It’s been a while, I know. This past week has been very busy for me, in a good way, and I haven’t had much time to sit an organize my thoughts into a coherent post.

I had thought that when school started up this fall I’d be much less busy than I’d been for the past two years, but happily it hasn’t turned out that way. I have to give a big shout-out to the Research Node in Early Modern Cultural History at Uppsala University, which takes a genuine interest in finding and creating opportunities for us members, even when we’re “between projects”, as I am now. Last week I spent a few days in England as a representative of the node at a conference concerning travel and the country house, and next month I’ll be working in Stockholm as a host for a conference titled “Visualising Difference: Objects, Space and Practice in Early Modern Europe”. These conferences are helping me keep my head in the game, so to speak, and the occasions to network and encounter new ideas are invaluable. Neither of these opportunities would have come my way without the engagement of the node and its research director, and I am very grateful not to have been cast unceremoniously into the wind after my thesis was defended.

It’s been especially good for me to get my thinking cap on now, as it’s time to apply for Ph.D. positions. The two I’m looking at now are in Uppsala and Stockholm. The competition is going to be stiff — off the top of my head I can think of at least six or seven other people who will submit strong applications, and there will surely will be applicants I don’t know as well — but I’m trying not to discourage myself. I’ve been working on my proposal (for now mostly in my head), and I feel confident that I’ll have a solid research plan to send in with my application next month. Still, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t daunted. My classmates and I had hoped that there would be more positions available than just the one at each university (these aren’t the only positions in Sweden, of course, but I’m rather limited when it comes to travel and relocation), but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. In any case, I remain cautiously optimistic, but it’s going to be a long three months until December when the offers are made.