Over the last few days myself and a PhD student from Southampton University have been in Rome and Portus doing fieldwork. Now, let me be clear, sacrifices have been made for us to be here. We had to take the 07:00 flight from Gatwick, and we have worked over two British bank holidays, so don't go thinking this is a jolly. 

It's a bit of a funny time at the moment. I've recently had some sad family news and I can't help but feel a little distracted from work. Memories of my Grandparents, who both died in the last week, pop into my mind at inopportune moments. Occasionally tears prick my eyes. Work beckons.

So, today sees a new dawn in my blogging behaviour - or it should if I actually stick to it. Last week we had two very productive meetings for the PATINA project. The more we talked about the experience of doing research, the more I started to think that it would be useful to keep some sort of diary tracking my experience of doing academic research on a daily basis. I'm going to try and be honest about life as an academic researcher. I'm going to try and focus on more than what I have done in a day, looking to also reflect on my experiences of doing research at a British university. Here goes!