thesis is done!!

le thesis is done!

i printed out 4 copies of her today, and she is ready to go to the binders tomorrow on my lunch hour. the stack of paper i walked out of the library with was unreal.  the four copies added up to 424 pages...  i felt bad for the people waiting behind me in the queue for the printers. oh well!

it was pretty scary printing out the final copy, but i've read the bloody thing so many times, i've had multiple friends and coworkers read it, and i am happy with how it turned out. of course i could have done more research, done a few things differently, but overall i'm happy. i  had a year for my masters, and seriously worked on the thesis for about 6 months, i've read a ton of books. somewhere along the line of about 250 books and articles in the last year. my source list had about 175 on it, of that i put 150 in the bibliography, and then i read quite a few books for my classes too. so i've actually accomplished a lot this year. so crazy to be done! i printed off a copy this morning before work and re-read it one last time to make sure all the formatting and such was correct, and i found 3 spelling errors. so then after work i went to the library and printed her off. 

"In Persuit of Opportunity: The Experiences of Irish Domestic Servants in the United States and Great Britain 1870 to 1960" came in at 106 pages, total of 27024 words, including the bibliography and footnotes. the actual text was 20995, so i was only 995 words over. not bad. 

so YAY!!! so besides getting it bound, i just have to get it signed by my adviser, the head of the department and then hand it into the registrar. so she should be officially turned in on friday. 

so i had a pretty good weekend. the weather was absolutely gorgeous! like 65 and sunny both saturday and sunday!  saturday i worked in the morning, then in the afternoon ran my errands, and then sat out in the back garden with a book and then did the last edits on the thesis. sunday was just amazing! i went hiking to brough na binne with a few friends and it was a splendid day. sun was out, gorgeous area of kerry and it felt so good to get out on the mountain. karen, gearoid, emer and i went, and after driving through the gap (which i have never done, it made us laugh to drive through the gap) and into the black valley, where it was just stunning. made me remember why i love ireland so much. the hike was great, lots of fab conversation, time alone thinking and stunning views :) it was so nice to go out in such a small group, especially since next week is the first official hike... so there will be like 100 people out... but it will be great to get out every week, as i haven't really hiked since june! 

campus was mad today! college started and the place was packed! i forgot how crazy it gets when people are around, and the queues are soo long now for everything. oh well. it is also crazy that i'm not starting college this year, i'm ending... i don't know how i feel about that...

some pictures from the weekend :)

brough na binne

in the black valley

the clouds started to roll in...

this is what 4 copies of the thesis looks like...

the different drafts of the thesis....

and it is my 100th post on here! yay!