Con calma, a new and better log for 2017

[Cavesa]

I seriously desire adding one of the slavic languages for reading on my list already. I cannot. I am drowning in medecine and actually I am not doing too well, I look like a zombie, and I feel like that. Finally, we've got awesome weather, but the studying is damaging the experience (ok, it's getting even too hot, some of the older jokes will be usable again soon: "How many degrees are there?" "All of them"). Moderate forum posting and book searching saves me a bit. But "moderate" is the key word here.

I should probably turn my mini pauses into something better, more relaxing AND more langauge learningish. Perhaps a short web series. Any ideas on good court metrage stuff findable online?

I haven't read the Chinese author yet, he's on my list of prizes for survival. At the end of june, I'll make a nice "congratulations, you survived!" kauf on amazon.

Of course I have tips on some French sci-fi!

-Maurice G. Dantec is an excellent choice. I've read only one book of his so far, but it was great and two more are waiting in my bookcase*. He is not for beginning readers (people who start around B1), or rather it might be a difficult journey. The story was great, the characters interesting, the ideas original. The technological and biological vocabulary was not much of a problem. Philosophy was. You know, my general education is quite good, considering today's standards. I am more or less oriented from the Greeks to Descartes. I am getting nervous, when Kant comes up in a conversation (what I understood from his philosophy during the classes, I didn't like). But the 20th and 21st century is a huge gap. He quotes the philophers and he quotes imaginary ones, and ones from the future. Perhaps you are better prepared for this than I.

-Fabien Clavel, I discovered his books in France and I've fallen in love. He write various genres, but mostly sticks to scifish-fantasy-thrillerish marvels. Lots of action, science meeting our mythology. Well written stories. And he uses bits of Latin in some of his books. And Hungarian. And he knows Central Europe, that is a huge plus. And he has a nice prediction for Prague in a few decades. So far, I've read his Nephilim and Homo Vampiris.

-Alain Damasio, I haven't read him yet myself, but I trust Tarvos' recommendations. And the prizes he got too.

-Another I haven't had time for yet, but will report on soon: Laurent Genefort, real French space operas. Lum'en seems like a classic on the cover, but there are three prizes mentioned on the frontcover, Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire being one of them.Les opéras de l'espace is a space opera about an opera singer.

-The last one on my to read shelf (this to read shelf, I have several. Methaphorical ones. My bookcase is mostly chaos) is Jean-Philippe Depotte, Le Chemin des dieux. Sci-fi, Japan, and an author who is "Scientifique de formation, passionné d'histoire et de littérature". Sounds promising.

There is so much I just had to leave in the bookstores!

-One non sci-fi tip: Arachnae by Charlotte Bousquet. Awesome dark fantasy, definitely not for very young readers, perhaps not even for more sensitive older readers, this is no Hobbit. Great story telling, thrilling, characters that won't bore you, sometimes more bloody than GRR Martin. Again, it is an example of the old trouble with publishers putting "girlish" cover on a book just because the author happens to be a woman. I am convinced many otherwise interested readers will simply not give it a second look just because of the front cover (the whole thrilogy includes classic beautiful dangerous looking mysterious women there). And on the other hand, I pity a preteen girl, used to seeing such covers on books by Licia Troisi and similar benign authors, who would accidentally read this.

In just a few weeks, I will binge read at least a few thousand pages of fun in several days. And I will prove that yes, there is binge reading, and no thread and mistakene journalists are gonna convince me otherwise I hope you'll like some of these too.

*my newly repaired bookcase. You know what a real proof of love is? My boyfriend loves to joke about campfires and my books (which I hate for obvious reasons). But when half my bookcase got broken (well done, ikea), he repaired it. He's awesome!

Back to my medecine books.

[blaurebell]

Awesome, thank you so much for all the recommendations! I've been reading the Expanse in French translation to pick up Sci Fi vocab and when I'm through with the ones that are translated into French I'll continue with some properly French stuff. The Dantec sounds great, I think I'm going to have lots of fun, because my first degree was like 50% 20th century French philosophy! Now I'm looking forward to buying one of them in the next book order!

For short stuff I don't really have many recommendations. There is the Argentinian version of In treatment called En terapia that you might find interesting - you can find it on daily motion. Half an hour episodes, 50h of them in total, but it's somewhat heavy, so maybe not the right thing. Other than that most of what I watch these days seems to be just over an hour, because that's how the Spanish prefer their series. I found El tiempo entre costuras mildly entertaining and so is Mar de plástico. Both about 70min episodes. By the way, if you haven't seen the television version of the Expanse, then I would definitely recommend that one for relaxing, I actually find it excellent! Not language learning, but at least something good to watch!

Ah, did you have the sagging Billy shelf experience? I have to place my photography books strategically on the sides for the ikea shelves or they would break down for sure! We actually buy wooden ones from a local carpentry shop now. More expensive, but they withstand the professional book tetris skills of my husband

As for summer and studying: I used to burn the candle on both ends when I finished my BA and my MSc, both happening mid summer. Study hard all day, then go out for open air tango at the river until 3am. Sleep is totally overrated when you get enough endorphin! My mum thought that I was going nuts and totally overdoing it, but then she saw me come back from tango one day with this big smile on my face! It's actually what kept me sane. So, definitely don't forget to have some hedonistic endorphin-seeking fun during this crazy time, it helps to recharge!

You know what I'm learning now? That crazy bouts of studying make for bad PhD habits, study burn out study burn out. Every 3 months the same mess, it's driving me nuts! I think I never learned how to study in any sustained fashion because I did the term / semester split for too long

[Elenia]

I read Rivers of London and loved it! I have the second book but have not yet read it. I am sure I can arrange to send it to you when I have made my way through it!

