Ok, today was day one of input, met my tutors, check, met the other students, check, got handed my timetable for the next couple of months, check, and most importantly was shown where the kitchen was for copious cups of coffee, check. I don't mean to trivialise the importance of the rest of the evening but despite normally being a decaff kind of girl I'm begining to realise that vast amounts of coffee, probably with caffeine will become my new best friend in the months to come. I'm doing my DELTA part-time as 1) I can't afford to take the time off work, 2) I physically couldn't cope with doing a nine week intensive course due to my various illnesses (too lengthy and boring to mention) and lastly 3) I know I am the type of person who needs time to cogitate and assimilate new ideas and information so realistically if I wanted to stand any chance of passing this thing I needed to do it this way. Got home this evening full of excitement and already setting up folders online and physically to record, store and generally pull together anything and everything I may need to read, digest and/or reference in the months to come. My dear friend Hx (henseforth I may only reference certain people by initials for privacy reasons), gave me some gratefully recieved hints and tips on references, storage of references for ease of retrieval, and other gumpf that she learnt on her journey through a Masters Degree. I am sure that during this course I shall become ever more grateful for her pearls of wisdom and feel the need to put together some form of gift as recompense... gift yet to be decided.. lol. Anyone who reads this must be aware that this is in no way a 'how to do' manual, merely a blog of my own journey through this learning experience and any information contained herein should be considered as my own thoughts,views and ideas and not to be used as fact or without reference to the original documents. I shall where possible try to include links and/or references but give no excuses or apologies if I forget or links don't work or references change. So be warned, you have been told!