Cultnet 2016

Cultnet 2016

It was my third Cultnet and hopefully my last as a PhD student. I keep going back to Cultnet because I see the event as a good starting point to think and try out new ideas I want to put forward about my on-going work. It has a friendly atmosphere and I always receive helpful suggestions to think further rather than negative criticism. This year, when looking back at my two previous Cultnet, I could see that I have used everything I previously presented at Cultnet in my thesis thinking and writing, so nothing is wasted.

I also think that it is my best Cultnet so far not only because I had a lot of support from our colleagues from Manchester, Cordoba and some of people I know from this event in previous years, plus people I met at other conferences, but I also think my presentation went well.

As I’m drafting the conclusion part of my thesis, I wanted to push myself to think about the “so what” part of my study and present it to expert audience in the fields of Intercultural Communication and TESOL. I burnt the midnight oil to prepare my presentation and was a bit nervous (so very typical Khwan) because I didn’t have time to rehearse it. Anyway, I got to say what I wanted to say, and I was very happy with the flow of the presentation. More importantly, I didn’t receive any difficult questions about the substance of my study which I take that to mean it made sense!

Elisa and I also co-presented the KEF paper (Fitri was there in spirit) which also received positive feedback and helpful suggestions from members of the audience.

Oh by the way, have I told you that I stayed at Durham Castle? I was luckily upgraded from a usual student dorm room with shared facilities to stay in one of the Staterooms (a suite)! How proper!

I came back from Durham with more confidence about my study and feeling loved and fully supported. Thank you, Richard for your thoughts and support. I am very grateful to be one of your students and I can’t emphasise this enough.