Genna Millar

Genna comes from Dundee, she graduated with an MA in English in 2008, and is now taking the MLitt in Creative Writing.

Her story ...

Moving house over the Christmas period was always going to be difficult, let alone with a 15 month old child in tow and a Theory in Humanities essay to complete by the 15th of January!  

Three days after Christmas we were moving into my father-in-law's house in order to save up some cash for a deposit for a house of our own.  The moving went fine, but the first night was spent shivering under a few blankets – the heating packed in upon our arrival!  As we watched the snow falling outside our bedroom window we unpacked boxes, my husband was trying to sort out papers for the fantastic new graduate job he had just started while I was trying to keep all of my notes and library books in one pile so that I could begin the elusive essay writing!

Unfortunately the engineer couldn't come and fix the heating the next day, so my first day of essay writing was spent wrapped in a dressing gown with a hot water bottle at my feet and numb fingers trawling through the vast array of online journals at the University's fantastic library site – thank goodness for ebrary!  Despite being cold in the house, it was still great to be able to do some research from home in the evenings while my little one was in bed.  There are such a fantastic array of resources to choose from, which makes it so easy for parents of small children to study.

The next few days was spent unpacking and cleaning, all very boring but necessary tasks.  My husband started his new job, which he loves; after graduating from Dundee Uni last year he has started working for a charity – a job that he loves and is really well suited to him.  I decided to head to the library, which was decidedly a lot warmer than being at home!  I love spending time there; after a hectic day chasing my son around it can be really peaceful to spend time in quiet study. 

I bumped into a couple of friends there who told me about a literary salon with author Jasper Fforde on 22nd January, which I made a note in my diary to attend.  The literary salons are always fun, and varied, plus there is always some nice wine afterwards!  How can you go wrong? 

After checking my timetable I am looking forward to starting the new term; Romanticism this semester.  My favourite!