I realize that it has been quite some time since I have last updated this blog. While I have had some wonderful adventures in the past few weeks — the Lake District and the annual St Andrews tradition of May Dip — that document I am clinging to in the photograph has consumed all of my thoughts for the past couple of months. But at long last, on the twenty-ninth of April, I submitted my dissertation for Comparative Literature!

Entitled “Is This a Kissing Book: Transmedia Adaptation and Reverse Reception in Relation to William Goldman’s The Princess Bride,” this is really just a fancy way of saying that I wanted to write about my favorite film, and how it came to be that many people do not know it is originally a novel. I have learned so much from this experience not just about how novels are adapted into film, but about myself and the caliber of work I am capable of producing if the passion for the subject is there. I am so thankful that I was matched with a professor who not only agreed to oversee my rather “inconceivable” project in the first place, but demonstrated so much enthusiasm for my research each time we met.

In our last meeting she told me that this was one of the most innovative Comparative Literature studies she has come across, and as I am not very confident in myself and am often intimidated by my peers at St Andrews, I think this compliment is the most rewarding thing I have taken from this experience of writing an undergraduate dissertation. I realized that even though I tend to be a little quirky, and my ideas are often very far outside the box, that this is something to be proud of. And by staying true to what I am passionate about, I felt a far greater sense of accomplishment than if I had done what was expected of me.

While I learned so much from writing an undergraduate dissertation and gained a new sense of self-confidence from the experience, I am glad that it is done and dusted. I can finally rest easy at night and I never have to set foot in the library again! Only two exams stand between me and that University of St Andrews degree, something I am still having a hard time coming to terms with. But as graduation is still over a month away, I intend to spend this time enjoying Scotland as much as I possibly can. Stay tuned for upcoming posts about my weekend getaway to the Lake District, the St Andrews traditions of May Dip and the Gaudie, and whatever else I manage to get up to in these last few weeks. Until then: Turas math dhut!