I turned in what I hope is my last project as an undergraduate today at about 12:20 PM to the Art History Department. It was a 10 page essay which I wrote over the course of many months, but didn't really define until last week when it was urgent to work on it. Hopefully Dr. H will like the paper as much as she seemed to like my presentation (which I burned onto CD, as per her request).

I was only sorry that I didn't have time to do more research. There is a whole stack of interesting library books waiting to be read, but I didn't have the time to go through them since Dr. H kept us pretty much busy the entire months with different parts of the assignment to turn in. I am planning to take note of their titles, as well as photocopy the table of contents and indexes since they seem like good books that I might be able to use for future research. I'm also hoping to borrow these books again with my Rutgers alumni library card (I was thrilled to find out that I would still have access to the library!).

For the summer, I'm planning to study for the GRE as well as make an Access database for research. I thought it would be easier to scan and type notes as opposed to writing them down. I will also create a template so that I can print out the notes in a 3x5 format that I can stick onto index cards to file away. It much easier to look through physical note cards than looking at them on the computer. Technology is great in some ways, but it still can't replace the way I do things.

I volunteered to be the first to give my presentation today. Unlike other times, I wasn't nervous since I wasn't worried about how I was going to say everything or fumbling my speech. I had my slides keyed to text that I read. Knowing what I was going to say took a lot of pressure off me. I had found a text on the Internet about giving academic presentations and one of the suggestions was to read from a script, since academic information tends to be more condensed and the ideas can be presented in a more eloquent way. That was a great suggestion! I guess it is true too. I have been to at least one academic event where the speaker (an older and distinguished doctor of art history) read his presentation from a script and no one seemed to think any less of him. I was thrilled that the teacher seemed to like my presentation and even asked to have a copy on CD when I turn my paper in. I gushed about how I really liked the subject (magic and miracles) and was thinking that it would make for a great dissertation topic if I get into graduate school. I was a little embarrassed about saying that afterward because I might have sounded as if I was trying too hard to appear like an eager student (which I am, but maybe my enthusiasm should have been reined in a bit. I couldn't help it, I really like my topic!). I said something to the effect of, "The more I read, the more I found out that there is to know and the more I wanted to read." I'm sure I must have sounded like a complete nerd to everyone in class. Awkward! At the end of class, one girl actually said that she liked my presentation. Yay! Oh, and Dr. H said that it would have made a good honors paper too! =D

I turned in my catalog entries for 30 objects as well as 3 wall texts and submitted the 10 items accompanied by labels for my portion of the virtual exhibition today. What a relief! This was the part of the assignment I dreaded even more than the presentation because it seemed so daunting to write catalog entries for 30 objects! Although I began work on the catalog on Friday, I still needed a lot of time on Tuesday to complete it since I was only halfway done. C was gracious and took off from work to watch B and take care of things around the house while I slaved away at the computer all day yesterday. I probably should have just done one object a day for a month. It would have been much easier, but I was probably trying to keep up with the reading assignments and had little to no time to do so. Although I borrowed books from the library for all of the reading assignments (I detest looking at fuzzy photocopied images), I didn't have time to read them all, although I would have liked to. =( And to imagine that I thought that I could also do the suggested readings!

I really enjoy reading about magic and miracles during the early Christian period. It seems that the more I read, the more I find that there is still more to read! If I haven't mentioned this before, I think I have found an area I would like to specialize in and write a dissertation about. The only question I have now, is whether I should concentrate in history or art history.

Two more weeks to go. Next week I have to give a presentation and the following week the entire project is due. After that, I can just sit and relax and wait for graduation day to arrive. I can't wait! =)