Stranger Things Have Happened...

Finals

2008-05-14T10:43:00.006+01:00

It seems that there are certain dates that when I think about them, it makes me want to throw up a little bit. Yes, that's right, it's exam time. My exams start in just under 3 weeks - over four days between June 2 - 10. For those of you who don't quite grasp why this is such a big deal, it's because the grades that I get from these four exams are the only grades that matter for my all of my studies at Cambridge, and I mean that in the most literal sense possible. I feel pretty prepared in some respects, and not at all in others. I'm amazed at the amount of content that I've learned over this last year. I keep a list of the books that I read over the course of the year; it's not even a complete list as I wasn't very diligent at writing down all of the titles. The list has over 60 books on it. I look over past exams to see what materials were covered and I feel pretty confident. But then I remember I haven't sat an exam in two years, and that one didn't go very well. I have to remind myself that it's different now...but doubt still lingers.

Good news has come, but at the price of distraction. Gareth had his visa interview last week and today we've sent off the last of the paperwork and his passport. He should have his visa in less than 10 days. We sent off the first application just over a year ago, so it's good to have this come to a close finally. Now we've started the process of figuring out what to do once I graduate. Gareth is in negotiations with his company. We want to move to the States, they still want him to work for them. So the compromise? Move to Michigan - probably in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area. I can't say it's my ideal location, but we're looking into it. As for a job for me, well that's still worryingly to be determined. But regardless, I may be back in the states househunting and job searching as soon as early July.

In the meantime it would seem are exams and the last days of England.

High and Dry

2008-04-28T08:47:00.003+01:00

I read several environmentalist blogs to get tips on how to change your lifestyle so it's more "green" or "eco-friendly" or whatever. Sure, Gareth and I don't have a car, our main modes of transportation being for him train and Tube, and for me bike and feet. We're very conscious about our energy usage, and even went with an electricity supplier who uses 20% renewable resources (e.g. wind farms) and is the #1 investor in Britain for development and production of more renewable resources (e.g. more, better wind farms). But we have some eco-problems.

1) Despite several letters to our city council, they insist that for some reason, we can't recycle.
2) Gareth still blitzes the house with chemical cleaners, when home-made ones are just as effective and safer!
3) I can't find concentrated laundry detergent because the store is always sold out (general note: if you ever want to know what a prolonged food shortage is like, try going to our local grocery store. I can't remember the last time the shelves were fully stocked).
4) We still buy paper towels. I have no idea why.
5) We eat meat way more often than we should, even though it's so bad for the environment (according to the Guardian, producing 1kg of beef results in more CO2 emissions than going for a three-hour drive while leaving all the lights on at home).
6) We take long haul flights several times a year.

But the one thing that I have total mixed feelings on is our laundry. Our loads are always full, mostly because our washing machine makes normal American ones look industrial sized. And we almost always use the "eco wash" option. But for whatever reason, the cycle lasts over two hours. That's right. Two hours. It's a known fact here that we can put a load of laundry in, go see a movie at the cinema, come back, and it will still be washing away. There's no way that is a good thing.

Now for the upswing - we don't have a drier. All of our laundry is dried on a clothes rack in the living room. Since moving to England, I have learned that driers are a luxury, and an unnecessary one at that. I don't know anyone with their own drier here. So I can't actually remember what a soft towel feels like, but who cares?

Reasons why people don't air dry their clothes:
Time: I'm usually in the library and was working part time. Gareth commutes back and forth from London, so it's not like we're flush with time.
Space: Our flat is *tiny* and the clothes drier takes up the better part of our living room.
Climate: Oh yeah, England isn't exactly known for it's hot, dry weather.
Putting laundry outside is embarrassing/gives me allergies: We dry indoors because we have to - our "outside" is a parking lot and the back end of an Indian restaurant.

My question is, if we can do it, heck, if almost all of Britain can do it, why can't everyone else?

So I challenge you - pretend you don't have any other option like us. Try air drying your clothes. If you put 5 seconds of thought into it, you'll hang up your clothes in the evening and when you wake up, they should be dry. And think of how much electricity and money you'll have saved. Let me know how it goes!

Oh yeah, and please, for the love of goodness, reuse or recycle plastic bags. Better yet, don't take them in the first place and use your own reusable bag. It's so simple and easy and makes such a huge difference.

Another Brick in the Wall

2008-04-14T21:57:00.003+01:00

I've developed an obsession for South African music in the last week. Can't get enough of the stuff. It all started when I used LastFM, a very Web 2.0 sort of application that recommends music to me based on what MP3s I have. In iTunes at the moment, I have quite a lot of Dave Matthews Band and Johnny Clegg - and since they're both South African and have a similar sound, LastFM recommends bands like Freshlyground, Just Jinjer, Wonderboom, Juluku, and (my favorite name for a band pretty much ever) the Springbok Nude Girls (who don't have a single female member). The songs tend to be very upbeat yet political, which makes sense since many of the bands formed around the end of Apartheid. So that's what I'm listening to while I'm...

Working on revision at the moment. Revision is sort of the British term for studying, except revision is somehow more intense. Studying always felt pretty superficial - information goes in, information goes out. Revision is about re-doing and re-learning, so I'm writing essays, reading books, but now with a definite plan and exams in sight (they start about a month and a half from now). So far it's actually been kind of enjoyable; like recalling intellectual days gone by. But before I could start that...

I cleaned off my desk so that I could actually have a desk instead of piles of papers and books and lord knows what (I suppose archaeology is quite useful!). I came across a postcard from a friend who studied abroad here at Cambridge in my first year. She wrote on the back of it: "It's not a question of what you ought to do with the world, but what the world out to do with you. 'Cause if it's not careful, you will easily get the better of it." I bet she doesn't even remember writing it - heck I barely remembered receiving it. But it was exactly the sort of pick-me-up I needed. So now it's on my wall in front of my desk, along with my Wall o'Hate.

The Wall o'Hate was a strange little discovery. One day I was annoyed with Gareth over something so mundane I can't even remember what it was. I wasn't fuming and raging, but I wasn't pleased either. I sat down at my desk and worked solidly for 2 hours, which had been near impossible for me before (usually I can only manage about 30 minutes at a time). So I found out that I work best when I'm a little angry - just enough so that my teeth clench a bit and if I spoke to someone I would be somewhat snappy. Physiologically it's probably just enough stress hormone to keep me focused but not so much that would send me into a panic.

So, understanding this, I made my Wall o'Hate which is a collection of photos of things and people who make me angry. The postcard isn't something I hate, but it sure gives me a sense of empowerment. If you're interested in knowing what's on my wall, you can ask, but I'm not going to post it because it will probably upset/offend most people in one way or another. Regardless of that, it works for me. Lots of people take up things that are bad for them during exams, like smoking and drinking just during exam term. If my only thing is the Wall o'Hate, I'll probably just end up with a sore jaw which doesn't seem too bad to me.

Back to the gnashing of teeth...

Saturday

2008-03-29T12:51:00.002Z

Saturday mornings are a real luxury for me. This has very little to do with a work-week - I'm a student, the concept of a work week doesn't really apply to me. Mostly it has to do with the idea of what a Saturday is supposed to be, and the radio schedule. So this morning, as with most Saturday mornings, Gareth has gone off to play hockey, and I'm left to my own devices. I've recently developed a love for baking, so I have my first batch of bran and sultana muffins in the oven. I also planted some herbs in a seed box, so hopefully I'll see some chives, parsley, basil and cilantro (coriander) soon. After this, I'll tidy and do some laundry, and then get to work on some essays.

Now, to the radio schedule. I *love* radio. My favorite moment of the day is the BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play. Every afternoon they put on a 45 minute play, and it's widely listened to. Yesterday it was a play about a reporter who has infiltrated a group of mercenaries who turn out to be the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They're generally pretty interesting. But Saturdays are special, because I don't listen to British radio - I listen to American radio, namely NPR. Oh man, do I get excited about NPR's Saturday schedule: BBC World Service, Car Talk, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life, and of course, my favorite, A Prairie Home Companion. These are just the highlights of my week. They're the bits that keep me from getting home sick. Radio shows like these are just as American to me as diners and apple pie. More importantly, they used to be part of my Saturday routine back home. It's just fantastic that even though I've moved continents, I can still keep this up.

Today is also the day of the annual Cambridge/Oxford Boat Race. I'm going to find myself a nice pub and settle down with a pint to watch the race later on today. This is our only sports thing. My friends in the States go to schools whose football teams go to nationally televised bowl games. We get less than 20 minutes on the Thames, but it is very exciting.

A Spoonful of Sugar

2008-03-06T13:46:00.002Z

Last week I was walking my charges back to their home from swimming lessons. The swimming lessons are pretty bad as one of the kids has weird body issues and water phobia, and the chance of a very serious, very public tantrum is always very high - I seem to have developed Thursdayphobia as a result. Anyways, the lessons had gone well, and we narrowly avoided tantrums, so things were going a-okay. As we crossed the park that fronts the village they live in, I noticed an ambulance parked outside the gate. The paramedics looked concerned, but were obviously waiting for something. We turned the corner and suddenly there are a lot of policemen milling about. By a lot, I mean 5 or 6, which is quite a few for a quiet little park. And if it catches my attention, you can bet that the kids noticed. "What are the policemen doing?" "Why are there cones around that tree?" "Ooh, here comes a van, somebody's in trouble," and so on.

Sure enough something catches my eye and I turn and look to find a man slumped against a tree, with 2 police officers standing right by him. There are traffic cones surrounding him and the police look slightly uneasy and aren't really dealing with this guy. It then occurs to me that the slumped over man actually looks kind of dead, and I let out a not-quiet-enough "Oh sweet lord" - which of course the kids to totally notice (as only kids can do). They look where I was looking and say "Do you think he's dead?!"

Now, here I have two options - I can either tell them exactly what I think, or hedge the question a bit and come up with something else. But what are the alternative possibilities? I mean, it's not like this guy is taking a nap. The kids can see quite obviously that something is up. If I don't tell them exactly what I think, and instead come up with a nice glossy story, they'll think I'm a big fat liar who treats them like babies (kids don't do understatement).

So I tell them. "Children, I believe that is a dead man". Now here's what I wasn't prepared for: "COOL!! Our first dead person!!!" Kiddos say what? They were *fascinated*. They wanted to know what I thought he died of, how long he'd been there, what would happen once the police took him away and a hundred other questions. It was like they were watching CSI: Cambridge. Of course as soon as their parents got home, they ran up to them and announced "We saw a dead guy! Emily said he was dead!". Great, I love getting credit, thanks kids.

As with much of my nannying experience, I thought WWMPD - What Would Mary Poppins Do? It doesn't actually help in any way, but it does make the whole experience slightly more amusing. My kids are in no way like the Banks children and I'm no Mary Poppins. We sure as hell don't sing and dance together, and, believe it or not, none of my friends are Cockney chimneysweeps. When we went to London, instead of touring the rooftops, we went to Harrods and ate at a trendy sushi bar. Maybe I'm just a 21st century Mary Poppins.

Next week is my last full week of work, as I'm having to quit so I can focus on exams. It's been an adventure, and I'm glad I've done it, but I'll be happy when that chapter finishes. Chim Chim Cher-ee.

The Problematic Self

2008-02-14T11:16:00.003Z

I had a supervision last week where we were discussing our essays on "What is desirable and what is undesirable about the employment of historical perspectives by anthropologists to illuminate the political processes the study?" Essay was interesting, but the supervision was more so. In short, the essay was focusing on anthropology's involvement (theoretically and practically) in the British colonial project and also, how colonialism and anthropology legitimized one another. These are the dark roots from which anthropology grew - a period in our discipline which is heavily studied but the basic principles are often ignored (basic principle being Anthropology + Military Collaboration = Deadly Results).

The sad thing is, if you go on Monster.com and do a keyword search for anthropology, there are results (yes Mom and Dad, there are results...) that curiously require lots of travel in southeast Asia, fluency in Arabic, Kurdish and Persian would be helpful, and ability to obtain high levels of security clearance. *Sigh* At least there's groups like the NCA who are looking out for us these days. But nevermind the military - the other results bring up mega-corporations that include health insurance companies, fast food companies, even Disney! It's nothing new, but anthropologists are increasingly becoming corporate collaborators. Forget imperialism, we are being used to exploit people on a commercial level.

So back to the supervision - we were discussing this and wondering whether anthropology can ever be used for good. Is an ethical life possible for anthropologists? Even with academia, you run the risk of exposing your informants. Maybe development work with NGOs? Well, then you're just imposing your Western values - it's still imperialistic. Part of the problem is the way we're trained - view everything with a critical eye, most especially ourselves and our values. Ultimately, it will boil down to whether I truly believe in what I'm doing and whether I can sleep at night. But until then, I'm lodged quite happily in the safe womb of undergrad academia.

Just a thought.

Kimchi in Space

2008-02-14T10:52:00.002Z

The BBC has an article they posted yesterday about South Korea sending Korean food with astronauts on the country's first astronaut. Food scientists have been developing space-safe versions of local favorites - really taking us back to the days of Tang and freeze-dried pizza for American astronauts. However, there have been problems with the South Korean food - their main interest has been sending the infamous kimchi into space.

What is kimchi? Basically a Korean version of sauerkraut, spiced with ginger, garlic, and chili. And it's good stuff - but there's been problems with sending it into space. It's fermented with lactic acid, so there's concerns about 1) what it could do to astronauts muscles and 2) the bacteria. So they've come up with a space clean version that's going to be packed into a special container. Super.

Except, they're forgetting a fairly major point: it's cabbage, and cabbage makes you fart. This guy is going to either be in the station or in his space suit doing walks outside, and either way, it's unpleasant for someone. Eating spicy, pseudo-fermented cabbage in space is not going to help with meet and greets.

Just a thought.

Hwæt and behold the salvaged things!

2007-11-15T14:32:00.000Z

Whew, what a couple of weeks it's been. I've been turned into a living, breathing, essay writing machine. I just finished #6 last night, which was on witchcraft. Sent it off at 7 p.m. which is quite good considering at 5 p.m. I had no idea what sort of conclusion I was aiming for. The next few days I will be focusing on the anthropology of law with the question, "A form of violence underlies all legal systems. Discuss." So it's looking to be a batch of pretty heavy stuff. Well, at least the books are heavy...

Just last week I finally found a song that I've been looking for over a year. It had been used in the soundtrack of a play that I attended, but the silly sound manager wasn't able to tell me what song it was. Finally I heard it in a movie trailer, and through some brisk internet searches, I tracked it down. The song is called "In the house - In a heartbeat" and it's from the soundtrack of the film "28 Days Later". The trailer that it was recently included in was "Beowulf" directed by Robert Zemeckis. I've been debating over whether I should go see it. You see, Beowulf is one of my all time favorite stories. If you get a chance, listen to it in the original Old English or more importantly, just listen to a modern English recording. The story of Beowulf was heard for about 400 years before anyone wrote it down (the oldest copy is in the British Library which dates to approximately 1000 AD). If you want to see (in my opinion) the best film interpretation of the story, go rent "Beowulf and Grendel". The costumes and sets are remarkably accurate, and better yet, it's filmed in Iceland, so the cinematography is fantastic.

I'd been looking for ways to store our winter things in the hallway recently. See, the British don't really believe in closets. We have one closet in our flat and it was actually a major selling point for us. Other than that, we have things stuffed under beds and sofas, we have a trunk in the living room and a huge plastic shelfing unit in the kitchen and a few chests of drawers in the bedroom. But we needed a coat rack and a place to store hats/scarves/gloves. So after checking a store and various websites, I decided that these "storage solutions" were ridiculously expensive. So I grabbed some tools and gloves and went dumpster diving. British people don't believe in garage sales (because they lack garages, and it would also be very embarrassing for them) so instead they give their unwanted goods to charity shops or trash it. And in a town full of students, often things are trashed because we don't have the means to transport stuff.

Today I found a metal coat rack that had been abandoned in an alley way and a really cool wooden wine crate that was in a skip. Brought 'em home, cleaned 'em up, and now I have freebie storage! Hooray! I just found another skip walking home tonight, so I might go back again tomorrow and see what they have. It becomes really addictive once you start. There's a fairly substantial subculture of people here in Britain who live almost entirely from dumpster diving - including food. There are grocery stores here that use tons of packaging and won't sell any of the food past it's sell by date (which are very often very conservative). One such grocery store is just up the street from where we live, but I haven't been able to find their bins yet...

The Chicken Commune

2007-10-28T22:42:00.000Z

So I sent ya'll a link last week about the lovely hen houses that are made by Omlet. Those things make me want to own chickens. The design is so beautiful, it's like Ikea for poultry. Today, Gareth and I were trying to decide what we would name our hens. I think it's good to go with a theme if you have more than one of that animal. So, I'm thinking either country singers or jazz singers and Gareth was thinking more along the lines of Broadway (characters or actresses). My top five names were:
Jazz: Ella, Billie, Peggy, Shirley, and Dinah.
Country: Dolly, Tammy, Loretta, Patsy, and Reba.

