More Medievalisms Travel, and A Smattering of Random News

Today I went to the Lake District with my class. It rained. I stared out the bus window, mouth agape, in shock at how wildly beautiful it was. If you ever need to understand the picturesque and the sublime, the Lake District is the place - obviously, that's where a lot of the writers on the picturesque and the sublime got their inspiration.
We went to the most beautiful house, too - an Arts and Crafts masterpiece. Also jaw-droppingly nice. It was all carved wood panelling (done largely in rowan berry and leaf motifs - which made it even better, considering my personal attachment to that plant), simple stained glass, and window seats and Inglenook fireplaces, which I am wildly in love with. Always have been. If I could make my own house, it would be small and furnished almost exclusively with built-in furniture - window seats and Inglenooks, dining table with a banquette, beds set into walls, and book shelves book shelves bookshelves.
Also today, the only church designed by one of the great Arts and Crafts architects, full to the brim with Morris & Co. stained glass designed by Edward Burne-Jones. Impressive, to say the least. And so gorgeous. I love Burne-Jones with a wildly colourful, flowery, mannerist passion. Oh, and one of the angels in the main east window looked quite a lot like Evan, a friend of mine from Wesleyan. Which was strange.
The day ended with us all stood on the edge of Lake Windermere, being dripped on by trees and stared at by swans, drinking wine from plastic cups. It was a nice way to end the class, and it was our last real meeting. Which is too bad in some ways, but good in others. I was getting really, really tired of Gothic revival churches (which was a great thing about today - only one Gothic Revival thing, the rest was Arts and Crafts!), and spending so many hours in the bus with a small group of people was really starting to grate on my nerves.

It was a 7am departure again this morning. I'm tired, but not sleepy - maybe because I just had a huge cup of tea. I've been watching Michael Palin tour about Eastern Europe, and a book quiz which made me feel both intellectual and not well-read. I'll miss being able to watch BBC programs on demand.

I did well on my exam last term, I've found out - so that's nice! Hopefully I can get down to work on my paper for this term and do well again.

Hm. Time to turn on something instrumental and get under the covers with my book on William Morris and garden design. It all sounds rather pleasant, which is good, because it's work for my paper.


(largely copied from my livejournal)

June Beauty

As of today, I am officially no longer apologizing for failing to update this thing. But rejoice! For here I am. Writing!


I had the most ridiculously nice afternoon today. One of those ones I'll remember ages from now when I look back at my time here in York, I think.

There was nothing exceptional about today - it just all lined up so nicely.
I headed into town this afternoon with a few things to do, a craving for iced coffee, and a greyish cloud threatening me. The threats were empty, though, because the weather remained gorgeous - perfect to walk in jeans and a tank top, or to sit with my favourite canvas jacket on. A bit breezy, but not blustery - enough to break up the slightly stifling humidity.
I went first to King's Manor, which is an extension of the University of York campus located in a very old (medieval to 19th century) complex of buildings near the city art gallery, the Yorkshire Museum and it gardens and ruined abbey, and the Minster. There I did a bit of research for my upcoming final paper, and was pleased to find enough material to do my chosen subject - material that also will likely pertain to my senior thesis, which I'm already working on a bit. So that was perfect. And I sat in the ancient, wood-beamed high-ceilinged room and looked at books about gardens, and felt the breeze from the open window, and that was all just very nice.
After checking out three books for my research I went and got an iced latte thing at a coffee shop in town (I've been craving iced coffee as a result of it being relatively warm and very humid these last few days). I also got a muffin, and just sat about, reading Alice in Wonderland and enjoying my refreshments.
After this, it was time for a spot of shopping - something I've been avoiding, but the craving for new summer dresses has proved too strong. I went to H&M, and got no dresses (though I saw several I'm considering going back for), but I did pick up two tops (I got lucky on the sale rack), and a new bag to use this summer and for school next year, as my current bag is falling apart. It averaged to about 5 pounds an item - which is an incredible haul.
I walked back along the river, which is a new route Tom showed me recently. There's a greenway-type walk that runs down to Fulford, which is the town between the university and the river, and it's just as fast as going on the roads, but much, much nicer. I ended up sitting along the river, reading Alice and watching the water (which was blue, it was reflecting the sky so well) and the occasional boat of rowers go by. The sun was out, but it wasn't too hot - basically, it was just incredibly pleasant. I finished Alice, then walked back, a route that takes me along two roads of very cute British residential streets - one with terrace houses, one with semi-detached houses, and both with a beautiful collection of little front gardens. Everything is in bloom now - roses, irises, snapdragons, impatiens. I came across a huge white peony - it smelled absolutely wonderful. A cat made friends with me, too! And after the residential streets comes the allotments - a big community garden set-up where people rent fairly large rectangles of land and grow veggies and some flowers - stuff they can't fit in the smaller front and back gardens of the houses here. Then across the big field full of buttercups, with cow off in the distance, and I was back on campus, feeling ecstatically pleasant.
I'm ready to go back to the US, and to North Carolina, but I'll miss stuff like this afternoon. June is different here, but it's just as beautiful.

