Posted on 10/31/2021 1:55:45 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Lê decided to live outside as a last resort when she was faced with a steep rent increase in the third year of her PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, and realised she would not be able to afford a flat and cover all her costs on her research and teaching income.
Higher education is one of the most casualised sectors of the UK economy, and for many it means a struggle to get by
Aimée Lê Aimée Lê: ‘It was cold. There were days when I remember waking up and my tent was in a circle of snow.’ Photograph: Milan Svanderlik Anna Fazackerley Sat 30 Oct
Like many PhD students, Aimée Lê needed her hourly paid job – as an English lecturer – to stay afloat. But what her students never guessed was that for two years while she taught them she was living in a tent.
Lê decided to live outside as a last resort when she was faced with a steep rent increase in the third year of her PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, and realised she would not be able to afford a flat and cover all her costs on her research and teaching income.
She recalls: “It was cold. It was a small one-person tent, which meant after a bit it did get warmer. But there were days when I remember waking up and my tent was in a circle of snow. When I wasn’t doing my PhD or other work I was learning how to chop wood or start a fire.”
She stored her books in the postgraduate office so they wouldn’t be damaged, and showered at university. She “didn’t quite tell” her parents, saying to them that she was staying on an ecological farm so as not to worry them.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
How did she not seek a room on the cheap in exchange for cooking and cleaning? I would have hired her just for thrice-a-week cooking and cleaning, and in return she gets a key with round-the-clock access and all the bandwidth, electricity, hot water, consumer goods and food she can possibly consume -- which appears to be above-average.
It’s not faux French, it’s a common Vietnamese name.
I applaud her initiative. Roughing it didn’t kill her, and perhaps having some skin in the game made her degree mean more to her. Hopefully she’ll find work in her useless field one day. Until then, there are lots of jobs available in productive sectors.
—”I applaud her initiative. “
Yes, she has some moxie.
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