Before coming to Besançon, I used to enjoy working lonely. I fell into productivity methods and thought the most efficient way to get the best work was to do it myself. Because I was the only one to truly know what I wanted. This master definitely changed something in that. I learned that friendship and classmates are a huge support. Not only because through every difficulty, they will understand and share your experience; but also, you are on the same level.
This master is all about digital humanities. And yes, we learned how to describe a book, book’s history, python, CSS, and many things. But the most important part for me was the humanities. And by humanities, I mean meeting different people from different cultures, different opinions, and yet being able to connect and bound. If earlier I would have seen rivalry, now I see an equal who is experiencing and struggling the same as I do.
Doing a master is less easy than I thought. But the hardest part is growing and not accepting what you would have in your first year. Because it shows the reality of work – or at least some reality. In the end, what made me stay was not the courses, but the people in it. Because it’s a shared journey. You don’t abandon the ship just because the weather is not nice, right?
To still talk about the program in itself… What I enjoyed the most, in terms of learning, was the practical bibliography and programming classes. To be able to recognize the leather is quite satisfying, as well as learning to understand python and html/css.
Saying that, has my perspective changed? Not really, I still want to work surrounded by books. But has my practice towards studying and taking care of people around me has changed? Yes. And I believe this is the most important thing I learned during those two years. Ending my studies, it is definitely scary. I truly believed I would always study, I even thought I would do a PhD. Well, I’m not. I have enjoyed my time working during the first internship, and I am very much excited for the next one. Studying is nice, actually using that knowledge seems nicer.
