The Year 2008 - Reflections

2nd January 2009

Dear Friends

As we have now moved to the New Year I would like to share with you some reflections regarding the past year.

The year 2008 has been quite challenging for me both at academic and personal levels. I thoroughly enjoyed my academic work at Victoria University even though it has been quite demanding. Teaching (and lecturing) is certainly a vocation as well as a profession. I find it very self-fulfilling to say the least especially when I go beyond the call of duty and help out students to meet their needs.

I’m pleased to say that this year I received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching as part of a team that teaches Knowing and Knowledge. I have been teaching this subject for these last 3 years.

I also started teaching a new subject “Consumer Behaviour” at Sunbury Campus. Once again it was quite challenging since it touched me at a personal level. The premises of this campus used to be an asylum that was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Having had a history of mental illness and having been hospitalised twice at a psychiatric hospital due to acute episodes of depression, the initial experience at Sunbury Campus was quite threatening for me. However, I also managed to change that experience constructively and couldn’t help admiring and appreciating all the hard work that I have done over these last 20 years since I resumed my studies as a mature aged student and eventually ended up as an academic. 

During 2008 I also participated as an academic in 2 graduations ceremonies. This gave me the opportunity not only to reflect upon my academic commitments, but also to cherish my academic achievements. It was also a great pleasure seeing some of my students graduating. I also had the opportunity to meet graduates of Maltese background.

This year five of my students took part in a 3-week Study Tour to Malta that was organised by the Maltese Community Council of Victoria in conjunction with Victoria University. This is a yearly event that has been going on for these last 3 years.

At the beginning of 2008 I started working on 2 books hoping to publish one of them by the end of the year. However I didn’t achieve my goal. I could see that I am still struggling to break that glass ceiling and enter a domain of a higher order – a domain in which I feel so energised as I experience the ‘joie de vivre’ and go with the flow. That domain is quite a sacred space for me – a space in which I feel ‘at home’ / the niche where I belong / the Seat of the Soul. I know it will happen. It’s just a matter of time.

During these last 12 months I started writing a series of Love Letters to my granddaughter Monique who is now 8 years old. I intend to give them to her when she gets older. This initiative has certainly helped me a lot in terms of my emotional healing and to be in touch with my own inner child among other things.

Our son Mark and his friend Vanessa are currently visiting from England. The last time we had a family reunion was 2 years ago when we were in Malta. We are certainly cherishing each other’s company. They will be going back to England next week.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your kind continuous support and for your lovely messages and personal emails. I thoroughly enjoy reading them. They certainly encourage me to keep me going. I would also like to wish you and your loved ones all the best for the New Year 2009.

Feel free to keep in touch.

Best wishes
Dr. Victoria Borg