse. I am not looking for anything beyond some fun recreational activity--they seem to have some women's and mixed basketball on offer--which would be fun--and a sport I can do ( with broken fingers and all to prove it!) but would not be adverse to trying a new sport, just to do it. I am horrible at soccer ( err...football..) I gave it up after getting a ball kicked in my head and giving me a concussion, in the US, but I would try again if there were tolerance for someone who was bad at it.

Do other people do sport through their university? What has your experiences been? Is this mainly something only undergraduates do? Given that I am a ( very) mature student--oh who cares! That is one benefit of being over the hill--you don't have to care!

I suppose one advantage of living at Bleak Towers is that there are no temptations--no TV, no internet...nothing to do but look at the bleak walls--so no temptation to study there, and the university, while pleasant enough, does not allow access to youtube... its a temptation free environment!

Having spent most of my life in tornado alley in the US, the sensation of a building shaking and moving was not a new one--that happens in high winds, and usually is no cause for alarm. It was the rolling wave motion that woke me up fully to be aware this was not a high wind, almost as if someone was jumping up and down on the end of the bed.

Oddly, I never felt the least bit scared or panicked. Maybe I was just so tired I could not rally the energy. I was puzzled, curious and in the end went back to sleep.

Not to beat a dead horse, but why not try Johns Hopkins? A university of that repute is highly unlikely to not offer some guidance if they are interested enough in you to have offered you a place. You also need to recognize that the funding climate for PhD studies in the United States is much different than in Europe--while there are some grants and scholarships available, many students do resort to working part time teaching or seeking loans or both, and again, why not avail yourself of the Financial Aid office at John Hopkins? They may well be able to point you to resources and solutions you will not find in general Internet searches--that is their job after all.

Perhaps it was an experiment of someone's PhD research on home made earthquakes??!