Welcome to A Cuppa Wug!
Updated: Nov 4, 2021
In search of a creative outlet, I’ve started a blog.
Hi, I’m Dakota!
I am a full-time Ph.D. student at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain and a full-time English as a Second Language instructor at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States of America.
There are many things I enjoy in life–traveling, coffee, and language.
I want to share these things with you here.
Photo: Seven-Mile Bridge, Florida Keys (August 2019)
Why a blog? Why now?
Yes, I wasn’t mistaken what I said earlier. I’m pursuing both my Ph.D. and teaching career full-time and simultaneously.
At this point, I’ve been teaching full-time for five years and pursuing my Ph.D. for four of those years. As you can imagine, when I’m not working on my teaching duties, then I am working on my Ph.D. Now that I am in the final months of my Ph.D., I’ve started to wonder what will “Dakota’s Post-Ph.D.-Life” look like, and, honestly, it frightens me.
I wanted a new creative outlet, so I decided to start a blog.
I hope this will become more than a blog, but a living document. A place where I can share my travels and stories; share my lived experiences and lessons learned. I’ll even share all of the delicious cups of coffee I have the pleasure of enjoying.
Join me for a cuppa?
I chose the tittle A Cuppa Wug for the three reasons I started the blog—travel, coffee, and language.
Travel. The title speaks to my passion for travel. A cuppa is not a phrase that you would speak in the United States. Instead, it would be heard either in Australia–my first trip abroad–or the United Kingdom–a frequent visit of mine.
Coffee. This title also speaks to my passion for coffee. The term cuppa in Australian English, refers to “a cup of tea” or “a cup of coffee”.
Language. It’s a linguistic reduction—one of my favorite language function. Cuppa is a reduction of the words “cup” and “of”. In addition, the wug is one of my favorite linguistic peculiarities. It’s from a famous experimental test in linguistics by Jean Berko Gleason.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you join me for a cuppa again!