Personally, I think either set would work quite nicely. Gareth pointed out that it may be difficult to recognize them if they're all of the same breed. I began to wonder if it would be unethical to paint a spot on them to tell them apart. What's so wrong with a little individuality?

School has been going pretty well lately. Actually, it's been going great, but I'm approaching my success with caution. I've been writing quality essays and getting them in on time, the combination of which has not been achieved in a while, if ever. My current essay is a theory essay though and I'm not sure if I can eek this one out - "Compare and contrast the views of Adam Smith and Karl Marx on the genesis and historical trajectory of commercial/capitalist society." Ouch! A Marxist essay, so early in the year? I like Karl. His theories make perfect sense and he built in some nice "just in case this doesn't work out the first few times" clauses. If you really read into his theory, you find out he did a pretty good job of covering his butt.

But what is really funny is his background story. Marx and his family were pretty darn poor, but managed to live a relatively bourgeois lifestyle from Engels, who for some reason paid Marx an income. They also became wealthier once his wife's aunt died and left them an inheritance (Hey Karl, the proletariat generally don't get inheritances). On top of this, the Marx family kept servants, and Karl even managed to have an illegitimate child with one of the maids! Puts whole new meanings to the discourse of communism, e.g. "relations of production" or "surplus labour". The whole lecture theatre was laughing out loud when these points were being made - poor Karl was just chock full of irony, bless'im. He's buried in Highgate Cemetery in London, so I might just go pay him my respects (or curse his soul, depends how the essay goes). Keep a watch on the BBC for news of a woman having to be removed from Highgate after she threw herself at Marx's grave yelling, "How can you you exclude yourself from class consciousness you two-facing piece of irony!! AAAHHHH!!" Lucky for Adam Smith, he's buried on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

By the way, feel free to add suggestions for names for chickens. I'm keen to get some new ideas, plus it will entertain us both for at least 10 minutes.

Soylent Green is Beef!

2007-10-21T01:53:00.000+01:00

Last night I met up with some friends for an unusual night of fun. First I met up with Simon and Lowri at the college art room which meant that I got to chill out for an hour by playing with clay. Then Hannah and Chris joined us and we went to grab a bite to eat at a creperie at the local arts cinema. After that, we jumped in a taxi and went to the other side of Cambridge to the university's astronomy department's observatory. Apparently last year Simon passed a test on how to use the observatory and the telescopes. It was so surreal - we were walking around in complete darkness, and of course the department has modern art statues lurking about on the lawns which is a little unnerving as they're all about 6 foot tall men-sized, urgh. Simon unlocks the door, goes in, and starts hitting buttons and switching switches. Suddenly, the air was filled with a neon red light, and there in the middle of this giant steel cage of a room, is the telescope. Probably the biggest telescope I've ever seen - it's about 15 feet long and the mechanism to move it a good 4 feet in diameter. We're there by ourselves, and we have to operate this whole observatory on our own. In typical Cambridge style, it was founded in 1838 and not a lot seems to have changed since then. So we're rotating the telescope around, getting readings off of a tape measure, and moving and opening the observatory viewing doors with ropes that look like they've seen service on the Titanic. It all felt so very Jules Verne. Now, did we actually see much? No, because as I now know, these things are bloody difficult to use. However, the point is, I got to mess about with a ginormous 170 year old telescope and I think that's pretty darn nifty.

Anyways, the other thing I wanted to note - on Wednesday, Gareth and I went to see a documentary called "We Feed The World". It was about food production and the European Union's direct and indirect relationship to it. And boy was it ever depressing. In fact, if you're sensitive to these kinds of things, it's best not to read on, but it will probably enlighten you. One example from the film: In Brazil, 850,000 acres of rain forest has been chopped down to grow soybeans. But the land is quite poor to grow soybeans on. And the soybeans are exported to Europe for livestock feed. Meanwhile, 25% of Brazilians suffer from malnutrition. What kind of world do we live in that precious rain forest is cut down to grow food for animals in the wealthiest countries thousands of miles away while people down the street are starving to death? Well, apparently we live in crazy world, because this definitely happens.

Then the film showed us the life and death of a broiler chicken - being born in a room-sized incubator in a crate, dumped onto a conveyor belt and sorted, dumped into a barn where it's completely jam packed. Then it spends the next eight weeks of it's life moving two feet back and forth between the food bucket and the water dripper. After that, men come in trucks in the middle of the night and pack them into crates. They're taken to the slaughter house (which is lit with blue lights because the chickens can't perceive blue light and only see darkness) they're hung upside down by their feet, have an electric-shock facial, and then become acquainted with the rotating saw of death.

In watching this, I was in tears. I mean, sure, it really didn't help that this farm was in Austria and the uniformed workers were all speaking in very gruff German, making a definite connection with the Holocaust in my mind (not to undermine the Holocaust). The thing that really got me though was how completely mechanized food production has become. With the chickens, very very few people were required. The slaughterhouse was almost entirely machines. The people who were working there were quite obviously marginalized people, which of course raises questions in of itself like is it safe or are they paid fair wages? And what really shocked me was how shocked I was. I consider myself a pretty aware person, but the inhumanity and brutality of this just emotionally sideswiped me. How didn't I get this before? How could I have become so completely disconnected from the food I eat?

This is, I think, a very important lesson. We need to reconnect with what's on our plates. It isn't about fat/calories/cholesterol; rather, it goes like this: This beef that is on my plate was fed by soybeans grown thousands of miles away on rain forest land, even though there are people there who are starving to death. This beef is responsible for excess methane and depletion of land and water resources. If this beef is from the U.S., it was almost definitely slaughtered by illegal immigrants who are working in atrocious conditions for despicable wages. At least for me, this beef is getting to be too much to swallow.

An Over-do Update

2007-09-30T22:53:00.000+01:00

I'm back, and as Radiohead would say: fitter, happier, more productive, etc. The mold catastrophe-cum-mental meltdown actually turned out to be one of the best things to happen to me. Well, here's what actually happened...

After returning from Christmas break, I came back to my room in Barton Road. I promptly became quite ill with nasty fluish symptoms. After two weeks of this, I was getting worse, not better. Went to see a doctor who said, yes this is odd, but I don't know what it is. Super. So I went home and searched my room. I found a lovely patch of mold on the wall just under my bed. After this was a two week stint of "homelessness" where I lived in various places including Gareth's tiny flat, the college bunk room, a spare visitor's room, and college sick bay. Finally, they found me a spare room where I could relocate on a permanent basis. However, after whiling away half of term either being very ill or severely stressed out, I ended the rest of term just being very stressed out. This was supposed to be my final year, and it had all gone horribly wrong. I became very depressed and didn't leave my room for a whole week.

So I thought, bollocks to this. At the end of term, I took off and went to Morocco for a couple of days by myself to sort out my head. After that, I worked as a teaching assistant for a group of Japanese teenagers who came to Cambridge during our Easter vacation to learn English. And during that time, I began proceedings to intermit my studies, which meant that I would take off the remainder of the year and restart in the autumn.

And that's precisely what I did. During the time from April to October, I worked as a receptionist, daycare worker, and a nanny. I went on a surreal road trip across the UK with 11 of my most favorite Americans, which ended with my blessing ceremony (which was so wonderful and beautiful and fairytale-esque that it hardly seems real). I went on a family vacation with his family, my new in-laws. I attended two conferences, one on propaganda and spin and the other on cultural implications and ideas of obesity.

I also spent a lot of time trying to work out this "ADD-thing" seeing many useless people ("What was your childhood like?" being the 'how-Freudian-are-you?' smack on the forehead question) but finally finding two very useful people who helped to get me the UK diagnosis and help remedy the behaviors.

Getting that kind of help feels like I've been trying to paint a room with a tube of lipstick for years and someone has finally given me a roller brush and a can of paint. To continue the analogy, it's really easy for me to get upset and think "How didn't this get sorted out sooner?! Think of all the wasted lipstick! The wasted time! The wasted effort!" But then I remember, I can't think like that, because thoughts like that are just more waste. So I shrug. I think of myself as having been remodeled with new opportunities and situations at hand. When we're kids, life is full of "do-overs"; if it didn't turn out right the first time (or even subsequent times), all you have to do is say "do-over!" and a magical new opportunity arises. How many grown-ups would do *anything* for a do-over for something in their lives? I feel like I just got the biggest do-over of my life, and I think it's awesome. I feel like I am my own renaissance, and I'm making this year my masterpiece.

Do-over starts now.

Questions and "Answers"?

2007-03-06T13:08:00.000Z

I've decided that the point of university is to question everything you thought you knew. Anthropology is fantastic in this respect - first they teach you something, and the very next thing they tell you is to question it. I'm reading an ethnography on hostesses in nightclubs in Japan, and in the introduction alone there are *at least* 30 questions. I've found that anthropology is actually all about questions, and often not at all about answers.

Everyone else in the world: The sky is blue.
Anthropologist: Well, it depends on your cultural formation of what the sky is, and what your cultural-linguistic concept of color might be. Do we undermine the experiences of others if they differ with our concepts of "sky" and "blue"? To insist upon a blue sky is to engage in universalist discourse, which may actually be an enforcement of "western" values onto other cultures.
Everyone else in the world: Um, whatever.

Oh yeah, we're really big on the quote marks too, because it's either not our words, or a product of our cultural viewpoint. Anyways, I'm supposed to be writing at least two essays, one on the relationship between anthropology and human rights discourse, and another on the relationship between Christianity and Secularism. Lots of relationships, and you better bet that they're all "problematic" or at least can be "problematized".

Anyhow, enough of that. My Easter vacation is fast approaching and is looking to be very very exciting. I'm leaving for Morocco in 10 days, flying from London to Fez, taking the Marrakech Express to Marrakech and then flying back to London - this all in 5 days. I'm really excited because I'm going by myself. I adore travelling by myself, and Morocco, a land that is known as the Land of the Djinns, seems perfect. I'm ready to sink my teeth into a new place with a new culture.

After I return, I'm working as a teaching assistant at my college. I'm working with Japanese high school students that will be here for two weeks, which I'm really excited about. Again, it should be another excellent cultural experience. It must be pretty scary for them though - leaving home and going all the way to England. Independence is a quality that is not necessarily encouraged in Japanese culture, so I have a feeling I'll be dealing with some homesick kids. Apparently their English isn't great, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm totally up for the challenge.

Easter weekend, I'm renting a car and driving up to Yorkshire with Gareth to visit his family and finalize some details for the wedding. We're almost done planning, and what remains is just sorting out accommodation for family members and helping the American contingency with travel plans. I adore driving in England though, and actually I adore driving. See, I really do like using public transportation and biking and walking. But when you live in the Cambridge bubble, there's no better way to break out than just jumping in a car and going. It is a really liberating feeling.

Anyways, I desperately need to get back to work. On to anthropology and whatever questions it will most certainly raise.

Until next time, I exist within my own cultural construct as,
"Emily"?

Week Plan of Action

2007-02-05T13:36:00.000Z

Oh yeah, and since I wrote about all of the exciting "Cambridge" things I want to do, I thought I'd share with you what an exciting week this is going to be!

Today: I had a lecture on Political Economy of Development, where we discussed the anthropology of poverty and the effect of development and aid on the poor and the world economy. It was actually really exciting, I was almost on the edge of my seat (no sarcasm, really). Later this afternoon I have a seminar for the Anthropology of Law, which should be decently cool. After dinner I'm partaking in a psychology experiment (an easy £5). After that I'm going to a talk that is given by our college Master, Sir Richard Dearlove, who's the former head of MI6, about the Contemporary Terrorist Threat (AWESOME!)

Tuesday: Two lectures - Globalisation and then the State and Non-State. I'll have two supervisions, one of which is on a paper I wrote about inner emotions and public display and the second I wrote about political modalities - sovereignty and governmentality (too complicated to explain!) Then I have a "blind date" which is for charity, you can do it to meet that special someone or just to meet someone new, and I'm going for the latter (Gareth was rather shocked when I told him I had a blind date though, and that was kind of worth it in of itself!)

Wednesday: Lecture on Political Modalities, Supervision on the problem with the classification of "refugee", and then that evening I'm going to the Union to see Mozzam Begg talk about his experience as a Guantanamo Bay detainee, where he was wrongly held for 4 years!

Thursday: Lectures on Ethnography of Legal Culture and then Consciousness and Unconsciousness, and a seminar about the Anthropology of Europe. Then that evening I'm going to see a film called "The Price of Prawns" about shrimp farming in Honduras and how it is harmful both ecologically and culturally. It's being shown by the director and the producer, so that should be interesting. That day at some point I'm going to go to a careers fair for charity and non-government work.

Friday: Just two lectures so far, Belief and Rationality and then Cognitive Anthropology.

For the weekend, all I have planned at the moment is I'm attending a rally that is against the University having investments in the arms trade.

Exciting times for now--we'll see how it all works out. Expect an update at the end of the week.
-Emily

Educating Emily

2007-02-04T13:12:00.000Z

I want to write about what it feels like to be a senior in college. Overwhelming is the word that would probably be most appropriate. I am in the process of making a list of everything "Cambridge" that I want to experience, and yet I also want to make a list of everything "Cambridge" that I have experienced. This blog has been very useful in that respect, but it's getting difficult. What about the things that I have done that at first seemed completely unreal, but now I regard as second nature? I am afraid of what I take for granted, so that years from now I can still remember what my first reactions and thoughts were actually like.

I have friends that have applied for jobs - some very successfully, others, not so. Applying for these jobs is unbelievably time consuming - one of my friends was saying that she spent over 8 hours on a job application to a banking and investment firm. My plans on the other hand have a similar projection as the Iraq war - President Bush says "We're going to pull out, there's just not a timeline for it yet..." and I say "Oh yeah, I'm going to get a job or go to grad school, it's just I don't have a timeline yet..." Yikes!

The other problem with all of this is, with my education in England coming to an end, it seems my adventures are also starting to wind down. After I graduate I'm supposed to be a real person - bills, a lease or mortgage, my own finances...I won't be able to run off to France for a weekend if I wanted to - I'll have *gasp* responsibilities. Gareth is annoyed with me, because I keep saying things like, "Why don't we just go to Mongolia after we get married? I know a guy here who's trying to set up a social anthropology department there - I could probably get a job with him..." I had it in my mind that after university ended, that's when the adventure truely began. But now I'm not so sure.

And further, what does my degree actually mean? Apparently, if I go to Japan, people will physically fight for me. There, a Cambridge or Oxford degree is next to godliness, or so I've heard. But in reality, I don't feel particularly qualified to do much. How exactly does three years of listening to people lecture and then write a lot of papers about it qualify me to do anything? Sure, I've read dozens of books and gone through reams of paper, but what does that prove?

Today I saw two Japanese men wandering around the college, and the one was taking photos of the other. I went up to them and offered to take their picture together and they were both so grateful. But I know from past experience, that they'll go home and show that picture to people and say "Yes! And it was taken by a Cambridge student!" And it means something to them. But I'm not sure what that means for me, and what it means to me.

I'll think about it more when I have time. For now, it's back to the books and the paper.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2007-01-23T12:56:00.000Z

Cambridge is very very cold right now. Temperature-wise, it is only 37 degrees, which isn't bad, but the wind chill is surely a lot colder, and that's what matters, right?

The weather here has been absolutely ridiculous lately. Last week we had hurricane strength winds that wrecked havoc all across the country. Let me tell you something: bicycling in gales is interesting, funny, and dangerous. Gareth was stuck in London since almost all of the train services were down. When he finally did get on a train, his normally 50 minute journey took 4 and a half hours. Britain does not often experience extreme weather, and when it does, the country cripples. My favorite "England and Weather" moment was when trains were delayed and even cancelled after a blustery and wet day had caused wet leaves to fall on the train tracks. Leaves!

But for now, I'm tucked away in a corner of the library, conveniently next to the radiator. I have papers to write that I don't particularly care to write. I just want to hibernate. I've had a bit of flu since I got back, which has resulted in me sleeping for several hours each day. Saturday I slept for over 15 hours, and I'm still not feeling top notch. The weather is certainly not helping either. It's very Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and probably will be this way until April. The worst is the taunting blue skies and sunshine - it appears to be lovely, but then you go outside and oh-no, it is not! Cold clear days should have some kind of warning attached to them, e.g. "WARNING: weather is not as it appears" or, a nod to the London Underground's message, "Mind the Cold!".

But I don't heed my own messages, so I remain jealous of all animals who hibernate. Darn their hides.

Another Beginning...