[Cavesa]

I bought myself the next few books in the Rivers of London series today. I needed this bit of happiness, and they were on sale (25%). And an awesome illustrated thematic German dictionary (not the well known one).

And I got my amazon package, with pastel coloured highlighters, four medecine books, and the rest of the Arachnae trilogy.
I don' have time till my nearest exam, but it all the fun books are waiting here for me.

Btw, I think Kafka must have been a student at my faculty. Clear source of inspiration.

Thanks for the tips, but I am more looking for short as 3-5 minutes of quick relax between studying. I will probably rewatch Kaamelott. I don't have even that amount of time today and tomorrow, but I'll have it later. And the book tetris made me laugh, it is so exact. My boyfriend asked how do I remember which books are in the second row. Well, I leave myself hints in the first row. Full use of the space in the shelves. I'll need better quality bookcases too, one day. The problem is not sagging. The lower half of one of the sides decided to move away from the rest of the bookcase. It's trapped back on the right place now.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Thanks for recommending Rivers of London - it's available at the library, so I'll give it a chance.

[Cavesa]

Yesterday, I survived a rather big exam. Next one is on Tuesday. Than a week later (which should have been on Thursday but I am so lucky one place got free later). Another exam is I don't know when (there are just a few places available and the main professor taking care of the exam organization seems to be out of order due to health reasons, the world is going crazy). The last one is in September. It looks like the easiest one to the outsiders, but it is the real mystery and torture. (When I asked a teacher how to better prepare, he tried to comfort me like "our textbook should suffice, with special attention to pharmacology as students get that often wrong". Should suffice? Did you see the monster book? It is huge! And all those disgusting photos still don't make the hardly digestible text noticeably shorter.) And if I fail, they'll kick me out of the university. Btw, I am officially at two places at once these days, my studies got that crazy, I need to take absences in order to be present elsewhere, and so on... Where are the Time Turners,when I need one? Broken in the underground of the Ministry of Magic.

Just so that you know, why I was missing in Bratislava, and why I am a barely active language learner now. Just Ben Aaronovitch (Moon over Soho), Aguila Roja, the hopeful sight of my French to read shelf, and similar stuff are improving my days from the language point of view. I should rewatch Kaamelott, as those pauses between studying should be short enough, yet relaxing.

I am considering some form of tutoring, to:
1.get some practice that is not medicine related and not just superficial small talk
2.work on the damn accent, to not look unnecessarily more stupid in a year (oh I will already seem tragic enough as a young fresh doctor even without. If I get that far)
3.have a bit of fun
4.use as another string attaching me to sanity

Well, the rypeapp, baselang, and similar services seem to not be what I am looking for. No time to invest in more searching, so I'll try one free trial and see.

P.S. I have a strange feeling Elenia, Brun Ugle, and rdearman came with some crazy plan in Bratislava. Btw did the Finnish cookie meeting happen? And why do I strangely desire to start Hebrew or Greek these days? Is it procrastination or just virus that came all the way from Bratislava?

[Elenia]

P.S. I have a strange feeling Elenia, Brun Ugle, and rdearman came with some crazy plan in Bratislava. Btw did the Finnish cookie meeting happen? And why do I strangely desire to start Hebrew or Greek these days? Is it procrastination or just virus that came all the way from Bratislava?

That doesn't sound like us, we would never do that and sorry, maybe the Greek is from me? Language Transfer!

Have you started Moon Over Soho yet? If not, let's go in it together! I can wait until you're ready

(I just want someone to gush about it with!)

[Cavesa]

Obviously, I became part of Elenia's/BrunUgle's/rdearman's evil Czech masterplan before I even knew it

A few points:

1.I desperately need to improve my German asap. That means as soon as some of the most pressing exams are gone. I've reorganized them a bit, it is a chaotic mix, but I must get through. I need German for reading and medical comunication. Talk all you want about English being the number one in science and everything, it simply stops being true once you focus on a particular field, where the situation may be a bit different and other players may be important. French was one of the best decisions of my life (thanks, 9 year old me, and thanks to the rest of my younger mes (yes, this is a plural of "me" and I don't care how wrong it is) for being stubborn enough to stick with it). But I need Spanish and German too. And I am beginning to think I might need an asian language in future. Some of the countries have definitely a lot of information to offer that might interest me. But some of it only to those getting through the barrier.

2.I am trying one of the "unlimited" tutoring services next week, as I've desribed in another thread. I am curious. It will probably be not worth it, but I can try.

3. I need to improve my French. I've been looking into some resources for natives. Some of them look pretty promissing, such as Projet Voltaire. It is a grammar improvement site for natives who want to write better. On their very short test, I got 71% and recommendation to buy their second level of courses (approximately 40 euro for a year of access) and I am seriously considering it. I think most FLE learners would score high on that tiny little test, but I think the site may have a lot to offer.

......
Yes, I've started Moon over Soho and it is awesome! I am in the third or fourth chapter and won't progress too fast, I need to study.

Of those Greek and Hebrew crazy ideas, I blame you, Expug, zenmonkey, Tristano, Tarvos (perhaps she doesn't learn these two, but she is definitely among the suspects), Language Transfer, Memrise, Duolingo, and Youtube. Shame!

[rdearman]

In my defence I was trying to derail a lot of the mad schemes they were cooking up. There was the "Four Country Bicycle Tour" in French, the "Slovakian Kayak & Language Challenge" (although admittatedly this was my idea) and others. Also... Zen Monkey is an enabler.

[Elenia]

In my defence I was trying to derail a lot of the mad schemes they were cooking up. There was the "Four Country Bicycle Tour" in French, the "Slovakian Kayak & Language Challenge" (although admittatedly this was my idea) and others. Also... Zen Monkey is an enabler.

I was very distinctly not involved in either of these!