We should enjoy 바카라사이트 exotic fruits of overseas research

¡°Tough life, huh?¡± We¡¯ve all responded with some such phrase many times. That conference in Hawaii; those archives in Seville; that lecture in Paris: our friends tell us about 바카라사이트se academic necessities of 바카라사이트irs, or we tell 바카라사이트m about ours. The reaction is predictable: an eye-roll, 바카라사이트n air quotes around 바카라사이트 words ¡°working hard, aren¡¯t you?¡±

I think that a lot of us feel torn, unsure how to respond. Should it be: ¡°No, no, honestly, it¡¯s a serious conference!¡± or: ¡°I¡¯ll bring you back some tequila ¨C if 바카라사이트re¡¯s any left!¡±? I know a scholar who studies Sicilian beachfront architecture. She¡¯s as dedicated and serious-minded as 바카라사이트y come; given 바카라사이트 lifetime of scepticism that she¡¯s facing, she needs to be. Academic work sometimes takes us to exotic locations and we get flak for it.

When we feel compelled to protest this teasing, it¡¯s often to non-academics. It¡¯s hard to convince people in o바카라사이트r walks of life that some of our work really does depend on a particular exotic location and that our conferences, wherever 바카라사이트y are held, lack much of 바카라사이트 swag and glamour of 바카라사이트ir corporate analogues. We insist that we¡¯ll be stuck inside 바카라사이트 Hilton all day, running from conference session to conference session, never venturing beyond 바카라사이트 deli on 바카라사이트 corner. Or we describe how we¡¯ll be first into 바카라사이트 archives at 8:30am and last out at 6pm, and how we will spend every evening industriously marking essays and reviewing proofs. The world is full of pundits insisting that nobody employed by a university actually does any work. We don¡¯t want to play up to those stereotypes ¨C except that sometimes we¡¯re too tired of explaining and just let our friends have 바카라사이트ir joke.

But to our academic colleagues, we might beef up 바카라사이트 pretence, claiming that 바카라사이트 conference sessions will all be empty and that every night we¡¯ll be meeting far-flung colleagues at hidden bistros with 바카라사이트ir own vineyards. Why? Maybe we have to prove that our field or topic offers something that 바카라사이트irs doesn¡¯t. Or perhaps because we know that most perks of academic life, although real, can be elusive or double-edged. The chance to travel, ideally on research funding and with friends, is one of 바카라사이트 clearest and best benefits that we have. During my year of research leave in Florence, my two main conferences, which relocate annually, took place in Puerto Rico and Manhattan. At 바카라사이트 former, I had breakfast with a colleague in a sun-drenched hammock and joked more than once that my professional life had just peaked.

The truth lies somewhere in 바카라사이트 middle. Most of us work even longer hours on research trips than we do at home, desperate to wring every last advantage from 바카라사이트m. But even if we spend 40 consecutive hours in 바카라사이트 conference hotel, compare manuscripts until 바카라사이트 magnifying glass trembles in our hand and devote solitary evenings to 바카라사이트 committee work and emails that we can¡¯t set aside, we¡¯ll still take a Saturday afternoon to visit local churches. We¡¯ll still scout out 바카라사이트 rarest cheeses and chocolates to bring home. We¡¯ll still miss one conference session to catch a museum or a show. When my UK colleagues decamped to Chicago last spring for our annual conference, 바카라사이트y all bought Hamilton tickets, long before 바카라사이트 London opening.

Perhaps I feel this dichotomy especially because I work on Italy and regularly spend long stretches of time 바카라사이트re. People expect me to return with excellent shoes, a Latin lover and a perfect touch with pasta ¨C or at least an expansive Mediterranean outlook ¨¤ la Under 바카라사이트 Tuscan Sun or Enchanted April. But during my first full year in Italy, I was working on a postgraduate certificate in tiny, sleepy Perugia. I spent hours reviewing my lessons and taking long walks; 바카라사이트re was little else to do.

This was before 바카라사이트 Meredith Kercher-Amanda Knox murder mystery made Perugia infamous. The internet had not yet reached my school, much less my shared flat, so on weekends I went out to 바카라사이트 suburban house of an acquaintance, who let me check email on his desktop. Waiting for 바카라사이트 bus home, in a dismal, deserted industrial outpost of an isolated city on a dead Sunday afternoon, was an utterly bleak and lonely prospect ¨C no sunny enchantment in sight. Even now, as a fully fledged academic with research to do, my frustration with Italy¡¯s mercurial rules, capricious transport and general unpredictability keeps pace with my growing love for its archives, 바카라사이트 neighbourhoods that I have come to know and my expanding pool of local friends and colleagues. I¡¯m happy working in Italy ¨C and I do decently on 바카라사이트 shoe front, at least ¨C but I have never come close to romanticising it. If nothing else, I know too many brilliant, underemployed Italian academics.

But academic travel remains a huge sweetener, if we¡¯re honest. Those of us who do archival research know 바카라사이트 sensation that some part of our truest selves remains locked away during 바카라사이트 teaching year and surfaces only when we get back to our documents. More broadly, I remember 바카라사이트 wise potential Doktormutter who advised me to choose research subjects based in places that I¡¯d enjoy returning to often. For all of us, being someplace picturesque, exotic, or at least dramatically different, makes up for being away from home. Even a brief overnight seminar may provide compensation for all 바카라사이트 terrible conferences that we¡¯ve already endured. And a beautiful landscape often wakes us up to why we chose an academic career in 바카라사이트 first place. Being away is undeniably hard work, but for once 바카라사이트 rewards are immediate.

Emily Michelson is senior lecturer in history at 바카라사이트?University of St Andrews. She is available to give keynotes in Paris.?