2007-01-16T01:03:00.000Z

Okay I'm officially back - talk about a leave of absence! I'm going to try a few new things with this blog, so here's the quick rundown on me:
1) I am now officially a married woman.
2) But that's only official - we're having the blessing (which we are counting as our "real" wedding) this summer.
3) The official wedding was done so that Gareth and I can start immigration procedures.
4) I graduate in five and a half months and will (WILL!!) have a bachelors degree in archaeology and anthropology, specializing in social anthropology.
5) My degree is very very interesting, and I still love it.
6) My degree results in one of two basic paths - either a career where I'm paid in the local currency (which, as far as I can tell, in anthropology this usually means livestock, e.g. cows) or I become an investment banker. It seems that a lot of people are going the latter route.
7) I refuse to go either route, therefore I must trailblaze...
8) But #7 tends to be a fairly common outcome in my life. And it's worked out pretty well so far.
9) I've decided to experiment with veganism. In the film "Super Size Me", Morgan Spurlock went from a largely vegan diet to a 100% McDonalds diet. I'm going to do what I consider to be the reverse - go from a largely crappy diet to a vegan diet. I'm going to call it "Minimize Me". I've decided to do a separate blog for this as I track what happens and what I do on a day to day basis - how I feel, what I eat, how I struggle with determining whether something is vegan or not, etc.
10) I will continue this blog, but on a fairly limited basis.

Ta-ta for now.
-Emily

The Scam

2006-11-08T11:38:00.000Z

I just wanted to say that I think self-help books for people with attention deficit disorder (ADD) may actually be one of the biggest scams. You take a group of people who have been diagnosed as being easily distractedly, and then write large self-help books for them. All you really need to do is write a few chapters with case studies that they might find interesting, but somewhere around page 75 or so, you can just fill the rest of the book with,
"funky purple monkey flings poo around it's cage and hopes it will hit ugly zoo visitors" or something like that. People with ADD will quickly lose interest and they'll never know that you filled the rest of the book with absolute crap.

I speak from experience here because I'm reading one such book now, and I have yet to progress past page 30. I should also note that I bought this book back in July. And even if I did get further along, and found that the rest of the book was written with the repeating sentence "funky purple monkey flings poo around it's cage and hopes it will hit ugly zoo tourists" I would probably take it as some sort of ADD test, or alternatively, become suddenly interested in monkeys that fling poo.

It's brilliant! I think I'll write my own book about...umm...ooh, what's this? Oh, that's interesting...

Ever chasing the butterflies of tangential thoughts.
-Emily

Just a few words...

2006-11-06T10:35:00.000Z

So tomorrow is election day in the U.S. and I must urge all who can to please go vote. If you've read my blog for any period of time, you will know that I'm quite definitely politically liberal. But my beliefs and party affiliation have nothing to do with this. Americans are stereotyped as strong-willed opinionated people that tend to assert their freedom and independence often. We need to put these qualities into action tomorrow and vote! I don't care who you are or what you believe in - tomorrow is your chance to let your voice be heard. I voted by absentee ballot as soon as I got it back in September. To me, voting isn't a duty or a responsibility - it's a right.

Now on to other things - as many of you may have seen in the papers or heard elsewhere, Gareth and I are engaged to be married. Yesterday, we celebrated our eighth anniversary (that is, when we first met online - our actual "meeting in real life" anniversary was in August and that was our sixth). We are getting legally married on November 30th, but then the ceremonial wedding will be on July 7th. So, I will be a Mrs. in 24 days - how crazy is that?

But it's not actually that crazy. I have known for quite some time that I've wanted to marry Gareth - the question wasn't "If?" but rather "When?". Gareth is firstly and most importantly, my best friend. I love him and am in love with him. We have gone through extremes together - from living seven time zones and 5000 miles apart to living together in a 150 square foot apartment. We have gone through good times and bad, sickness and health. Even though we met at such a young age, we are not incomplete and fractional but whole individuals that complement one another. We don't stagnate but grow and change together. I want to spend the rest of my life with Gareth, and he with me. And that's precisely what we intend to do.

With open eyes, mind, and heart,
-Emily

Last night, he said...

2006-10-26T17:41:00.000+01:00

Last night I went to see Dr. Ahmed Chalabi speak at the Cambridge Union. Dr. Chalabi was the Deputy Prime Minister in Iraq until May 2006, and to hear his perspective on how things are was very interesting. His main point of the evening was that "the U.S. promised us liberation and instead delivered occupation."

He told the sad story of an Iraq that has been at constant war within it's own borders for the last 40 years. Dr. Chalabi had been head of a group called Iraqi National Congress, which was created in 1992 to overthrow Saddam Hussein. He talked about his group's desperate attempts to get the US to overthrow Saddam because, according to Chalabi, Saddam was directly responsible for the deaths of 5% of the Iraqi population while he was in power. To put that into perspective, that would be the equivilant of 15 million people in the US dead because of direct orders from the President. To say that Saddam Hussein had a poor human rights record is an understatement. There have been over 300 mass graves found in Iraq, one of which contains over 10,000 bodies. Chalabi said that these were the reasons that the US and the UK should have invaded Iraq, not because of a complete lie about weapons of mass destruction.

So what were his solutions for the future of Iraq?
1) The US and the UK need to withdraw as soon as possible, but not too soon. The situation needs to be stabilized before they leave.
2) In order to do that, Iraq needs to convince it's neighbors that peace is what is best for the region
3) To do that, the people of Iraq need to unite as the people of Iraq to rise against terrorists that are coming from neighboring countries.

He said that the Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish regions should under no circumstance be split up into three countries, because it would completely destabilize the entire region. There's a lot of racism against the Kurds, so other countries, such as Turkey or Iran would most certainly try to commit genocide against them. The Sunnis live in a desert where there are no resources, so they would end up very poor. The Shia live where almost all of the oil is, and therefore other countries would try to invade in order to occupy their resources. United, the people of Iraq are much stronger, and most people recognize this. He also said that the people of Iraq do indeed want democracy, and that it is not implicitly in their culture or religion to reject democracy.

In a place that has arguably, the highest murder rate in the world, where in the capital city they only have 4 hours of electricity in the winter and 2 hours in the summer, where their entire infrastructure has been demolished, these were hopeful words. Perhaps Iraq has a chance - but their only chance is completely reliant upon other nations giving it to them.

It is a globalized world where we live in. And the current situation of Iraq raises very important questions about what sovereign statehood means anymore. That a sovereign nation's own future is so dependent upon the wills of other nations is not a new thing. Sadly, the last time it happened on this sort of scale was over 30 years ago - between the wills of the USA and the USSR, concerning the future of Vietnam.

With a worried but hopeful heart,
-Emily

A New Year and A Dusted Off Soapbox

2006-10-18T15:45:00.000+01:00

So i'm now starting my third week of my third year (and final year) at Cambridge. I really feel settled here - this is a home for me. And yet, one of the reasons I adore it so is because I'm still discovering things about it. At lectures, I park my bike just under a plaque announcing that it was here that J.J. Thomson first discovered the electron in 1897. I love it that some of my friends live in the same house that Charles Darwin lived in while at Cambridge (and I'm slightly jealous of them, even though the house isn't that great).

My house and housemates are wonderful. This year I'm in a beautiful room that has the better part of a whole wall taken up by a bay window, with seating beneath it. I have 6 housemates - 3 guys and 3 girls, and all of them are third years except for two of the girls who are second years. Here is who they are and what they do:

Frances - third year medic, now focusing her studies on neurology and psychology. Is cultivating an interest in addictions and prison populations.

Simon - third year vet, I think he's doing pathology this year, but he's mostly working in a lab trying to genetically engineer bacteria.

Chris - third year vet is doing zoology focusing on marine biology. He got really excited about beluga whales and echolocation.

Martin - third year computer scientist is doing something with artificial intelligence, and I'm not sure what exactly.

Mia - second year english student, her studies are still pretty general at this point, but she focuses on Anglo-Saxon literature.

Lorna - second year vet, is currently being bombarded by what the Guiness Book of Records calls the hardest year of university work in the world.

...And that comes to me - I'm now a third year social anthropologist, and man, is it good. I forgot how much I actually love social anthropology and how easily I throw myself into the theory. My first essay title was, "‘What is ethics, if not the practice of freedom, the conscious practice of freedom?’ - Foucault. Discuss."
And the essay title I'm working on right now is "According to Marx, 'Modern theory of colonialism is the theory of capitalist accumulation.' Discuss this assertion and then apply your discussion in an analysis of US involvement in Iraq since 2002."

Now, Foucault was difficult to understand at first, but I eventually got it and then kept scribbling out ideas that kept sprouting. Sunday afternoon I just spent an hour or so lying in bed, as I said so eloquently, "Letting his ideas hit around in my head like monkeys flinging poo at the zoo". Lovely. But for this essay on colonialism, I've been tearing my way through Marxist theories of imperialism as the pioneer of capitalism, Lenin's theories on imperialism as the highest form of capitalism, and then throwing in Noam Chomsky's book, "Hegemony of Survival" for the modern perspective.

I remember the first time that I read Marx and Engels "Communist Manifesto". I was 13 years old and read it during math class in 7th grade. I remember then countering a social studies teacher in class that same year by saying that the fall of the USSR did not mean that communism had failed, but rather that according to Marx's theories of historical economy, the Soviets had jumped into communism prematurely by not allowing true capitalism and socialism to develop.

This brings me to another point - how did people deal with me when I was younger? That's a topic that comes up rather often with friends - how we were dealt with as children. Retrospectively, it does seem very strange to think of a 13 year old that does so well in math class that she reads the Communist Manifesto. Or that she would debate with a teacher on the accuracy of Marxism in the Soviet state. Or wanting to write about the American Transcendentalists as her heros in English class. I'm not bragging about this, trust me - I look back on this now with the same disbelief everyone else must have had then. And yet, here's the tragedy: if you get Cambridge students together to discuss this, you will hear and see the same thing over and over again - that twinge of frustration in their voice, a sad look in their eye, and, of all of the questions that we've ever asked, the one that we can't answer - why wasn't anyone there for me?

Many of us talk about other associated problems - bullying, social isolation, higher incidences of mental illness (especially depression). And here's the thing - back in Pennsylvania (and possibly the entire U.S.) gifted education has been removed from the context of special education. To me, this represents a lack of support within the educational system. Too often, gifted education is just seen as a way to distract intelligent but bored kids, but it needs to be so much more than that. Gifted education should integrate better counseling, starting in elementary school and children should be closely monitored to watch for well hidden learning disorders and mental illness. Children should be not just allowed to cultivate their specific interests, but encouraged! Instead, gifted children are a burden on an already overstretched educational system that has an aim to meet the needs of the middle 50% (and by the way, social rhetoric has taught us to think of that as a majority, but remember, it's just half, and there's another half missing that falls to the wayside).

Am I bitter? You bet I am. After 15 years in education, I've finally had a learning disorder diagnosed. But here's what I've got for being pretty stinking persistant: I am studying precisely what I want, where I want. I finally have the encouragement and support from academics to pursue precisely what I want and people who watch out for my own personal well being. There is a statistic that says by being at Cambridge or Oxford, by inference you must be in the top 5% in intelligence for the country. How that actually works out is, as far as I believe, irrelevent because for the first time in my life I'm actually getting treated as though i'm in that top 5% instead of just being a burdenous outlier of the middle 50%.

*Cough* End of rant. You know I'll keep my soapbox around, but for now I'm back to my -isms essay (Marxism, Leninism, capitalism, communism, colonialism, imperialism, -ism, -ism, -ism) and the contentment that comes with being surrounded by piles of books in an old library.

-Emily

Luctor et Emergo

2006-05-30T23:00:00.000+01:00

Okay, so things didn't quite go how I wanted them to. I'm not going to Bangladesh, because they were only offering blood parasites and arsenic poisoning (that is, as projects that were available to work on, not conditions I would get). I'm not particularly interested in parasites or poisoning, so I told them no thanks.

It seems that I will now be going to Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is exactly what I wanted to do in the first place - go back to the U.S. to help Americans in need. I'm interested in studying the diseases that are starting to affect the economically and socially impoverished for the first time - heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes.

My exams start in about a week. We've been having a lot of very serious problems with our department this year. I've had to meet with various members of staff, from my director of studies, to lecturers in the department, to the senior tutor of my college (the head honcho). It's a case of Monday morning quaterbacking - we've only recently realized how awful things have gone this year, and now there's panic from all sides. The students in the department (such as myself) have very serious and very valid concerns about failing our exams. The colleges are all worried about the actual validity of our exams. It's a complete mess.

So I hear you say - this is Cambridge? Ranked the best university in the world for science, right? Yeah, right. Luckily, next year, my final year, is supposed to be quite good. But this year is another story. Some of our lecturers made HACC lectuers look like the cream of the crop. Communication between the department and students was unbelieveably bad (even at this point, we're not entirely sure when and where our exams will be, even though they were scheduled over three months ago). In meetings, phrases like "abject neglect", "missing the basic mechanics of a Cambridge education", and "preparing students to do nothing but fail" have been used. Our department is the big sore thumb of the whole university.

I'm aiming to just pass my exams with this kind of crap flying around. And I should note that I will pass in spite of, not because of, my education this year. How sad.

It has been an excellent year for learning lessons. I now understand what I need to do to be successful next year, and really, that's all that matters. As the College Senior Tutor told me "focus your anger and frustration on your studies", which is precisely what I'm doing. Studying genetics quite ferociously to the tune of Rage Against the Machine and Nine Inch Nails is a very useful study method.

In happier news, after exams end on June 7th, I'll be heading up north with my housemates Simon and Martin to go hiking in the Peak District. These guys are like brothers to me (my other female housemate, Frances, is like a sister to me, though a prissy sister that doesn't enjoy hiking). Then when we get back, I'll be moving into my room for next year, partying at the May Balls, working at other May Balls, and just hanging out with my friends, which will hopefully involve barbeques, punts, and watching the World Cup. Then Gareth and I will be flying back to the States on June 22nd.

Until my next entry, I am insane with optimism, but I am for now,
- Just an exam candidate number.

P.S. The title is latin for "I struggle, but I'll survive". 100 points to anyone who got it right without looking it up.

Our Grand Tour...

2006-04-25T02:14:00.000+01:00

An entry on our trip to Europe. And about time.

Mom toddled about Cambridge while I was finishing up the end of term. Term finished on a Wednesday and we left on the Thursday for Brussels out of London Heathrow. Brussels was just purely hedonistic. It started with the upgrade on our suite at the Marriot, which made leaving our room very difficult as it was absolutely lush! But we knew the culinary delights that awaited us, so we had mussels in Brussels, or Moules en Bruxelles (which doesn't rhyme as nicely...) and yummy beers like Leffe Bruin. And then we played the chocolate shop game, which I came up with. Every chocolate shop we passed, we each had to go in and buy a piece of chocolate. This worked quite nicely until we hit the touristy area and there was literally a row of chocolate shops. Also, the girl who gave us several free samples screwed things up. We saw the Grande Place, which is where all of the old Guild Houses and the Town Hall are. They are beautiful examples of Gothic and Neo-Gothic architecture and have a very solid Northern European feel about them. Other than that, there simply wasn't much to see. So, in Brussels there's not much to see or do except eating, drinking beer and seeing the Grande Place, which was quite fine by me.

We took a train to Cologne on Saturday morning for just a quick daytrip. And that's all we needed, really. The cathedral was fantastic - so unbelieveably high and ornately decorated, and conveniently located directly next to the train station. Where Brussels felt empty, Cologne was alive. The shopping district was absolutely packed, and having seen the cathedral, we decided to join in. We also had lunch at a Serbian restaurant, which as far as I was concerned, could have passed for German cuisine - go figure. Strangely, Cologne's Cathedral is the most visited place in Germany, which is kind of odd, as it's the only thing to really see in Cologne (besides West German prosperity). We then retrieved our luggage from the really space age-y type luggage lockers and borded our 10pm sleeper train, Kopernikus, to Prague.

The sleeper train deserves its own paragraph. Each (very small) cabin had three beds that folded out from the wall, but my mom and I reserved it for just ourselves. It was all very Jetson-esque. The shower was shared by the whole car, which my mom felt was fine since "Europeans have a reputation for not showering, so we'll probably have it to ourselves." Right. Anyways, it was a fantastic way to travel as we got the price of a bed, a train ticket, and breakfast all in one go. The only bad part was the lingering teeter-tottering feeling that I had the whole rest of the day. Mom and I must have just wobbled about Prague on our first day.

And that brings me to Prague. I'd been to Eastern Europe before in the form of Budapest, Hungary, which had left me largely indifferent to Eastern Europe to be honest. But so many people had been extolling the virtues of Prague, that I felt it simply had to be done. And thank goodness we did. I will start off by saying that Prague at times felt like the slightly more real version of a portion of the Epcot Center in Disney World. To say that it's touristy would be a great understatement. However, in saying that, you also get a very real feeling about Prague because it was so well preserved. Most Americans don't understand the extent of damage that occuring during World War II. All you have to do is come over and see the new buildings (especially the post-war concrete fetish, ugh London!). They didn't demolish the buildings - they were bombed. The difference is, Prague wasn't. Hitler loved Prague, which I think speaks to how likable the city is. So it was virtually untouched. As a result, Prague comes off as a very well preserved fairy tale.

