With October coming to a close, my final few assignments for my postgraduate course are due and classes have concluded. The semester has flown by – I still feel like I’m in week five following the first assignment submission, ready to delve into a new topic. It has been an incredibly enlightening experience, and I think a little academia update wouldnt’ go amiss.

For those who don’t know, I am a PhD student in New Zealand. My research area is within bookish social media, and I will be looking into the significance bookish social media has with New Zealand readers, writers, authors, and our publishing sector. My semester has been spent doing a qualitative research methods paper where I have learnt all about research paradigms, theories, practices, pathways, and so on. If you are a budding researcher or you are about to start postgraduate studies, I highly recommend taking a qualitative research paper as it is incredibly eye-opening and rewarding.

During my undergrad years, I didn’t stray from a strict self-imposed schedule of “city time” and “home time”. I travelled into the city for my classes, and left as soon as I could to head home. I didn’t give myself the time or opportunities to venture up and down the side-streets, perusing bookshops and art galleries, museums and cafes, or shops along the route to the bus or train station. My final few years in my undergraduate course coincided with Covid, so there was no browsing around then. I did my masters straight afterwards, and with several lockdowns called for Auckland that year, social entertainment and adventuring was scarce and self-hosted. Now though, with brighter horizons and access to these spaces again (not to mention a better understanding of how to optimise the travel fees), I am all too happy to enjoy my time in town on and off campus.

While it may sound like the opposite, my PhD journey has been the most open to meeting new people and engaging with other like-minded individuals in academia. Instead of marinading in imposter syndrome soup, I have made myself get out there and talk to people, look around, visit places, and spend time outside of my comfort place which has been more of a prison over the last few years due to constant isolation. I am an introvert, so it isn’t easy – even now – going out and talking to people, but when it comes to something I am passionate about I can talk for days. This research of mine is one of those topics, and hearing what others are excited and inspired by with their own research is just as fun to hear about, if not moreso.

An important part of any study, but postgraduate studies especially, is your downtime and how to take time off from your studies to recharge. While being at home gives me access to exercise hobbies like cooking, baking, puzzling and reading, being outside and venturing around town is something I have yet to truly do. I have visited the museum a few times, and now that I am a member I will be able to attend chats and presentations that spark my interest and intrigue. I have also been to the winter gardens in recent months, and if there is ever a time to step away from a computer to refresh the brain, wandering through beautiful gardens and enjoying the smells and sights sounds like a perfect break to me. There are also more than a handful of bookstores I have never been to, and I’m talking popular indie stores and notable shops in general here. You can rest assured, each and every bookstore in the city will be perused by yours truly by Easter next year, if not sooner.

There’s something about being in an academic institution that carries this sense of excitement. My university is quite new, especially compared to others in the country, so the architecture isn’t indicative of that academia aesthetic of marble columns, neo-classical arches, and old libraries with rich brown desks and lowlight. Nevertheless, walking into my building or the main foyer gives me such a sense of belonging and comfort. There really is nothing like the feeling of finding the place that feels like an extension of yourself.

Over the summer and many years ahead, I hope to visit campus and explore the city in all seasons, experiencing all kinds of weather and wishing a few too many times I’d brought another layer or my umbrella. I would love to find favourite places and come across little gems in the city I’ve lived in my whole life. I feel bad that it has taken me this long to feel comfortable and confident in visiting all these places, but I won’t let that stop me anymore. While my post-grad class may be at its end, my PhD journey has only just begun.