Its kinda close but still no panic

We have our pre-defence in just 3 short weeks. At the moment I still lack most of the analysis for my empirical part. And theoretical part would need some beefing up too...

But I am not worried. At all.

• Its only a presentation - you don't have to have the whole thesis written
• I still have 3 weeks to work on it (even though I will be spending one week of it in Hungary...). On Friday I analyzed one interview (added ~6 pages to my thesis). So, these can be done quickly.
• Analyzing and creating theories is actually fun. Much more than doing research...

At the moment I have conducted 3 interviews. I would still need a couple more to reach my target (5). I know that the sample would be very small then too - but enough to make some educated suggestions for future research and to get a glimpse how the reality is in small enterprises.

Thesis update

In 25 minutes I will have my first interview for the thesis. Kinda interested to see what kind of material will I manage to collect. The question-list is pretty good and I should be able to get all the necessary information that I need for my study.

This is when the real research actually begins!

I will be moving. Again.

Last weekend I applied for a flat from Lappeenranta and to my surprise I was offered one this Friday. So, most likely during next weekend I will be going there for one last hurrah until the end of May. After that... Who knows where I will be.

Things have been quite slow on the thesis front for a couple of weeks already. I kinda lost my groove for that, but yesterday I did some more research and now I have good material to continue plowing onwards. I also have a phone conference set up with my supervisor for next Thursday, but I will ask to push that a bit forward so that we could have it face-to-face after I have settled in LPR. I am a bit concerned about the empirical part, i.e. where do I find the companies for the interviews. I will go and ask around in the Technopolis Lappeenranta - I am quite sure that I will find success with my interview request if I manage to sell my idea to them. And that, I will of course do :)

First update from Finland. Well, during this year.

My time in lovely Budapest is over. Well, for this set. I am sure I will go back there. For the last 1.5 weeks I've been living at my home in Joensuu. It is kind of weird to be back living with my parents, since I haven't been doing this a lot in last 8 years or so. However, most likely I will move out here if I get a decent flat from Lappeenranta.

The main reason for going there would be to spend some time with the mitim-people. I don't see any thesis-related benefits at all if I do go there. The sad thing is that already this semester and especially after it, the roads of us mitim '11 students will go separate ways and we will spread around the world. So, spending time with some of the co-students would be cool - afterwards it will be harder and will most likely always require organizing. Bleoooh.

On a positive note, we will meet already this week since we have a thesis seminar at LUT on Friday. All of us needed to send the current copies of our thesises to our supervisors who should be at the seminar to give us some comments about them. I haven't worked on mine since the submission and do not intend to do so. A little break from that project is needed. But, starting next week its on again. At the moment I have approximately 30 written pages, all theory. Really should not be too much of a problem to get this project done before May.

Anyways, can't wait to meet other mitim people. Few more days to go.

Making progress

Tomorrow I will break the 20 page threshold with my thesis, at the moment I have about 18 pages written. I should be pretty much done with the first draft of theoretical part by the beginning of February as requested.

I've also been listening to Hungarian quite a bit during this week. My goal is to listen about 1 hour each day for 6 days a week. Next week I will also incorporate some written exercises to supplement the listening comprehension stuff. Since I am listening the same clips over and over again (approx 25-30 times per week, 6 clips), I am really starting to recognize the words immediately without problems. And the best thing is that I can also reproduce many of the sentences and structures on demand. Granted, the texts are still quite simple, but it feels good to see some progress. Lets hope the same continues when I gradually move in to more challenging texts. Feeling optimistic!

Hustle time

I learned yesterday that we have to have our first draft of theoretical part of our thesises ready in the beginning of February. Of course I had seen the info before, but totally forgot it. So time to start hustling!

At the moment I have written about 11-12 pages of ready text, so I need about 30-35 more pages. to do that, I have about 3 weeks of time meaning I should write approx. 10 pages per week. Definitely doable, but not ideal.

Anyways, back to work. I have huge goals for this spring so now action really matters.

Globetrotting 2010 in retrospect

I realized that I've been around quite much during 2010. Overall the whole year has been a good one, almost bordering great. During 2010 I had LOTS of new experiences and I saw way more than I thought I would. Some highlights in numbers:

• Had address in 3 different countries (Finland, Hungary and a couple of days in St.Pete, Russia)
• Visited or lived in 6 countries (Russia, Finland, Hungary, Mexico, Italy, Slovakia).
• Had overall 17 flights (oops, sorry about the carbon footprint...)
• Studied 3 languages (Russian, Spanish for a couple of weeks, Hungarian)
• ....and spoke or tried to speak 5 (previous + Finnish and English. Also few lines of Swedish)

My only gripes about the year was the summer - great weather, but not good from financial or career point of view. But, as often happens, there is a silver lining to everything. Because of the relaxed summer, I had lots of time to think about my future and things that I want. Now I know where to aim. If things go as planned, 2011 will be a year of major changes and achievements. 

I am sure 2011 will be a great year for me!