I could ramble on and on about Prague, but I'll let the pictures do the talking, and leave you with...Highlights of Prague:
1) Meeting up with Mike, our family's former Polish intern, and his lovely girlfriend Ada.
2) The architecture, especially the Art Nouveau style. Really beautiful.
3) The beer. Our favorite was Velkopopoviky Kozel, which we bought 1.5 litres of for about 25 cents. Actually, if I recall, we bought about $1.50 worth?
4. The life of the city. There was always something to see, and we never felt as if we were in a bad part of town (though pickpockets are everywhere!)

Would I be keen to go back? Eh, I could really forego Brussels and Cologne, but Prague will definitely be visited again. Regardless of any of this, we had an absolute blast. Sure there were times when I wished I knew another language, got frustrated with the maps, and could have been arrested (comon' mom, you know we coulda made a run for it...) but the crazy duo of Barb and Em works out pretty nicely.

On my way to, where again?

2006-04-01T19:34:00.000+01:00

I've returned from my trip to Brussels, Cologne and Prague that I went on with my mom, but I don't want to update until I have the pictures uploaded from it, so expect some back entries...

Term has ended, and thank goodness. My departments organizational level went from bad to worse as term went on and I was just glad to have it all finished with and kept damage control to a minimum. Now I'm working on my second year dissertation, which will be titled something along the lines of "Mother Nurture - Breast Cancer Among Native Americans" (catchy ain't it?). It's a comparative study of southwestern Native Americans and Native Alaskans (I should probably put that in the title somewhere...) I should say that my lecture series this term was fantastic, featuring skeletal studies, nutrition, demography, and so on. However, I really prefer to throw myself into my own independent studies.

Speaking of independent studies, I've been working on topics for my dissertation for next year (my final year, gulp). I had been planning on going to Alaska, but that didn't work out in the end. Instead, it looks like I'm going to be going to Bangladesh to work on a nutrition project there. 'Bangladesh!' I hear some of you cry out. 'That sounds far and very foreign and probably dirty.' Well, if you thought that, you're right on all counts.

Bangladesh is just east of India, about 8,000 miles away from Palmyra, PA, USA. It is probably best known for it's overpopulation problem - it has 145 million people (which is half of the U.S. population) living in an area the size of Iowa. Let's say it's just a bit cramped. Other problems it has - a lot of flooding, pretty extreme poverty, the usual 3rd world parasite issues, the most corrupt government in the world, and, my personal favorite, the endemic arsenic poisoning in all of the groundwater. And I'm going during the monsoon season, which is pretty monsoony. Historically, it's even worse. After a horrific war, Bangladesh separated itself from Pakistan in 1971. What followed was dismal: in a country where the poverty line was defined as being able to provide 2000 calories for each adult in each household, 70% of Bangladeshis were considered to be living below the poverty line. 25% of babies never saw it to their first birthday.

To most people, this sounds appalling, much less awful. I stated the above problems because I'm realistic; Bangladesh has some very major issues. However, many of the historic problems have been virtually eliminated. In just 35 years since it's independence, Bangladesh has made extraordinary progress. It is a country of 88% Muslims, yet it is fervently democratic. One Bangladeshi I met compared the election period there with Christmas shopping here. It is also very tolerant - when Muslims around the world took to the streets to protest (sometimes violently) over the cartoon of Mohammed, not one protest was held in Bangladesh. Goldman Sachs has named Bangladesh as one of the next emerging economies. Microcredit was founded there, and has been hailed for raising their people out of poverty, and giving their women the means to money and power. Speaking of women in power, both the current Prime Minister and the head of the opposition party are women.

I'm really excited to go there and experience the "third world" for real. And what's more exciting is that Bangladesh is largely untouched by Westerners - though this apparently means that I will be something of a novelty. The pale, redheaded, blue-eyed woman does stick out a tidbit where everyone else is, well, Bangladeshi. I'm going to get to wear salwar kameez (see below for picture), which is basically what I've always wanted to wear. It's supposedly quite comfortable, especially for the weather, and endearing to locals if you wear this. So I reckon when I get to Bangladesh, one of the first things I'm going to do (other than find clean water) is find me a tailor and get a couple of these made.

Soon, I'll find out precisely what my project there will be (most certainly nutrition related)

Until then, I am a little more wary of water, but still ever eager,
-Emily

He's not ugly, He's an Iron Age warrior!

2006-02-16T01:51:00.000Z

So there's been cases of bird flu discovered in Germany. Let me tell you - since these reports of dead swans with H5N1 bird flu virus have been found around Europe, I'm starting to look at the swans in the River Cam near my house quite a bit differently (though not really because I've always because been pretty wary of swans). Cambridge is located in the middle of a major agricultural centre of the UK, so the local news has hitched onto the idea of bird flu crisis. Whatever. I just hope it doesn't screw up my Easter Vacation.

My mom and I are planning on going to Brussels, Cologne and Prague over my break, which will be excellent (barring the existance of more dead swans). I'm very excited about it, as they're all cities I've wanted to go to, and it will increase the countries I've been to by three (awesome).

Anyways...back to life in Cambridge for now. I just got out of my weekly skeleton lab, which is fantastic. I love doing the skeleton studies, and I have since 10th grade Anthropology class with Mr. Lynch. But now, the skeletons we get to use are real; we have skeletons from the Ketchupawan Pueblo, a tribe from New Mexico that dates to before the 16th century A.D., and from Maiden Castle, an Iron Age British fort that was attacked in 46 A.D. by the Romans (and we have the skeletons from that battle). Today was dental pathology day, meaning we had to analyze their teeth. Let's talk about some nasty chompers here. Serious abscesses, periodontal disease, and wear and tear I've never seen in a living person. Kids - brush and floss your teeth, trust me on this one. I also had the skull of this man who must have looked something like a gorilla when he was alive. Really heavy brows, huge nose, big heavy jaw, a chin to rival Jay Leno. It's kinda sad, because he must have been really ugly during his life (even for Iron Age Britain) and even in death he's certainly no looker.

But even if the skeletons aren't particularly pretty, the weather certainly has been (how's that for a segue?). No, really, it's been 50 degrees for the last two days with sunny blue skies. And it's getting lighter for longer again, which is very exciting. You can just about feel spring trying to crawl out. And yet I know I'll need my winter coat until at least mid to late April, but I'll pretend not for now.

On Saturday, I worked at an Admissions Office programme for gifted kids at Girton College (which is one of the colleges that belongs to the University, like Pembroke College that I'm at). It was awesome - I got to see one of the original German Enigma machines from World War Two. They explained how it worked and then used it for a deciphering exercise! That was well worth it, not to mention I got a free lunch and 30 quid for the pleasure (sweet). Now, the thing about Girton College - it was the first college women could attend (which is to say, it was a women-only college) founded back in the 1800's when Cambridge was super-progressive (not). There's a University Statute that states all students must live within a 3-mile radius of Great St. Mary's Church, which is in the town centre. So, guess where Girton was built? That's right - exactly 3 miles from Great St. Mary's. You can just about hear the old boys saying "how far can we put them?...Well, that's where we'll put them then."

Regardless of this, Girton is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful colleges in Cambridge. It's quite the pinnicle of Victoria-era architecture, with Celtic designs sprawling through the woodwork that runs through the corridors. Even just walking down the hall, I felt like I was playing hide-and-seek in the Professor's house in C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe". There's a somewhat mythological statistic about Girton, which is that more Cambridge graduates will have been to India or China than Girton College, which is probably true. Of my friends, I know more people that have been to China or India than a college that's 3 miles down the road. I should mention, that I love the fact that I walked all 3 miles from Girton to my house, entirely on a dual bike path/sidewalk. That would be like, from my house in Palmyra to the high school, which is unimaginable. Amazing.

So now I've finally got some work to do. I've just finished an essay on Diphyllobothrium latum, which is a parasitic tapeworm that is endemic in Finland that grows to an average of 30 feet long once it's in your intestines - luckily there's only about 20 cases per year though. I have to pick one of the following for my next essay:

1) Discuss the notion of 'chronological' or 'biological' age, and the problems this brings to the age assessment of hominin fossils.
2) What are the bases for attributing sex to a human skeleton? Why are there cases in which this cannot be done with certainty, and how does this influence osteobiographic interpretation?
3) Discuss the evidence for population differences in cranial morphology. How can this be used to interpret population relationships? To what extent is this useful in forensic anthropology?

The problem is, I'm interested in all three, though I've recently caught an episode or two of CSI, so #3 is particularly beguiling, but sexing skeletons is really cool too and so is aging them...ack, too much love and too little time!

For now, some sleep.

Because if I had a 30 foot long tapeworm in my gut,
I reckon I'd have to name it.
But since I don't, I remain simply,
-Emily

Does this chardonnay go with my shirt?

2006-02-09T00:35:00.000Z

I've been back in Cambridge for about 4 weeks now. However, my course has been incredibly slow to start, if not non-existant. I think they've put us on a reality tv show to see how insane they can make us go without actually giving us any work. My friends on the other hand are in completely different situations - Simon and Chris, my housemates who do veterinary medicine have lectures or supervisions every single day (even Sundays). I now am only scheduled to have lectures on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. So, now I spend my time working on my dissertations, doing volunteer work, and learning Spanish. But I still have a lot of free time!

Monday night was Biological Anthropology formal at Pembroke. Food was great, fun was had. Until...someone found out that I've never been drunk before. It then became something of a departmental goal to get me drunk. Now, considering I'm halfway through with my degree, and my relationship with alcohol has only gone as far as tipsy giggles, well, surely this must push me into the realm of the Prude. So I considered my options, recognizing my lecture schedule the next day (which was laughable) and thought, if not now, when?

Now, the sad and silly parts: it took me a whole bottle of Italian white, another glass of wine, and a shot of the Devil's blood - tequila. This is neither good nor bad, it just is. However, here's the sad - because dinner started at 7:30, I was already pretty tanked by 9:30, which is pathetic. I then called Gareth, who came and rescued me from myself.

So I got drunk. Was it a good thing? Well, yes and no. Yes, because now, I know. I know what it takes to get me drunk, I know how it feels to be drunk. And I know that I have no desire to be drunk again. It wasn't awful, I did get sick but I didn't get a hangover. Here's the thing - I absolutely hated having no control. Oh ye patrons of my banter, if you know any one thing about me, it is this - I am a control freak. Drunkeness does not bode well with control freaks. So this will not be happening again anytime soon, if ever.

Anyways, to switch to completely non-alcoholic stuff, I'm looking at going to Alaska over the summer (which will include over my 21st birthday) to do my research on breast cancer in Native Alaskans for my final year dissertation (thus, probably a very dry 21st). I've been looking for funding, and it's becoming near impossible. I'm in the midst of writing up proposals, and searching for internships/volunteering/jobs/whatever so I can have a place to be in Alaska. I'm hoping to meet with my head of department to find out what exactly I should be quantifying with my research - I need focus.
And now I need sleep.

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
plannin' and dreaming each each day of my research,
but still need haven't bought the t-shirt...
Emily the Cheeky Monkey.

What's my motivation again?

2005-11-20T14:46:00.000Z

We start getting really pathetic around this time of term. Work is piled on us, but we have work block. We miss seeing friends, but we can’t make time to see each other. And the darkness/coldness really starts messing with our heads (actual thought of mine: "ooh, it’s been dark outside for a while now, definitely bedtime…except that it’s only actually 6:30 pm...")

You won’t have seen such pathetic attempts at sociality unless you've been to a mime convention. We buy things on Ebay just to get things in the mail (I bought a ‘best of’ James Taylor CD, one of my friends reports buying a really cheap poster, and another bought a fiction book, not that he has time to read for fun). Some people even sign up for online newsletters just to get email. I should have joined more societies, if anything just to get their emails.

The short of it is I’ve got work block, which should not be confused with procrastination. Work block looks very similar to procrastination. However, the difference is, procrastinators don’t stare at blank screens for obscene amounts of time, and they certainly don’t write and rewrite essays several times over. The actual difference is that procrastination is the avoidance of work, whereas work block is the inability. And in a place like Cambridge it sucks. It’s difficult to find motivation, especially when essays keep coming back with either no comments, or a lot of comments (both equally bad situations to find yourself in).

And so, I try to find things that I’m good at so I can feel productive and successful about, hoping that the feeling carries over to my work. Last night, I taught myself how to properly knit and purl, and then carried on to make what should have been a nice wooly hat. However, it has better use as an electric kettle skirt, or perhaps a hat that will fit over my bike helmet (see below for both). Or I can wear it as a slightly misshapen (with strange bobbly stringy bits sticking out) head band. Or not.

Well, for now I’m going to shower, maybe scrounge up some food, and give this menopause paper yet another go.

Looking to register for that mime convention,
-Emily.

"It is where the river is not that explains the path of the river."

2005-11-11T09:28:00.000Z

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is sky is gray
I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day
– California Dreaming, the Mommas and the Pappas.

But I’m still not California dreaming. Heck, I’ve never even been to California.

Actually, this is more like it…

I wandered empty streets
Down past the shop displays
I heard cathedral bells
Tripping down alley ways
As I walked on. - For Emily Wherever I May Find Her, Simon and Garfunkel

We just set our clocks back a week ago and boy is it dark. Our sun sets just before 4:30pm now, which means it’s definitely dark enough to need lights on my bike at 4pm. And now, here’s the kicker – when I come home on December 8th, the sun will be setting at 4:41pm in Harrisburg. However, in Cambridge it will set at 3:50pm, meaning lights starting at about 3:15pm. Unreal. So unreal in fact, that the sun actually sets later in Moscow than it does here (though to be fair, it is colder in Moscow).

In other informal news, I’ve added a rather casual cat to my room. The cat belongs to the college gardener, who lives next door. Sometimes the cat climbs into my window, and nonchalantly saunters to the middle of my floor, where he rolls on his side, expecting prompt attention and petting (which he always gets).

Oh yeah. And the metaphorical poo has hit the proverbial fan. I open my date diary now, and it just laughs at me. Next week borders on cruelty – one supervision, two essays, three practicals, four lectures, hopefully five nights of sleep during the week (this is starting to read like a child’s number book, just end it with “six mental health workers carting Emily off to the loony bin.”) Just kidding of course. I’ve had a good run up to now, and I consider myself lucky that I’ve had free time. Now is the time for time management, and I’ll be sorted.

The other night, I went to see a play, Hair – the American Tribal Love/Rock Musical. I need to prelude this by saying that theatre in Cambridge is *huge*. Some of the best actors have come out of here, and after going to a play you can understand why - the standards here (for just about everything) are unbelievably high. Now after saying that, I wanted to see Hair because I thought no way could a bunch of poncy English English-majors manage to pull off what is self proclaimed as “American Tribal Love/Rock.” And though it took them until the second act to really pull it together, they not only managed, but had me in tears at the end.

And now for some fun info, because I feel like it.

Music I’m listening to: quite a lot of Fleetwood Mac, though yesterday I had “Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” on repeat. I am a child of my parent’s generation.

What I’m Reading: Lots of scientific/medical papers, and for books I’m reading “The Cultured Chimpanzee,” “Polar Peoples,” and “The Blind Watchmaker.”

And now I need to go to a lecture. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to go for a ride out in the country this weekend – I could use the fresh air.

Hoping that my skirt doesn’t get caught in my brakes, again (ugh).
-Emily

P.S. The quote in my subject is from a lecture on evolutionary genetics.

40 days in a single entry

2005-10-27T18:28:00.000+01:00

I arrived in England and then I slept. I slept as if my eyes had not seen darkness for too long of a time. Well, they hadn’t actually, I mean, it was a long flight. Anyways, then I woke up and I tootled about on my bike and reacquainted myself with Cambridge. Nothing happened until...Gareth and I went to see the new "Pride and Prejudice" film. Please go see it, I definitely recommend it and the scenery is gorgeous. I asked Gareth where he thought it was filmed, and he said it was the Peak District. So on September 23rd, Gareth and I woke up, he went to work, and I started doing some research. By noon, I called him and told him to make sure he's home by 5 pm. At 5:50 pm we're on a train leaving Cambridge on our way to the Peak District in Derbyshire.

We arrived in Grindleford in absolute darkness on Friday night, completely unsure of our surroundings. But we still walked down to the village pub. I can't figure out if 'village pub' is an understatement or overstatement, but I do know it was a very warm, hole in the wall sort of place. There was an owner who talked to anyone and everyone, local traditional ales, and 4 whippets who had a taste for the ales and had complete run of the place (including “your” drink and “your” chair). We loved it. Afterwards, while walking back to the B&B, we looked up and saw the stars. There were so many of them; we could see full constellations and things that looked like celestial clouds. The air seemed so clean and clear – tragically something we didn't even notice until a car passed us.

