“If you could do anything, what would it be?”
“I’d love to do a PhD in English Literature, finish that and see where it takes me”
“Why that specifically?”
“Just because it’s difficult, and it’s something I’d like to achieve"
“What’s difficult about it?”
“Well, coming up with a proposal in itself is quite daunting, for me. You’ve got to have it planned out, you have to know what you’re going to research in each chapter, what text you’re doing, who you’re going to use, period-wise - everything, upfront."



I was walking out of the Trinity shopping centre when I met Sofia. She was all dolled up and looking very summery, and why not, as the weather was indeed close to summer.

We started by discussing shoes, oddly enough, because she works at the Kurt Geiger store. She told me that although she gets a store discount she hardly buys anything, mainly because she can’t afford to as she doesn’t even get minimum wage. The term ‘minimum wage’ is a bit loose if that’s the case then, I always assumed everyone had to be on that, regardless.

Luckily, it’s only a part-time job as she puts herself through University studying English Literature. I got the impression Sofia was very academic, wanting to go on to do a doctorate. We discussed the PhD option at length as I did one myself, a long time ago now when they were actually funded. Apart from the funding aspect, the proposal which Sofia mentioned was something I never had to do either, and I could understand why it was so difficult as research can take you in all kinds of directions, something which you can’t really account for at the beginning.



Humans of Leeds