Day in Montreal

Today was the longest day ever.

Dad and I were on the road to Montreal at 10am and I was barely awake. My first appointment was at Concordia with Prof. Acland, which was very enjoyable. He was very personable and gave me lots of information about the school and the program. My interview with him probably put Concordia at the top of my list, actually. The campus was beautiful, great location, etc. Definately a good prospect.

McGill was so-so. My meeting was with a prof who had a wierd office on the outskirts of the campus and it was snowing cats and dogs, so I didn't raelly get a visual impresion of the school. His interview was very brief and to the point; he didn't really "sell" me on the program, but I guess that's not his job. He did reiterate what a highly ranked and prestigious school McGill is, and how few spots there are in their PhD program, etc.

The way home was a real pip. Apart from the lovely snowstorm, dad and I were thrying to leave downtown Montreal at 5 o clock PM! We were stuck in rush hour traffic forever. In fact, I only got home a little while ago, and it's now ten to ten. Ugh.

I brought my knitting bag in case I got back to town early enough to join the girls, but I'm just too exhausted from the ride home. I hope they forgive me. This week has been far too busy for my liking.

I'm excited to have a day off tomorrow, with no travel plans, and no shifts at Top. I have a few errands to run, might check out the gym at some point, do some xmas shopping. I think a day off my applications is in order though.

So this morning I had a wonderful idea. I started looking at schools I might consider applying to for my PhD. This was a great idea because it's inspired me to actually work on my friggin thesis for the sake of getting it done. Yes, DONE. The sooner it's "DONE" the sooner I can get to the editing stage... so in essence, DONE isn't really complete at all. Anyway;

I think it would be wise to throw an app to these 3 schools;

1) Carleton. I've lived in Ottawa all my life, so there is a certain appeal in staying in a city I know and am comfortable in. Furthermore, I had a pretty good experience with my MA; good teachers, good courses, good campus, no complaints.

2) Ryerson/York. I wouldn't have wanted to move to Toronto, but when I saw this COOL program, I realized I have to at least apply to it. It's a PhD in Communication and Culture (not 'sociology') and it's offered through both Ryerson and York universities. The rationale is that you have access to the best of both universities; York's rigorous theoretical background, and Ryerson's hands-on, empirical emphasis. Cool eh? Toronto is far from home, but I do have friends there and this program is too neat not to apply for.

3) McGill? I dunno, it doesn't grab me very hard, but I feel like I should give Montreal a chance to be fair. It's not as far as Toronto, and my sis lives there. Iunno. Couldn't hurt to try. It is choice #3 though.

So yeah! Applications are due as early as mid-January 2008, so I gotta get on that. I'm going to start trolling for recommendations this week, and there's a seminar on how to write good personal statements this Thurs.

That's all the inspiration I needed!