The next morning we woke up, went down for breakfast and then hit the trails. I forgot to mention, this was a hiking weekend and hiking is a special thing in Britain. Here there are groups, such as the Ramblers, that specifically lobby the government to improve countryside walking conditions. This means opening up paths throughout the country so that there's open access for walkers. These paths are well marked, both on the land and on maps and often meander through “private property” such as farmer's fields. This would, of course, be completely unheard of in the US - can you imagine the trespassing laws and liability clauses dealing with something like this? Anyways, Gareth and I figure that we walked about 13 miles over Saturday and Sunday. The terrain was a bit tough in some parts - one valley comes to mind (though perhaps 'crevice' would be a more apt description as at parts we felt crawling would have been a more efficient way of getting around). We climbed elevation by over 1,000 feet in one day, which for a first time hike felt pretty darn good.

Since then I’ve been getting back into the swing of things, and it is such a lovely swing. I moved into my house a few days before classes started. This year, I’m living in an actual house in a village called Newnham, which means I’m a 5 minute bicycle ride from the city centre of Cambridge. And it’s nice to live outside of the city (something I’ve appreciated for the first time in my life I think). Funny enough, if I walk home from college, I walk through public land that has about 10 or so cows grazing on it. Still, I should note that “outside of the city” is a relative term. Right across the street is a pub, a block away is another pub, two blocks away is a small grocery, a butchers shop, and a post office. That is to say, I have everything I need within almost literal spitting distance. My house is attached to the home of the college’s gardener, Mr. Firman and his family (which by default means we have a beautiful garden). His family happens to include an attention-seeking cat who likes to jump into my room from the window ledge and visit me.

I need to say this: my housemates are amazing. There are seven of us, their Names and (Subjects aka Majors) follow:
Simon (Veterinary Medicine), Chris (Veterinary Medicine), Martin (Computer Science), Angus (English), Adrian (Maths), and Frances (Medicine). So it’s 5 guys and 2 girls, we’re perhaps nerdier than usual (even for Cambridge) and we all get on extremely well. We have a huge communal kitchen and almost every night, most of us are in there hanging out together. It’s very cozy and family-like, we’re even planning to have a Thanksgiving dinner together. There are, perhaps, some plans to run a few experiments in the kitchen. I’m holding out for some DNA extraction…

A cozy home is good, as it’s quickly becoming quite autumnal here in Cambridge. I love tootling about on my bicycle into town on a morning, going to class, and then to the market to pick up whatever I need for meals. I’ve already made and eaten my first batch of carrot and parsnip soup, a good indicator of autumn. But it’s getting darker and chillier, so thick jumpers and boots will become de rigueur. I’ve even started laying my blanket across the radiator. But one of these days, I will allow myself down the road past the pub across the street, into the fields of Grantchester. Not even a quarter of a mile down the road, and suddenly you’re surrounded by beautiful and refreshingly bright, open fields, spotted with single rows of cedar trees with the road running parallel to the River Cam. Given the weather, that may well be this weekend.

Next update there will be more photos, and perhaps I’ll even talk about my classes, tee hee. Tonight, I have a date with an essay on fat babies. More on that later.
-Emily

impending doom, in a good way...

2005-06-01T09:21:00.000+01:00

Exam Countdown: 8 days
Boy is it ever starting to feel like impending doom, but in a good way...

So because exams are so soon, this is a short entry. I'm physically and mentally fine, and my illness seems to be over, yay! Revision is going alright - I feel like I can finally get cracking down and that what I'm learning will actually stick at this point, so that's good. I've been working on archaeology, focusing on the tool technologies and evolution of Homo erectus. Note: you all thought I was such a lovely, intelligent, mature young lady. I'm sorry to tell you that after studying archaeology for the last 5 days, I've only just now stopped laughing every time I write/say Homo erectus, and I still smirk at it. Apologies if I've just caused you to lose all respect for me. Anyways, me and the other Archaeologists and Anthropologists have been trading cartoons and funny pictures around to keep our spirits up. Sadly, most of them are subject based, which makes us borderline-pathetic. You can view these at
http://community.webshots.com/album/358650083DcQsCN

Also, Cambridge has not existed as a social body for several weeks now. You'd think a huge epidemic hit the university and like, 80% of us died - you just don't see people around, which is really weird. However, with the end of exams comes the rebirth of socializing. This comes in the form of May Week. It is best defined as extravagant debauchery in the most extreme sense. Imagine working very hard for 6 weeks to the point of being socially dead, having your exams, and then making up for your lack of sociality all in a span of a week. It's supposed to be absolutely crazy. Parties - garden parties, May Balls, June Events. It is actually very easy to be at some party for virtually the entire time - one ball ends, another garden party begins. And apparently, quite a lot of people never bother with sobering up at any one point during the week. My plans so far are to attend the Robinson May Ball, work at the Clare May Ball as a food worker, and attend the Pembroke June Event. I can't even explain the May Balls/June Events, so the first two links are explaining may week and may balls, and then the other three links are to the ones that I'm working at/attending:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Week
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_ball
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/claremayball/
http://www-stud.robinson.cam.ac.uk/mayball/
http://www.pembrokejuneevent.com/

Also during May Week - a few of my friends are hosting a cocktail party another evening, then attending a few garden parties, a few BBQ's, and I plan on spending the rest of the time lolling about on the bowling green or the River Cam on a punt. And damnit, that's okay by me.

But for now, it's back to stone tools...

on resigning myself to being human

2005-05-17T09:20:00.000+01:00

Okay, this update will actually bring me up to present time...

So I got back to Cambridge. This by the way, is one of my favorite feelings - coming back to familiarity. In my case, coming back to college and specifically my room is like coming back to myself. It's really great.

Except it's exam term. Quick explanation time: this entire year, all I've done is write essays. We're supposed to write about two per week. They're not graded, but instead we go to a meeting with a supervisor (usually a lecturer or Ph.D. student) and we discuss it. This culminates in exams sometime during exam term. So in my case, I have four exams - archaeology, social anthropology, biological anthropology, and an interdisciplinary paper. My exams are on June 9, 10, 13, and 14 and will last a total of 12 hours. Our exams are graded as following

1:1 (read as: "first") Evidence of having read and understood most relevant material. Excellent analysis, synthesis and evaluation of material. Showing originality in approach and thinking.

2:1 (read as: "two-one") Evidence of having read and understood much of the relevant material and the ability to integrate this information in an answer that shows some originality.

2:2 (read as: "two-two") Evidence of having read and understood a reasonable amount of relevant material, or the ability to integrate such information that the candidate has into some coherent argument.

Third (read as: "third") Rudimentary analysis and evaluation of such material as the candidate has read. Fairly basic understanding of the material.

Anything else is a fail, and even the way I understand it, a third might as well be a fail. Statistically, about 70% of students get a 2:1, and to get a 1:1 you have to be pretty frickin' special (or socially deficient, we're not sure yet). I'm aiming for a 2:1 - I figure it's a pretty okay thing to be average at Cambridge, at least for my first year when I've not specialized yet.

Writing has been coming along better, but mostly because I'm in the process of resigning myself to just being human and not being such a perfectionist. I think there are two kinds of perfectionists in this world - the ones who are concerning with time, and the ones who really couldn't give a damn. If you know me well enough, you'd know I'm the latter. However, this also comes with another problem - the easiest way to not be a perfectionist is to not do something in the first place. This = Bad. Teachers of mine who are reading this probably know this to be very true of me.

But now that I'm human again, I'm writing a lot more, and at great speed! Yesterday, I sat down with a question, planned it, thought through the facts in my head and wrote half of it in under an hour and a half. You could even say it was original. In one section I was writing about post-communist transformations in former Soviet countries, and managed to remember the Marxist five stages of historic materialism, which I learnt about 18 months ago. Yey for memory...and nerdiness...Oh well. Anyways, I'm posting my essay I wrote that broke my writer's block, which I wrote from 3:30 AM to 8:00 AM one night after various pep talks/threats from friends and family (it should be noted that not an ounce of caffiene fuels any of my work, ever.) http://www.geocities.com/emr6/BAessay8.doc

(by the way, I recently invested in a coffee mug that says "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill, how perfect is that?)

I should add that I'm not entirely physically well. I've been sick throughout much of my Easter break, and it's continuing now - a time of about 8 weeks. Not to be too graphic, but it is largely gastrointestinal, which makes life not so much fun, but weight loss pretty darn easy. Initially I was tested for protozoan parasites, which seemed rather appropriate for the whole anthropology thing, but that came back negative. I have just returned from the hospital where they took blood samples and did an x-ray. I must add that being sick in England has definite advantages. Well, not that I want to be sick, but I'd rather be sick in the UK than in the USA. I was in and out of the hospital in about 45 minutes, and I even got a bus (for free!) basically from my doorstep to the main entrance of the hospital - fantastic!

However, fun has been had, but in small doses. Early in term I went to the Union to see Kim Catrall, or Samantha from "Sex and the City," speak. I was only going for the novelty, but she was actually quite good! The best part had to be when one of my friends asked her if she had forgotten her Liverpool roots at all (as Catrall was born in Liverpool, England, but then moved to Canada while still an infant) and she then broke out into a full on Scouse (Liverpool) accent! Hilarious!

Later on in term, the Ivory Tower Society, an interdisciplinary lecturing/discussion group I belong to, hosted Stephen Hawking to discuss his life in physics. For those of you who don't know, Professor Hawking is virtually a rock star in the field of physics. He specializes in cosmology, and is especially noted for his research in black holes, and is the current holder of the Lucasian Chair for Mathematics (also held by Sir Isaac Newton). I should also note that Professor Hawking has been living with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, for 42 years now and is almost completely paralyzed. It was nothing short of an amazing experience. The only thing that was better was going to formal hall later that evening and dining at the same table as him. Just one of those things that will mark my life. I'm so glad I had the opportunity afforded to me. It was just another time where I felt so lucky to be at Cambridge.

Now for a quick Cambridge Story of potentially mythic proportions (meaning it's a widely known story, but no one actually knows if it's true), however firstly, several terms must be explained.

1) Professor Hawking is a fellow at Gonville and Caius College (comparatively, I am a junior member of Pembroke College)

2) Formal Hall is a formal dinner that colleges here hold regularly and they are *very* formal (ie. like Harry Potter's dining hall) Students and Fellows alike dine together.

3) "Pennying" is a drinking game we play here. The idea is if someone puts a penny in your drink, you have to down your drink as quickly as possible. This is because the queen's head is on the penny, and you have to "save the queen" so she won't drown, and any other response would be treason?

So now, the story: One night, Professor Hawking was dining at Formal Hall. In attendence there was a student from Robinson college who was dining there as a guest. At the start of the meal when soup had been served, the student from Robinson got up and "Pennied" Professor Hawking's soup. Subsequently, all members of Robinson College have been banned from Gonville and Caius' Formal Halls for the next 400 years. I have to admit, I kind of hope it's true.

Oh, and finally, some other news. I will be returning stateside on June 23rd. That will be funny, but that's another story...

Even though I am resigning myself to be human, I will always be
-Emily.

Two Brits and an American go on vacation to Budapest together...

2005-05-08T09:19:00.000+01:00

I just have to make one more comment regarding the day Katrina left, aka Easter Sunday, aka the day of The Boat Race. That is, it was the day of the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge. This year we lost, but it was still amazing to watch. I was reminded of it because today in one of my lectures I saw a t-shirt that said "dirty Oxford scum, no joke, just rubbish and offensive since 1214." There's just nothing like an 800 year old grudge. Anyways, it was very exciting to watch, and maybe I'll go watch it on the Thames next year.

Well anyways, I ended up working at one of the Cambridge Easter Schools between getting back from Paris and seeing my family. The day they flew in I got up super early and took train/tube/train to meet them at Gatwick, and then we drove together in the rented car to Cambridge. One word - hilarious! Oh, if you ever have the opportunity to ride in a car with an American in England, do so, not for your health but certainly for comedic value. Bless my father, he actually did very well, but it was still really funny. Quote: "Dad!! Don't drive over the roundabout!! AHHHHhhhh-hahaHAHAHAA!! "

We tootled about Cambridge and then drove up north to see the North York Moors, and see them we did. Actually, we spent almost a whole day on the A64 (one road on the moors) which is almost inconceivable to someone from, say, London (the disneyland of England) who just simply don't know what they're missing. But it was amazing, and my family got to see how I fell in love with England, in that you hate to vacation here because it means you have to leave. The exciting thing is, I think not only did they understand my love for this place, but they fell in love with it themselves.

The same day my parents left, I left for Budapest with my friends Megan and Rachel who do archaeology and anthropology with me in Pembroke. I showed up at the airport and met them, and as we were standing in line waiting to board the plane I said, "Hey guys, I've got a joke: Two Brits and an American go on vacation to Budapest together..." and they looked at me and then burst out laughing. And I was right - the vacation was a joke in action. This stemmed mostly from our complete lack of knowledge of the Uralic language tree (English is more similar to the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit than it is to Hungarian) and our lack of confidence with the Hungarian Forint - the currency they use (Hungary is a member of the EU but does not yet use the Euro). Regardless of that/Because of that, had an absolute blast.

We soaked up the cafe culture, the sights, the pastries (literally, soaked up as in I think I developed a new layer of fat)...seriously, Budapest is not the place to go if you're trying to lose weight, or even pretend to be healthy for that matter. Example of traditional dinner: Turkey breast filled with goats cheese fried in breadcrumbs with a side of potato pasta and various pickled vegetables. Hungarians have one of the lowest life expectancy rates in Europe. It's gotta be because of their diet, but I reckon the only thing that keeps them alive as long as they do in the first place is the sheer amounts of alcohol and pickled foods - it must preserve them, but only to a point. It must be noted: I'm still eating an unusual amount of fresh vegetables, still trying to balance out my six days of "fried food with a side of fried food" that I had in Budapest, yummy but ugghh.

But it was also exciting because we could all stop and look at things with our "anthropological" eyes. Meaning, we were able to enjoy the place, but we could also see what was acutally happening to the place and the people. Most noticably was the post-communist transformations that are still taking place more than 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Also, Budapest was the first place I've ever been where there are visible signs of warfare. After the end of World War II, more than 75% of Budapest's buildings had been either severely damaged or destroyed. This comes at a great surprise as Budapest looks like an old city, in contrast to other war torn cities like London (a post-war ode to concrete). But on some of the buildings, especially the deeper you go into Pest, all you have to do is look up at the second floor of some of the buildings, and there are bullet holes. It's really quite shocking. As an American, I suddenly realized how sheltered we are from the tragedies that this world has known. It was, I think, one of the best lessons I have learnt.

I'll leave it at that. One more update to go...
Until then,
-Emily.

Part One of my Easter Vacation

2005-04-23T09:18:00.000+01:00

Wow, I still feel like I've only just got back, but that was Tuesday, and this is Saturday (oops?).
What the heck have I been up to? Well...

On March 18th (still technically part of long term) I booted off to Heathrow Airport at 5 a.m. (a time I've become more and more familiar with - how ungodly) to pick up my friend Katrina. We stayed in London for 3 days, doing the touristy stuff like the London Eye and taking in an Evensong at Westminster Cathedral and less touristy stuff like going to Camden Markets with my friend Rachel - a real Londoner. We then took off on the Eurostar (a.k.a. The Chunnel Train) to Paris.

Paris, despite all of the terrible things I've heard about it (the worst being "it's the European version of Philadelphia" - uhhh whatever) was amazing. I would quite happily reside in Paris, and even considered doing that this summer. I reckon that this is one of the conveniences of being an expat from such a young age - anything can go and is quickly romanticised, ie. "I could live with a family and teach their children English whilst receiving reduced rent and living in the heart of Paris in a lovely terrace house!" and the thing is, I could.

So anyways, Katrina and I took Paris on head first. We dove straight into the cafe culture and the mandatory tourist stuff such as the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc D'Triomphe, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, and it was wonderful. We also got to see Shakespeare and Company - the oldest English-language bookshop in Paris and where some of my literary heroes mingled - such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald (the former writing of when coming to Paris, one falls in love with a drink. Mine was a Kir which is white wine with blackcurrant juice. A good drink to love, and far better than absinthe.)

What to say about the Louvre? It's frickin' huge. I mean, I love art, but when there are so many great pieces, I feel overwhelmed. Everyone says that visiting the Mona Lisa is nothing, and they're so right. To add to it, she was in a gallery among bigger and equally good paintings and lost except for the large crowd surrounding her (oh yeah, and the bullet proof case, that too). Da Vinci has better stuff in the Louvre, and I sorta got the feeling that he'd be ashamed that that was the picture that everyone wanted to see.

We returned to England and stayed in Cambridge for the rest Katrina's time here. This would have been great except for the fact that I got desperately ill. I slept for about 4 days solid and I really only woke up to throw up twice. This may not seem exceptional except for the fact that I haven't thrown up in 12 years. This is even more exceptional to the university-going crowd in that I didn't even throw up due to alcohol consumption! So anyways, the end to Katrina's stay was perhaps very anti-climatic, except! We went to Easter Sunday service at King's College Chapel and wow that was amazing. What an experience - a very long service (about 90 minutes) but lots of singing by the lovely Kings Choir was had.

