I have just entered my final year and have one full chapter and two half chapters. So I hope it is possible to write most of it in a year or i'm in trouble! I keep trying to motivate myself by thinking each little bit I write gets me a little bit closer to getting it finished and out of my life!

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I think the standards in some universities and in some courses are just lower. Only one person was awarded a 1st out of approx 100 students on my degree course. When essays were returned it was rare to hear of students getting an A. In the university I do my PhD and teach at, we seem to hand out 2:1 degrees like they are going out of fashion, and 1st class to those who are a little above average. When I first started here I was giving people Cs for essays and they would get marked up to a high B even though it was full of errors and poorly formed arguments. My current university is a 'newer' university and I did my undergrad at one of the oldest in the UK. I don't know if this has any impact or if there has just been a general shift across the board through in the push to get more people educated to degree level. I share your frustration!

I told my supervisor I was having a holiday over Xmas and New Year. I was feeling pretty deserving of a holiday having finished all my fieldwork, had a book chapter published and presented at a conference for the first time. She replied with 'Yeah that's fine. It all comes down to priorities and whether or not you want to finish on time'. I was like 'gee thanks, i'll have a nice holiday then!'

Haha - yeah I am a qualitative researcher. I know this is what I am meant to do to an extent, in my methodology I have a strong focus on reflection in the research process. Sometimes I just wonder if I am too introspective. I guess maybe it is because no one else in my department doing qualitative research ever really seems to talk about how the process has been for them. For me I feel that the process of doing the research has been huge and actually totally life changing. Thanks for replying - just checking i'm not a complete weirdo :p

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Slightly random topic. I am just wondering whether anyone else has experienced this. Since I started my PhD I have gone through a long (and often upsetting) process of thinking about myself really in depth. Thinking about my past experiences, views about the world, and my research. Looking back I am now, so, so, so different to the person I was when I started the research and this is definately a good thing. I find it really interesting how doing the PhD has changed me. But at the same time I worry about it meaning I am just too self absorbed! I know the PhD is actually about the issue, and producing a thesis instead of being about me. Has anyone else gone through a process like this?

I am from the UK but study overseas. Obviously it isn't possibly to generalise to a whole country, but overall I find people in the UK to be more miserable and pessimistic to people here. I never noticed it when I lived there but it was because I had nothing else to compare it to. Maybe it's the weather.

Although, as an overseas student I do feel more isolated here than I think I would studying in the UK. Being 'a foreigner' automatically makes you 'different' so sometimes it feels like people treat you like an outsider, even if this is not what they intend. This has been my experience anyway. Perhaps, you are taking things the wrong way. Are there other international students you could talk to to gain some perspective on this?

I have had on average ten weeks off in the past two years. I am just about to take another five weeks off soon, but will probably do work for one of these weeks. After that my write up year begins and I anticipate only one week off and a few days here and there next year at most. I personally think it is very, very important to take holidays. However I also think it's important to have strict boundaries around when the holiday starts and ends - not something I am good at myself!

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I had a look but some of the questions aren't really applicable as I do not have a 'chairperson' or 'committee members'. I assume this is since it is an American study. So are you looking at the experiences of students worldwide? This sounds quite difficult to me since PhDs are structured differently in different countries.

I had a pretty good job before I started my PhD so it was a tough decision. I am doing my PhD because I believe passionately in the importance of my topic, and of the need for change. I suppose this naïve optimism has dwindled a little now since I recognise the limitations of research to actually influence change. However I still do believe that the work I do is, and will be, of some value. As cheesy as it sounds sometimes I forget that this is actually about getting me a qualification too.

I'm sure all of those reading this who have ever been paid for sex will repent their contribution to the 'moral 'decay' of society after thinking hard about what is being said by some. Haha. I can no longer take this thread seriously. It is super interesting though how uncomfortable people get about someone charging for sex. For some, it is just not what they want to do or would feel comfortable doing. Just like I don't want to screw people by being a lawyer or a politician, they don't want to screw people by being a hooker and that's perfectly ok.
But for those who feel qualified to negatively judge sex workers I suspect there are other reasons. I suspect for some it is about religion, and/or about subscribing to the gender stereotypes that say sex has to be about love. For others however I think it may be jealousy that they don't have the guts to get out there and do it themselves.

I hope all the hookers reading this thread think of cleverclogs and smile the next time they walk off after a job with some well earned cash to pay for a lovely relaxing holiday from the stressful PhD work :p

I hope all the hookers reading this thread think of cleverclogs and smile the next time they walk off after a job with some well earned cash to pay for a lovely relaxing holiday from the stressful PhD work :p

P.S the most signficant harm is caused by people like you who look down on and stigmatise sex workers constructing them as lesser human beings.

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