Anyways, that's end to part one of my Easter Vacation. I'll write more later and pictures will be included on a separate page, to which I will send the URL...

cripplingly boring load of bollocks

2005-03-12T09:16:00.000Z

Okay, I'm not dead, I just haven't updated recently...
Nietzsche said what doesn't kill you will make you stronger, but he didn't go to Cambridge. No, I joke, I jest. Things are good here, but I just realized that the end of term is nigh, and that I would like to write 4 essays by then, which is do-able, maybe.

Gareth's here, which is good because it means that my laptop is getting fixed. It's been broke, and I just couldn't take the time to try to sort it out. Thank god for boyfriends who can deal with computers and who have the time to deal with computers - not that I can't, but it's good to see him too anyways.

Right, now, on to essay blabber - a.k.a. What the Heck is Emily Doing?! (how should I know? rubbish.) Below are my current essay titles:

1) Archaeology - Discuss the Minoan/Mycenaean 'civilisations' with particular attention towards arguments about why social stratification developed in this area and the role of 'palace economies' within this development.

2) Archaeology - Discuss the evidence of social differentiation (i.e. chiefs, elites, warriors) during the Bronze Age with particular attention towards central Europe and the impact of metallurgy.

3) Biological Anthropology - ‘The multiregional model for human evolution is the most plausible explanation for the appearance of Homo sapiens across the Old World.’ Support or refute this statement with evidence.

4) Biological Anthropology - Discuss the selective pressures that underlie the adaptations of the apes. How do these differ from those of the monkeys?

5) Interdisciplinary Paper - Language is a human phenomenon. Discuss.

6) Two others for social anthropology but I can't find the essay titles. One has to do with witchcraft in a tribe in Africa, and the other has to do with concepts of the natural body using ethnographic examples from gypsies.

Crazy? (essays or the girl? both I reckon.) Yes. When do I have to do these by? Well, sooner than later is of course the answer. You see, I'm only writing this update to keep myself on track. By writing out this cripplingly boring load of bollocks helps me keep my focus together. And by me writing in the first place helps me get my brain in gear.

Oh yeah, and I leave here at 6:45 Friday morning. Did I know 6:45 even existed in Cambridge-land? No, I did not.
Is my room actually a tip? Oh yeah. That would be Tip, with a capital 'T' as you can see. Tip meaning there are parts of my room where I cannot see the carpet, and it's not meant to be that way.

So how did Minoan/Mycenaean become such a socially stratified civilisation whilst having to struggle with having so many vowels in their respective names? It must have been incredibly trying.

This is pathetic surreal blabber - why? Pathetic because it's only 3:40 in the afternoon. Apologies to all, especially Katrina and her poor mother; Katrina, I will be at Heathrow to pick you up on Friday morning, but I'm not entirely promising sanity. Betty, my sincerest apologies.

Shoutout to anyone who laughs at the following: On Thursday, I have to go to an Overseas Trust Fund Dinner to thank them all for my scholarship. However, it is a bike-able distance away. So, picture this: I'll be pedalling along to Robinson College for the dinner, in a long black formal dress and heels, on my crappy 3 speed with my helmet on. Too eccentric? Anyone?

Sooner or later, for better or worse, I remain,
-Emily.

A brief thought to the dangers of chilli peppers...

2005-02-23T09:13:00.000Z

This is what I feared. I knew this would come - the moment when I feel I've said everything I can say about Cambridge and the time when nothing of substantial value seems to be happening. That's not true, but life can fall into cyclical motion around here. It's still craziness abounding from the outside looking in I'm sure. I'm busy churning out two essays a week, wishing I had more time to do the reading because it's so damn interesting. Like, did you know that apes and children have the same capacity for vocabulary (roughly 150 words) but that children are capable of comprehending a vocabulary of 900 words? Yeah, anyways...

Currently planning trips to: London, France, Hungary (namely Budapest), and Sweden.
I have an interview for a job over Easter and I have yet to hear whether or not I'll be living in Sweden for six weeks over the summer digging up Vikings (or in Swedish: Sverge sec vecka sommar derrgee ingning orkey dorky verking neeeeff! - Thanks Swedish Chef.)

So basically, Easter is looking like it'll be crazy fun - start it off with a visit from Katrina where we'll travel around England and France. After she's left, hopefully I'll have a job at the college working at the Easter Schools. Then my parents and Cody come to visit me, which is really exciting since we didn't do the whole parents-pack-up-the-car-and-haul-kid-plus-stuff-to-college thing. When they leave, Rachel and Megan (my fellow archaeology/anthropologists) and I are going to Budapest for a week. Then we get back and study like the little nerds we are for exam term (gasp!).

Right now I'm meant to be 1) Protesting visa fees in London at the Home Office, Parliament, and 10 Downing Street or 2) writing an essay of the origins of the state for archaeology. I am doing neither, which is rubbish on my behalf, though origins of the state is looking more interesting, and I'm glad I didn't protest because it is bloody freezing outside and I'm pretty sure I'd die of exposure whilst standing next to the Thames for the day.

I've been going to the Union a lot lately, making use of my membership. Debate this week: This House believes Britain is still great. I'm eager to see how one argues against that without being asked to step outside - and here I thought the religion debate was testy! I even went to a play last week, but sadly it was not good. Though there were Brits trying to do American accents, and that alone was worth the money. One actor was amazing, another one or two were decent, but oh man, the rest came off sounding like uber-posh New Englanders, stereotypical frustrated gay male interior designers, or Australians (not saying they're the same!). It was hilarious. I'm looking forward to "Hamlet" put on by one of the university theatre groups as they're doing it in Asian style. I love a good Shakespearian adaptation, and think about it - style of crouching tiger hidden dragon + story of hamlet = what? Amazing, as long as it's done well.

And now, for lecturer of the moment: So I have this lecturer, who if you ask any of us who he reminds us of, we all say "John Cleese" no joke. Imagine what would have happened if John Cleese would have lived with an Amazonian tribe for a few months - you've got a pretty good idea of my lecturer. Yesterday in the lecture he was discussing initiation rites:

Dr. Hugh-Jones: "Now, when I underwent my initiation rites in my tribe..."
Us:
Dr. Hugh-Jones: "First we had to be painted red by the women of the tribe. After partaking in a dancing and eating ceremony, six of us were locked away in a hut on the outer edges of the village for two months where we ate only manioc bread and the heads of ants. Afterwards we were not allowed sight or contact with women and were told that if we ate chilli peppers we would die. I tried to eat a chilli pepper but I really couldn't, I couldn't bring myself to do it."
Us: *scraping our jaws off of the floor, realising what our future careers may hold for us, thinking the camel hair brush thing isn't so bad after all*

Having obviously underestimated the proteinacious value of ant heads, I remain,
-Emily.

On that point sir...

2005-02-06T09:11:00.000Z

Well I've had an interesting week here.

Last Friday, which was before I had my last update was a really great day. After my lectures, my arch and anth friends and I had lunch together. We then went to a life drawing class, where our subject was a nude woman (not that I can draw, but I thought I'd chalk it up to life experience). That night I went to Shabbat dinner, hosted by Cambridge University Jewish Society. I had some of the best Challah ever, and everyone was just really great. Then we went to Culanu, which is the Jewish Students Union and played Trivial Pursuit (so very nerdy, but we won!).

Honestly can't remember what I did on Saturday and Sunday, though Saturdays and Sundays usually mean walking around the market, taking walks around the area, and doing some reading for the upcoming week. Basically just trying to chill out for what was coming (ie. Monday).

So, about Monday. well, it was fine, but I had my first Faculty Board meeting, for which I am the undergraduate representative. I was sweating bullets. I was the soul student in a room of some of the world's most important archaeologists and anthropologists - Robert Foley, Christopher Chippendale, Alan Macfarlane, Marilyn Strathern, Graeme Barker, Nick Mascie-Taylor. Oh man, and the whole time I had to sit there and think "Emily, these people are still people, with the same bodily functions and weird personal lives, but their brains...OH MY GOD" and then they starting talking at me, and scaring me. At one point, Robert Foley was addressing me, and I was thinking "He's talking to me? I can't believe it, oh crap Em, listen to what he's saying, focus!" but by the end, I felt a little entitled and fit in a little more.

Speaking of people who are pretty important, there was of course Tuesday. That night I had drinks with the Master of our College. The Master is the numero uno guy in charge here at Pembroke, so that's important. Not to mention that he's just recently retired as the head of MI6 (the UK version of the CIA). To put this in a familiar context - James Bond works for MI6, and the boss guy of MI6 is "M". Well, our master was M. And now, to just add to this all, of course he gets a title, so he is Sir Richard Dearlove (no joke). It was pretty cool considering the press couldn't even touch him for five years, and then I just waltzed into his house with other members of college. He and his wife were discussing America with me and how they have a pretty narrow view of the East Coast, meaning they didn't now how rural it can get so close to the big cities (ie. the Amish in proximity to Philadelphia). Later, Rachel and I went to the Ethnographic and Anthropological Film Society (EAFS) and saw films about Afghanistan. We are now looking to have a cooperative coup and take over the EAFS, more on that later, hopefully post-coup.

On Wednesday, I went to the Cambridge Union (of which I am a member, see it at http://www.cambridge-union.org/) to attend a speech by the NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. It was really enlightening to hear what NATO felt their future was without a communist Russia (which seems to mostly involve taking over some sub-roles of the UN and collaborating with the EU more). I was glad to go, because I was starting to think, how is it possible to continue an organization who's purpose of creation has been eliminated by a substantial political change? Well, by redefining the organization and giving it new purpose, that's how. NATO has some exciting times ahead of it, but if it loses focus and international cooperation, it will fail. Anyways, later we attempted to go to Funk Da Bar (by the way, we all thought this was hilarious. First we saw Jaap de Hoop and then we were going to Funk Da Bar. There were tears, we were laughing so hard. I guess you had to be there, and be nerdy, so sad) which is a Cambridge club night at Emmanuel College, but it was lousy. And by lousy I mean the music was very loud, angry German club music, and the crowd complimented the music quite well, which is scary. So we left.

Thursday, well I had a pretty damn good supervision. I wrote this essay, and received good remarks from my supervisor, both encouraging and relieving. That night, we went to a debate at the Cambridge Union, "This house believes religion is no longer relevant." Oh man, was it ever excellent. The debates here are quite intense as they always debate on really hot issues, so debators are getting up and making their speeches, and students are leaping up right and left, giving their "On that point sir..." calling the bluffs of the debator. It's exciting to be in a place so revered as the Chamber where there is simply no time for B.S. and no one will have it anyways.

Friday was fun on the soul basis that I made Mexican food. Now, you may think "oh that's so not special Em," but wait. Remember, England doesn't boarder Mexico. It doesn't even boarder Spain, and Spanish food is still very very different from Mexican. Plus, can you imagine trying to buy salsa in England? Well you can but it's about a third of the size of our salsa jars, and it costs the equivilant of $4. So this was an accomplishment, and I made quite a lot of it from scratch, and! it was yummy. Go me.

Yesterday we went out for dinner at Pizza Express, which doesn't sound like much, but it's actually a really posh pizza restaurant (like a step or two above Olive Garden). Then later, Morna, Dave and I went to KamBar for indie/alternative night. I had a blast because the music wasn't cheesy crap, it was rock music. And it was good music to jump around to. Not that we're full of rage or anything, but there is some kind of redeeming value to jumping/dancing/screaming to the song "this fire is outta control, we're gonna burn this city, burn this city" after spending five hours reading about agriculture, pollen and pottery.

Today, I'm going to continue reading and then writing about above said agriculture, pollen and pottery for my archaeology essay that I have to submit to Lady Dr. Jane Renfrew (title confusion on my part? that would be a big fat yes. And you just see, she'll say "ah, just call me Jane." go figure)

Still smirking at the dumb joke with Jaap de Hoop and Funk da Bar, I pathetically remain,
Emily.

Daytripper...

2005-01-23T09:08:00.000Z

So, my first week back has passed by. I've made attempts at work, all of which futile but I think tonight is the night as I think I have finally settled in well enough to be satisfied by my antics.

Antics, you ask?
Oh yes, and recent ones too.

Well, let me start with classes. They started on Thursday, and they are lovely. We're doing anthropological theory and medical/biological anthropology both of which I adore. In my other two classes, we're doing primates and the origins of the state, which are okay, but not as interesting.

Before lectures started though, I was having fun just, well, living and doing fun things. Providing for myself isn't really a chore anymore - I've found I like doing little domestic-y things, like cleaning my room, going grocery shopping and cooking (sorry mom and dad, it's true. I'm a closet homemaker, and you never had any of the benefits!) I also got to take a lot of walks and tried to finish reading "Salt" which I started a year ago, and I'm still only halfway through (it's not bad, it's just leisure reading, which is a contradiction in terms these days...)

One of the best parts of my week during the weekdays was I went to a reading of Odessyus and Nausikaa from the Odessey by the classics Faculty. As if that wasn't cool enough, they read it in Ancient Greek with a harpist for the intervals. It may well have been my biggest "wow" non-archaeology/anthropology-University-of-Cambridge moment yet. The way they read the greek was beautiful, so lyrical - the speakers and the harp actually seemed to have been matched.

On to the weekend though. After speaking to some international students on Friday night, I realized that I hadn't been to London the whole time I've been in Cambridge. Understanding that this had to be rectified ASAP, I called up a fellow American at Peterhouse (who also had yet to go to London) and we decided that the best solution was to go the very next morning. So yesterday, we went to London. We had lunch at an asian-fusion restaurant, which was nice, but more importantly, we went to the British Museum.

**Moment of Pause to Reflect in the Glory that is the British Museum**

Being two nerdy Arch and Anth'ers, we pootled around the museum in a reverent and sustained awe. The Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the Sutton Hoo ship burial, a megalithic statue from Easter Island, oh, and did I mention the vast collection of Egyptian mummies? All icons of our studies. We left darned near closing time, and we were exhausted.

But wanting to make the most of our trip, we hopped on the tube and went to the main stations - Westminster, London Bridge, and Angel. What? Angel? Yeah, apparently the tallest escalator in the world is there, and let me tell you what - it's pretty damn tall. We then went on to King's Cross and from there, home.

Today I did two very exciting things. One - I made mulligatawny stew, which was very yummy and was so ample, it will feed me another day. But first thing this morning, I went for a bike ride, which was very exciting. It meant that for the first time, I left Cambridge all on my own. I rode out into the countryside, to Grantchester in fact. There, it is very different from Cambridge, and very familiar to the other England that I love. To this day in Grantchester, seemingly ancient cottages with thatched roofs are the norm. The River Cam winds carefully around the quiet village and the surrounding meadows and farm fields. As it was Sunday, people were going for a drive, stopping for a carvery dinner at the local pubs. It was so refreshing and achingly similar to North Yorkshire, which I love.

Right, I'm off to do some reading - namely "the third chimpanzee." Fun times (that, by the way, is implying that humans are the third chimpanzee, which isn't far from the truth). I'm writing an essay about primate brain evolution, whether it's due to diet or sociality, and I'm not entirely sure yet.

While fighting off the craving for bananas and the urge to go for a social grooming session with the floormates,
I somehow remain,
-Emily.

pissed as a...what?

2005-01-17T09:01:00.000Z

Making my way back to the U.K. was a bit eventful. While it was nice that I could fly back with Gareth, it would have been nice if our pilot would have had some better training/not been pissed as a newt (aka drunk). Well I dunno what the devil was wrong with him, but you could tell by the way the plane was rocking that it wasn't 100% turbulance (which, I should add, was pretty bad).

Anyways, I'll start from the beginning - On the day we left, we had woken at 7 a.m. EST, got to packing and then my mum, Cody and Mike drove us to Newark International Aiport. Our flight took off at 10:30 p.m. - and now here's the advantage of flying during a major storm - we landed at 8 a.m. GMT which means our flight was only 4 and a half hours long. Why? Because our tailwind was 250 mph and never less than 175 mph, which means we were basically being thrown through the air. So we landed (barely) at London Heathrow and then made our connection to Manchester, and then caught a train to Middlesbrough, where we were picked up by Gareth's Grandad and swept away to Redcar. So, in short that's automobile, plane, plane, train and automobile and virtually no sleep over a frame of 30-some hours, and that my friends is what makes life an adventure!

Between then and now, Gareth and I spent time reconnecting with his family, getting some shopping done, and even went to his mum's classroom for a day. Speaking of humbling experiences - these kids are age 4 to 5 and come from the rough part of Middlesbrough. Weirdly, they all noticed that I "talked funny" (though for those of you who know what a northeastern English accent sounds like, you probably think it's the other way around). I almost experienced a mutiny by the group I was looking after, as they all started singing soccer songs after I told them that I was from America - like I said, humbling.

Gareth's dad drove us down to Cambridge on Friday, which was a good trip and I was more than grateful to have him and Gareth help me out. Gareth ended up staying the weekend to help me set up my room and get my stuff out of storage. We also took a trip to Ely, the cathedral town of East Anglia. The cathedral dates from the 600's when St. Etheldreda started a monastic order there. According to the Patron Saints Index, she took a vow of perpetual virginity, but being royalty she had to marry for political reasons. Her husband kept making advances, she refused and escaped to Ely. She died of an "enormous and unsightly tumor" on her neck. To this day, she remains the patron saint of the University of Cambridge, go figure.

Anyways, Ely Cathedral's main structure dates from Norman times which makes it one of those old ancient places that I hold dear, bar the fact that they charge 4.80 GBP for the pleasure of viewing it, which I thought was daft. Otherwise, Ely is precisely what I adore about England. Everything one would ever need on a day-to-day basis is within walking distance, including the cathedral. We had a pub lunch and watchced the soccer match between Liverpool and Man Utd on TV and then strolled around Ely before we made our way back to Cambridge.

Gareth left Cambridge yesterday morning and I spent the rest of day at the grocery store, the market, and strolling around Jesus Green and the Backs, having lovely rambles all to myself. I then went to Catholic Mass with some friends, which I found surprisingly refreshing. They were a little over the top with the incense, but I love the smell of it. The church, Our Lady and the English Martyrs (what a wonderful name!) was old and beautiful with a feeling of great weight. The service was supposed to be in Latin, and I was disappointed as it wasn't very hardcore. So maybe next week I'll go to the Polish-language service to make up for it.

Later, we got back from Mass and we had Bel's (one of my floormates) birthday party. She cooked a nice chicken tikka masala for us all. Then more people started to show up and pretty soon we had a party on P staircase. I was a little reluctant to join in as I've found that these things aren't really my thing and I had been looking forward to a quiet evening. But not wanting to be anti-social, I ended up joining in and had a nice time. We played some drinking games and then the theologians and a few others came back to my room to have a good chat. Considering the party was on our floor, I ended up going to bed early (3 a.m.) only to be woken by sounds of the party trying to pick up again at 5 a.m. which thankfully was squashed when people realized the time.

So today I'm sitting around having a bit of a chill out (again) trying to clear my head for the start of term and get some work done. I have a few errands to run and a meeting or two to attend and tonight I may go out to Fez, which is a Morroccan nightclub. I've been making my own food though so far, which has been lovely. Yesterday I made carrot and coriander (cilantro) soup and today I had a traditional greek salad. I'm so proud of myself - especially since I'm making it all from scratch. My new goals for this term are to get myself sorted out activities wise, meaning going to the gym, maybe take up yoga (especially since my back seems to be getting worse) and focusing on my roles as international rep and undergrad faculty rep. But as always, academics come first and I can't wait until lectures start on Thursday.

Remaining Om-impotent while wishing to be more omnipotent,
-Emily.

"Do any of you play marbles? No? Oh. The world is gone." - Alan Macfarlane

2004-11-17T08:58:00.000Z

Funny Silly Em!

Book of the Moment: "The Sexual Life of Savages" by Bronislaw Malinowski
Music of the Moment: The Vines - Winning Days album
Funny of the Moment: When half asleep, I fell down the last 3 stairs straight into one of the poor girls who lives upstairs, bless.

Well, we're starting to just have normal silly goofiness. Like yesterday, we watched "Shrek 2." If you haven't seen Shrek 2, you must, though I'm not sure if it qualifies as a kid's film anymore. But still, it is hilarious - funniest scene is when the giant gingerbreadman destroys a starbucks, and it's patrons run out screaming, to the other starbucks across the street. Kid's movie it is not. I also watched "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" which is wonderful. I don't cry, despite Baz Luhrman's amazing directoral attempts, that is until the end when they're both lying dead in the Capulet tomb having just killed themselves to the tune of Richard Wagner's "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde. Then I sob like a baby.

So we're having fun needless to say, doing normal student things for once instead of sitting around trying to "engage in a dialogue" all the darn time, which can get tiring! I've been doing a few more social things with the Arch & Anth people, which last week meant going to a bar called "The Cow" for 2-for-1 pizza night, and next week going to a formal dinner at Jesus College - fun times. We've also been cooking for ourselves a bit more formally than our previous anti-Atkins diet. Tonight we're having chicken tikka masala, which is yummy. This weekend, Gareth is coming down to visit, so I think we might go out to the Japanese restaurant and the Portugese restaurant (which sounds posh, but for about £5 a dish, it's just student luxury items). I think we'll go to the Fitzwilliam Museum to see Lucien Freud's sketches and the regular collection, and maybe take a quick trip to Ely to poke around and see the Norman cathedral and get me out of Cambridge for a few hours.

Serious Academic Em.

I've decided to run for a department student office, namely that of Faculty Board Undergraduate Representative. This means I get to hang out with the uber-cool faculty and discuss the layout of the course with them, how exciting! I hope I get the seat - I'll know before Christmas break. I've had some really cool lectures recently, namely by Alan Macfarlane who is just simply one of the best professors I have ever had. Check out his website, linked above, especially if you're interested in anthropology at all. His site is really comprehensive and easy to understand, not to mention he has an entire TV series on his website (that he was featured on).

Now, some of my recent essay titles:

Social Anthropology: What are the aims of exchange in societies without a market economy? Compare and contrast with the aims of exchange in the modern market economy.

Interdisciplinary Paper: What is human about the human life cycle?

Biological Anthropology: Nature, not nurture, determines the form and functioning of individuals; argue for or against the validity of this statement.

Archaeology: Compare and contrast the initial appearance of anatomically modern humans (AMH) in Europe and Africa. In how far do these regions differ and what are the possible implications for how the emergence of AMH and ‘cultural modernity’ should be addressed?

Yes, very broad questions that one could normally write one's dissertation on. However, I write 2 to 3 essays a week, which gives me 2 to 3 days per essay to research and write a paper. Thus the intensity of life here. Also, for the coming summer, I dropped the Kenya Project - in fact, I didn't even go to my interview because I needed sleep more than a bike ride to the outer edges of Cambridge for something I didn't want to really do. However, I have decided for sure to try to get on an archaeological dig this summer, though I still have to decide geographically where, and historically when, which I'm perpetually putting off because that means I have to make an important decision about something I'm not really informed of.

Right, anyways, I will take more pictures of random Cambridge-ness over this weekend and post them next week. I've been too busy enjoying the sites for myself (read: being greedy and not wanting to share, so nah nah nah boo boo).

Until the next essay begs an unnecessary break,
-Emily.

"...and when I began a vegetable garden in a plot behind my house, I made the transition from palaeolithic to neolithic." - Alan Macfarlane

2004-11-10T08:53:00.000Z

"Beasts die
Kindred die
All men are mortal
But one thing that never dies
Is the glory of a great deed"
- Ancient Icelandic Proverb,
that I put above our kitchen sink,
where we do our dishes *ahem*

Weeks go by quickly in general, however this one's been a bit of a knob. This is week 5, infamous for the "week 5 blues" when people start missing home, feeling inadequate, being down in the dumps, oh and, did I mention feeling inadequate? The joys of freshers' week are long past, the exciting stress of fresh essays just gone, and now, bam, reality hits. Mine hit last week with the elections, as it did for the other Americans. It's weird, post-election, regardless of who would have won, I realized that that made me feel like an expat. It was in fact, the first time that instead of feeling like an American in England, I am an American expatriate. This was the impetus and reason entirely for my 5th week blues, which was a good realization. Everyone here was talking about how they miss home and can't wait to go home for the holidays. However, I don't feel that way at all. Sorry, I mean, no offense to anyone. I miss my parents and brother but I'd be just fine if they wanted to come here. And so I realized that my home now is my new life in England, and my family's home is nothing more than wherever my family is. Hmm mind you all, I am listening to soundtrack to Garden State...

Anyways, post my 5th week blues which occured in the 4th week, I've resumed to my giddy crazy state of happiness. Essays are getting back to their normal selves, lectures are wonderful. Term does go a little too quickly, but it's said around here that one's first term is just getting used to the system, and I think they're absolutely right. Yes, you do have to produce work, but it's mostly just sorting yourself out among the system. Tomorrow I have my first day as cox for the men's 1st novice teams. I sit in a boat yelling at them, doing such important things as steering (sic). But I have to get into shape because I'm deadweight for the boat, talk about inspiration! The patissieries of Cambridge shall know my face no more! Goodbye Nadia's, and Fitzbillies, and Trockel Ullmann! Hello Sainsbury's soups.

...Oh yeah, and today, I had three bowls of porridge (aka oatmeal). Let me just say, multi-vitamins are my nutrient life support. I must have real green vegetables soon, and some occasional protein wouldn't hurt either. It's amazing how poor our diets become. Alcohol has practically vanished (except for weekends) as it's just too expensive. We are on the cheap foods diet, which involves eating starches and grains - peanut butter, beans, bread, oats, granola, pasta, and rice are our key staples in our diets, along with oranges, apples, and bananas. Our colons are so pleased.

This week, I've applied to go on a program in Kenya that helps develop education programmes in tribal villages. It's pretty exciting stuff, right up the old Social Anthropology ally. However, I'm still somewhat more inclined to do work that's part of the department, so I'm working on that. It looks like if I do get in with the department, I'll be with Archaeology, which would be fabulous, or possibly funneled in with Oriental Studies, Classics, or the professional fieldwork team. Cool stuff, especially since archaeology keeps trying to draw me in. I think an excavation would be good because it would either make it or break it for me.

In Cambridge, it is cold and dark and tonight, rainy. Which is why I'll be buying another lamp for my room, so I don't develop seasonal depression. It will start getting dark around 3:30pm or so here very soon, which is not good as it causes my electricity charges to increase (as I sit here wrapped in a blanket, too pathetic/cheap to turn on my heater, too reminescent of "A Room of One's Own" - how *dare* i compare myself to Virginia Woolf, shame on me). But it's so beautiful, and it's still so exciting being out in the air with its newfound chill in the market where they have lights strung up to counter the premature darkness. And then I come home to my room and my wonderful floormates who make this place so warm and happy with conversation and tea. How lovely.

Eagerly searching for my camel hair brush while contemplating a love/hate relationship with my US passport,

-Emily.

Henges, Barrows and Megaliths, oh my!

2004-11-02T08:49:00.000Z

Wow, last weekend in West England, incredible! What did I see? What didn't I see is more like it! Danebury Hillfort, Avebury, dozens upon dozens of barrows and burial mounds, and not to mention, Stone-freaking-henge. *mylifeiscomplete* well, okay not quite...but still. Right, focus.

It's times like last weekend that make me really reconsider archaeology, or make me really want to work it into what I really want to do somehow, but I'm not really sure if I can do that yet. It was so exciting and exhilerating to be there, especially considering the people I was with. Dr. Chippindale, the world authority on Stonehenge was our group leader/escort. He was actually signing his own books in the gift shop - a tidbit surreal really.

I spoke with another professor quite a lot, asking a lot of questions chit-chatting away about functions and designs of the barrows and mounds and hillforts, and about Stonehenge (like different theories about how they got the Welsh bluestones there). So the other day post-trip, I was looking at the archaeology website and lo, there is this professor's name, so I click on it. Um, all y'all, this guy is Professor Graeme Barker, the Disney Professor of Archaeology and Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research here at Cambridge, which arguably makes him the Pope of Archaeology. No seriously, Disney Professor of Archaeology and Director of the McDonald Institute is one of the highest positions one can hold in the field of archaeology. When I found this out I was a little shocked, unnerved, and awestruck to say the least. Here I thought he was just another regular professor - Note to self: there are no "regular professors" in Cambridge, you daft girl.

So, back to work I went. Lots of essay writing has been had, which as much as I may begrudge, I do actually love. Well, I should clarify, I begrudge essay topics that need constant clarification since some of my supervisors don't know what they're trying to say and/or they want us to write on a fleeting and elusive thought that they once had. Welcome to academia. We still manage to have fun around here in P Staircase - our gatherings seem to be involving much less alcohol, with a coorelated increase in our coffee and tea consumption. Talk about civilized. Now, my main focus is trying to get on an expedition for the summer. I have a couple of options with various university groups, especially one in Kenya that's looking especially good, but I still want to get in with one of the departments here. I'm going to be checking out a couple of eastern European archaeology projects which look like a lot of fun and will give me the valuable insight and training I've been looking for, but we'll see.

Anyways, it's Halloween time in Cambridge. Well, yesterday was Halloween, today is All Saints Day, and at the end of the week on the 5th is Guy Fawkes Day which is very exciting. I think I'll attend evensong for All Saints Day, though I don't know which chapel I'll go to as yet. On Friday, I'll join the Spanish Inquisition (Cambridge's Monty Python Society) to find and burn a witch (for there are ways of telling if she is a witch, though I fear for the ducks on the River Cam or at Emmanuel College...) followed by fireworks on the Midsummer Commons. Also this week: I will find and conquer the gym! And, I will start coxing for the men's novice rowing team (which is all so very Cambridge, but mostly appealing to me in the sense that I think I will enjoy yelling at a boat full of men).

Until the next witch burns,

-Emily.

P.S. You all better get out there and vote! The people over here are in general not happy with results of the last four years. I'm sure the queen would have something to say about it as well. The leader of America is a direct reflection of Americans, and consequently, how we are by and large viewed by the rest of our world. Do not "misunderestimate" the power of the image of the president. I voted over a month ago, which involved a little more time and effort on my behalf. If I could manage voting out of the country, surely anyone registered to vote within their area of residence can manage too. Just remember: Every vote can and ultimately does count, so get out there!

Gyp Drips and Morality Clauses

2004-10-17T08:43:00.000+01:00

The poem above our perpetually dripping gyp room (a.k.a. kitchen) sink by Sarah, my floormate, the classicist…

Sing, O Muse, the sorrow of The dripping faucet,
Which, at the hands of Negligent tenants,
Droplet by droplet, released its Precious life-blood
To the fates of flush and flood.
Alas that such dripage Would not be so Needlessly lost!
Send upon these Lazing ladies,
these Loving and learning lasses,
the duty And discipline with All their strength
to TURN THE WATER OFF!

PRAISE FOR A SOCIALIST SYSTEM
I had my first experience with the NHS this past week. I had a really bad infection (cystitis) that was causing me a lot of pain (not too graphic here), and so I called up my doctor on Sunday night. Next thing I knew, I was at a clinic, and within an hour of calling my doctor, I had seen a doctor who started me on a round of antibiotics with a sample and a prescription. Oh yeah, and the prescription, that cost me about $10 (in the states, it cost $30) plus, visits are free. It was a very different experience from what I’m used to in America, but it was very positive.

MORALITY CLAUSE: It ends here. We had a tid-bit of a debauchery last night after being such good, well-behaved students the rest of the week… So, last night we went to formal hall (in full formal academic dress as is prescribed by the people who run formal hall). We had great, great fun. There was much occasion for celebration, and celebrate we did. If you looked down the table we were sitting at, you would have noticed that there was probably a bottle of wine for each person. Dinner was good, but sadly there were no fellows. This slight lack of formality lead to much pennying. Pennying is very Cambridge, especially since it says in the rule book “there shall be no games played in hall, especially pennying.” Which might as well read “We of Pembroke College dare you to be pennied”

Pennying means this: someone drops a penny into your drink. You have to then imbibe your drink as quickly as possible so as to not let the queen drown (because her picture is on the coins). I was not pennied, but a considerable number were. We then came back to our staircase, and apparently the whole of Pembroke apparently thought there was a party, though luckily this quickly dissipated. Classic conversations were had such as “Are you the way you are because of your personality or your culture?” “Which form of government would be most successful in Britain?” and of course, “Does this skirt make my bum look big?” Good times were had by all.

MORALITY CLAUSE: It resumes here. On Wednesday and today, I went to King’s College chapel, and tonight I went to Pembroke College chapel. I’m glad I’ve worked it into my schedule because it really does help me balance out my life as a student. Plus, there’s just nothing quite like the fear of god and high academia after a night of parties; it certainly puts the rest of the week into perspective. Also, I’m getting involved with some volunteering opportunities - firstly, at the Cambridge University Archaeology and Anthropology Museum to help with the artifacts catalogue. Also, I’ve contacted the Harambee Centre, which goes around to schools and teaches children about global issues and different cultures (perfect anthro fit).

I’m also looking to be a student representative on the faculty board for the archaeology and anthropology departments. Lastly, we’ve been advised to start talking with different fellows and grad students to get on various expeditions for summer vacation. This means I’m trying to find out where I want to go and what I want to do, and then find someone who will take me on. Next time, on Emily’s Weblog…Emily takes on the perpetually soaking wet annual Wessex Fieldtrip with the entire Archaeology Department! We will visit Stonehenge, Avebury, Devizies, and some poor youth hostel that will be inundated by too many overly anxious, nerdy students…

With lots of love, pennies, and make believing that we are all some strange brew of academic superheroes in our capes, er, gowns? -Emily.

pie iesu domine, dona eis requiem -slam book into head-

2004-10-10T08:38:00.000+01:00

This morning I attended the Matins service at Kings College Chapel. Yes, that's right. I willingly (and gladly!) attended church. And it was amazing. The chapel is absolutely huge, and the services are extremely traditional. First comes a person who is carrying a large silver cross on a wooden pole, followed by another person carrying a scepter, several high members of clergy and senior members of the college, and then the choristers. The choir is made up of men and boys. The boys are educated at Kings boarding school and the men are members of Kings College.

SUNDAY 10 OCTOBER - TRINITY XVIII
10.30 am MATINS
Hymn 149 (t.ii) Father, we praise thee, now the night is over
Responses Howells
Psalms 95 Goss 54 Battishill
Jubilate Britten in C
Te Deum Collegium Regale Howells
Anthem The Call (Herbert) Vaughan Williams
Hymn 238 New every morning is the love
Preacher The Revd Michael Bos Director of the Al Amana Centre in
Oman - an ecumenical study centre for Christian-Muslim relations.

The responses, te deum, anthems, and other recitations are all sung or chanted, sometimes in church latin. There was of course, much standing and sitting along with kneeling and crossing of oneself. I might add that the preacher was excellent; very refreshing. He basically said that some people will not commune with people from other faiths because they are not "heaven-bound." He then went on to state that anyone with this view isn't actually giving God enough credit. Followers of Christianity, he said, needed to meet with people of other religions in order to find common ground and strengthen humanity instead of being so self-involved. This of course differed greatly from the "who's going to hell" youth groups that I had become jaded by back in central PA. I wanted to just stand up and yell "YEAH! Now *that's* what I'm talkin' 'bout!" however, that would have been inappropriate.
Score one for me and my ability to contain myself.

Anyways, I'm so glad I went. I got to sit in one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and listen to some of the best sacred choral music for an hour for free. Does it get any better than this? Yeah, in that I'm planning on going at least once a week now. It's very calming and meditative. Tonight I think I'm going to go to my college's Chapel for Evensong. It's the Fresher's Sermon and we also have to wear full formal academic dress, so it should be quite good. Plus, my tutor is the Dean and he's delivering the sermon. Now for some pictures of where I was/will be, but these are buildings that I walk by everyday (yey!)

With a few giggles at the word "Eucharist,"
-Emily.

Kings College Chapel

Pembroke College Chapel Exterior (My College)

Pembroke College Chapel Interior (My College)

"It's like Harry Potter except with drunken Karaoke"

2004-10-06T14:30:00.000+01:00

Wow. So I'm in Cambridge now and have been for one full week, which is still so hard to believe. So many things to write about, too many actually. Sadly there are no pictures as they’re still working on getting our personal computers set up. I spent the first several days just trying to get set up which proved a bit challenging considering formalities like bank accounts, which I’m still working on.

I’ve met my Tutor, who looks after my personal needs and college life, and my Director of Studies (DoS), who looks after my academic needs. My tutor is the Dean of the College (aka the head of our chapel) and he’s really cool. My DoS is amazing; she’s a young energetic Italian specializing in Social Anthropology (right up my alley). I start my first supervision in about two and a half hours. These are where a very small group of us get together with a professor or a grad student to go over work and review concepts.

Right so that’s all of the silly formal stuff, now on to the fun things. FRESHER’S WEEK… Is fundamentally insane. I have since learned that Cambridge is not only the number one university in the UK for academics but also for drinking (possible coorelation?) and this week I understand how and why. The sheer amount of alcohol that is imbibed is nothing short of impressive and often disgusting. Sunday night we went out for drinks and clubbing (where I danced alongside a Sikh) with our “family” (older undergrads that “help” us out), Monday night was the pub crawl (which I didn’t attend due to costs and not wanting dirty words written on my face) and Tuesday was Matriculation.

MATRICULATION...Is like whoa. We wore our gowns (pictures to come soon) for the better part of the day and night. We had to be very formal in our suits and gowns, go to the old library to sign a large old book with our full names, which means that we are all now full members of the college and university. On to pictures and meetings, such as meeting with the Tutor for pre-dinner drinks, which takes me up to Matriculation Dinner. Here’s the scene: long dinner hall with oak paneling, massive tables and benches. The walls have many rather formidable portraits of our former Masters (from 1347 to present).

Each setting has copious amounts of cutlery and glasses. The college’s silver candelabras are set out and the candles lit. We arrive in full formal wear which means wearing large gowns with long puffy sleeves that make us all have the motor skills of a 3 year-old who’s trying to be on his best behavior. We sit and wait until a gong is sounded at which we hurriedly rise. A prayer is said in Latin, we respond “amen,” and then sit again. When the gong is sounded we stand, which as the evening progresses gets tougher due to the alcohol. On our menu as far as drinks were concerned were at least one of each of the following: Chardonnay, some sort of red wine, claret, port, and coffee. Mind you, the claret and the port went around many, many times. Considering the pre-dinner drinks, everyone had at least 5 units of alcohol, though most had much more than that (see above for “impressive and often disgusting”). More things were said in Latin, and our Master (who is the former head of the MI6, Britain’s version of the CIA) clarified in his speech to us that No, the new gardeners are not his personal bodyguards or spies. We then left the Hall for a night of Karaoke in the Junior Parlor Bar, most of us still in our full formal wear, and surely many of whom woke up this morning finding themselves still in it.

Today, I have registered with my department and libraries which are so beautiful and massive they brought a tear to my eye. Tomorrow, lectures start, and in two weeks, I’m off on an archaeology field trip to the Wessex area (including Stonehenge). The overview: I’ve already met some amazing people from such diverse backgrounds – religion, race, wealth, educational background, country of origin, the list goes on. Take my floor-mates: of the four girls (including myself) there are two Americans, one English and one Scottish. Two attended prep schools, one of which was a boarding school. We are reading Archaeology and Anthropology, Classics, English, and Land Economy. And yet we all get along famously and are actually quite similar in many other ways, such as our interests.

Now this sounds really pompous and rah-rah, but I had the most amazing feeling while standing waiting for our class matriculation photo to be taken. I looked around and realized with assurance that these people, my peers, these nervous freshman I was standing among, will change the world. This isn’t just far-out hippie idealism either; this is real. These are people who in the future will be in positions of great power and knowledge for good and bad, better or worse. This is where the pompousness ends because in knowing this comes a huge sense of humility and responsibility, and maybe more importantly, respect for everyone and everything here.

Until the next gong sounds,
-Emily.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Nah.

2004-09-27T22:20:00.000+01:00

Well, a temporary element of repetition has set in. I’ve been sitting around reading, doing some work on the computer, and running errands. It really is incredible how time consuming menial tasks can be, such as feeding oneself, which requires the production of food, meaning grocery shopping and acquisition of funding; talk about resources! However, this has made me incredibly appreciative of living in dorm rooms instead of on my own like Gareth and his flat mates are. I really can’t wait to get settled in at Cambridge so I can start eating normally and healthily again.

Here among college boys, the challenge is to stretch pounds and pence as far as possible. Beans and toast is the norm among college students here as you can get a few cans of beans (like Heinz baked beans) for about £1.50 ($3) and a bag of bread for 50p ($1). This will last about a week, plus one day of Pizza Hut’s All-You-Can-Eat lunch buffet (which strangely enough, as any student will tell you, does not seem to have a clause against taking “leftovers” home). In the grocery stores here there is an abundance of health food, including lots of organic and non-GMO stuff and occasionally it doesn’t cost much more than the regular options (I have yet to see organic beans for beans and toast, no wonder.)

And now...Lessons From A Socialist System: In the UK, you pay 17.5% tax on just about everything you purchase. This is called a value added tax, the exceptions are few, and if it is an exception, chances are it’s because it has a different (read: higher) tax rate. However, the nice thing about the British system is, the price that is on the tag is the actual price. If a shirt costs £10 according to the tag, you pay exactly that at the cash register, none of the “plus tax” silliness. That’s the plus side.

Anyways, this weekend we went back to Middlesbrough to stay with Gareth’s mum. On Saturday Gareth went to Durham to play field hockey, which by the way, is a men’s sport in the rest of the world. We had a really good time with lovely home cooked, traditional meals (mmm, lamb with mint sauce) and lots of tea of course. On the ride back to Scarborough, we took a really nice coach bus through the moors. We traveled at night in what seemed like total darkness except for the full moon, which seemed to have no effect. That is, until we caught first glance of the North Sea which looked like silver velvet. Looking out on the moors, one could only see darkness and the still-darker shadows of hills. Of course, let me not forget the occasional sheep. Anyways, it was an absolutely beautiful ride home.

This Wednesday, Gareth, his granddad and myself are going to Cambridge to move me in (finally!) I’m repacking my things and getting really excited and anxious. I’ve been communicating with the head of the JPC (that’s junior parlour committee) who’s assured me that I won’t be the only one there (as the majority of people arrive on Sunday). It’s nice though because I can really get myself sorted, not to mention attending international student orientation on Friday. Then it’s on to Fresher’s Week, which should be interesting.

Well, I don’t know when I’ll next have my own internet access, though I know I can get access at the local McDonalds for £1, greasy keyboard and all! So this is adieu until Cambridge! Harry Potter-style robes and medieval traditions (complete with quill pens, ink pots and getting told in Latin for matriculation), here I come!

With lots of laughs from me to the Rasta-stylin’ sheep,
-Emily.

Roseberry Topping, a beautiful hill along the road from Middlesbrough to Scarborough.

Sheep in the road. See? I wasn't joking!

This is the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough. It's supposedly world famous and practically a symbol for the town, go figure.

Greetings From Across the Big Blue Wet Thing!

2004-09-20T15:43:00.000+01:00

Wow, I have been crazy busy, so I’m just going to do a day-by-day blow-by-blow here.

Thursday the 16th: Arrived in Manchester, picked up by Gareth (the boyfriend) and his dad. Drove straight to Scarborough (of famed Simon and Garfunkel crooning, yes there is a fair) so Gareth could register at university and attend his first lecture. I met his housemates - Craig, Rob and Wiggy, who are all lovely. Dealt with my cell phone, which is now uber cool and is used very practically and non-fiendishly.

Friday the 17th: Tralomped about Scarborough town centre taking care of business, and then in the afternoon went for a casual non-errand walk around Scarborough. Went to Scarborough Castle and down to St. Mary’s where Anne Bronte is buried, which is a very tiring walk as it was mostly uphill but amazingly beautiful both in scenery and history. St. Mary’s was actually originally a post to defend York, but they were defeated by the armies of Harald Hardraada in 1066 (yes, it’s that old) which changed the course of English history by allowing William the Conqueror to invade from the South. Anyways, later that night we went to the Scarborough Jazz Festival which was awesome. The first two bands were very standard, first was like the Buena Vista Social Club, second was like Diana Krall, so just, good nice nothing out of the ordinary jazz. Third was the wow band. Dennis Rollins’ Badbone & Co. (CD is called “Make Your Move” buy it!) Dennis Rollins, the leader of the band, plays trombone like whoa. He is playing while dancing and jumping around, it really is a sight to see. His music is very new age/acid/smooth jazz, real easy to listen to.

Saturday the 18th: Had my first real English Breakfast (mega yummy) at this cool café called The Cats Whiskers with communal tables, nice waitresses, and Lavazza coffees. Later, Gareth and I took the bus and train via the Moors and Whitby to Middlesbrough to see his Mum. That bus ride literally takes my breath away – the heather covered moors, free range sheep who think the middle of the road is the best place to graze, and the random Anglo-Saxon burial mound (which will be researched and poked at!). Whitby is as beautiful as ever, and no words can describe it. A long train ride later left us a short walk away to Gareth’s mum’s home. There awaiting us was some hot chocolate and a lovely dinner.

Sunday the 19th: We were dropped off at Redcar where Gareth’s grandparents live to have Sunday dinner at a restaurant out in the Moors. I had the traditional Yorkshire fare – roast beef in gravy with Yorkshire puddings, mashed potato, roasted potato, carrots, cauliflower, and peas. This was then finished off with treacle tart in cream which can only be described as a custard tart with golden gooey stuff *everywhere* in whipping cream that has yet to be whipped. I want to meet someone who can polish off one of these things in one sitting, not to mention after a Sunday dinner! We then went back to the grandparents’ house to visit with Gareth’s dad and step-mom, who kept popping in and out as they were in the area to look for homes. His grandparents then took us back to Scarborough. Later that night, I attended my first pub quiz, and our team, the Double Bacon Cheeseburgers, did pretty well. We finished 4th, but we needed at least 3rd to win tokens for pints at the pub. See, in England, worthless knowledge is worth at least a pint, and often some money! After the pub quiz, I had my first British doner kebab (American translation: Gyro) but these are usually eaten after one has drunk too much and I was staggeringly sober. The British think these are good to help hangovers, but I think they’re just tasty which everyone else seemed to find curious.

Monday and Tuesday, the 20th and 21st: Opened up a bank account at HSBC sort of, we’ll see how this goes. Kept running errands around Scarborough town centre, boring blah. Taking care of myself and getting set up seems to be the occupation of my time at the moment. Also, watching dumb game shows is topping the list. Example of one today called Memory Bank: on the TV is a lady and a fill-in-the-blank with the letters “KNG RTHR.” Lady says, “This legendary character sat round the round table with knights during the days of chivalry. If you can guess who this is by filling in the missing vowels, call *number*” a few minutes later “We’re going to give you a hint by showing you where the vowels are.” On the screen: K_NG _RTH_R. Later, “okay, one last hint and then we’ll take our callers.” K_NG ARTH_R. I’m serious here. This is part of a game show. And if you get it right, you get £500 which is like $750! It’s really almost embarrassing. Anyways, this is the first night I’ve had internet access and boy does it feel good. Sorry this email is so long, but I’ve really been busy and had far too much fun!

Curry Count: 4 or 5 as of tonight. I think my veins are starting to turn yellow with curry. Alcohol Count: 3 – that’s two glasses of wine with dinner on separate nights and one half pint of lager and lime for Sunday Dinner. I’ve realized I’m a lightweight and really cheap, which is good as far as my health/weight/wallet is concerned.

Hope everyone is doing well! Email me!
With ripped calves from all of the walking,-Emily.

Top: Whitby, a quaint fishing village on the north-east coast. Seen is the back end of the shambles and on the hill, the church and the ruins of Whitby Abbey.
Bottom: The view from Gareth's front door, an average town view.

Let's Get It Started

2004-09-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

Hello Everyone!

Okay, so I'm ten days off from leavin on a jet plane here. In some sort of attempt at preparation, I'm mass emailing everyone who I thought had requested to be on my newsletter list. If you did not ask to be a part of this, you're probably wondering if I was delusional. Your answer is inevitably a resounding yes. So, should you have suffered the consequences of my delusions, you are more than welcome to say the following:"Em, please take me off your newsletter list" Yes, by the way, there is a list, and you are, at the moment, on it.

If you think for some strange reason, someone else would like to be on this mail list, let me or them know. For those of you who are followers, my xanga will become defunct once i start doing my newsletters regularly. I'm sure that will encourage so many more of you to stay on my newsletters. Yeah, right, just like a bbq apron with an emblem from a three tenors performance is actually what encourages people to give money to PBS. Anywho, do or do not, it matters not to me unless it matters to you.

I, Emily Rutter, am not responsible for the following:

1) Poor grammar/spelling/typos. This is a very informal newsletter and if you find yourself bothered by such petty issues, unsubscribe at once.

2) Bad Monty Python references. Most probable when the author has been up far too late past her bedtime for too many consecutive nights.

3) An almost fanatical devotion to anthropology (Note: see point #2 and understand that it is now 1:45 a.m.; Monty Python fans, if you didn't get that, you're not a fan, so stop calling yourselves thusly.) No seriously. There's a good chance I will be caught up in a passionate affair with my studies, however I'll attempt to keep the praise and infatuation to a minimum.

4) Actually, bad humor in general, especially when I'm tired.

5) Perpeptual adoration of the University of Cambridge, the town of Cambridge, England, Europe, and so forth, though I will try to keep this at a minimum.

6) Exceptionally long, pointless emails. No one is forcing you to read these. You could always save them for a rainy day (or hurricane week where applicable). Also, you can delete them. No harm done, promise.

6) Repetition.

7) I'm sure there are other things, but I really can't think, and I do believe I fell asleep for a bit there.

Now, I am responsible for things that may offend you. I apologize in advance, but do wish to remind you that email is going out en masse to friends, family, mentors, and some random people. Remember that I am 19, I am going to make mistakes and worse, opinions; loads actually. Finally, feel free to email me at any time. If you have the time to write it, I will make the time to read it (within reason mind you. if it's too lengthy at worst, i'll save it until after term ends to read it, promise.) Topics are welcome to run the gamut, I'm fair game if you are. I hope this email has found you all well.

With a new found stiff upper lip that apparently came with the entry visa,
-Emily