Travels in Yorkshire

Still behind, as usual.
The new term is in full swing now - reading, presentations, and (most exciting) study trips. The first two trips are York-based - I'm headed to the Minster this afternoon to look at the different Gothic styles contained therein - but starting next week, we'll be traipsing all over England to look at examples of the 19th-century Medieval revival.

I've been on one Outdoors Society walk, the weekend before last, from Bolton Abbey to Embsay. It was nice - I've been on enough walks now that I know a lot of the people, and it was a very friendly walk, a lot of chatting and laughing. It did rain the whole time, and Tom and I got epically splashed by a car while walking along a road (one of those moments you think could only happen in a movie), but the pub was nice, and we rode a steam train back to Bolton Abbey - which was pretty cool, but it was so jerky and smoky that I got a headache.

This past weekend it was a Bank Holiday, meaning those who work generally got the day off on Monday. To celebrate the day off, I piled in a car with my boyfriend Patrick and his housemates, and we headed to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal - which is a ruined Cistercian abbey set in an 18th-century water garden. It was stunning. The fields on the way were full of blooming, sweet-smelling mustard, and it was overcast but warm - such a nice day. The grounds of the Abbey were crawling in families, people of all ages out enjoying the day - little half-clothed kids rolling down grassy hills, etc. We had a picnic near the abbey then strolled, taking in the daisy-flowered lawns and blooming late-spring plants, and the gorgeous water gardens... Really, we didn't have enough time, we only saw about half the grounds, but it was plenty. And there were bluebells - including a little patch of that extremely British sight, the bluebell wood. Very nice. (Photos will be posted soon.)

I've Been Doing a Little Travelling...

So it has been ages since I updated here. It's in between spring and summer terms here, and in the ensuing holiday I have been to Switzerland, Rome, various places around York, and the Cotswolds. I've seen my parents - my dad and Michelle in Rome, my mom here in the UK. It's been good.

I left for Switzerland March 18th - a little more than a month ago. I spent the first night in Basel, then was on the train in the morning for Lucerne. I spent two nights in Lucerne, then headed for Grindelwald, where I spent one night. My last two nights I spent in Interlaken, and then I was on the train for Rome.
Lucerne was wonderful - my favourite place on the trip. The city was beautiful, very old and interesting and set on a lake and river of a rather surprisingly blue colour (I kept expecting to see sea turtles, because the colour reminded me of Hawai'i). The scenery was nice, when it wasn't snowing or cloudy (though the snow was also nice).
My first night there I took a walk in the evening and suddenly all the church bells in the city were ringing, off in the distance - it was one of the most beautiful moments of the trip.

It took a bit of adjustment at first, but I really enjoyed travelling on my own, having adventures and seeing things on my own terms, at my own pace... I like travelling with other people, too, it lets you be social, but it was nice to get away on my own, and, in a way, to prove to myself that I could do it - even in a country where I didn't speak the language. (I was very thankful that French is one of the official languages of Switzerland, especially when it came time to cook for myself, because the food generally wasn't labelled in English, and I'm useless when it comes to German.)

Grindelwald was pretty nice - and very pretty! When I got there it was dumping snow, which was nice enough, but sort of disappointing, because I'd gone there specifically to see the Alps, and maybe do some walking. The walk to and from the hostel ended up being enough for me, though - it was up the hill from town, and what a hill it was. Especially in the snow.
In the morning I woke up and was greeted by a window full of Alp - absolutely stunning. I sprang out of bed (wrapped in my duvet - it was cold!) and sat by the window, just looking at the snow-laden landscape and the mountains across the valley.
I spent the morning just wandering the town - but it was over-nice for me, really. A resort town, and full of skiers, because it was that season. I'd like to go back in the summer, sometime, and walk there - there's glaciers within a fairly short day hike of the town.

That afternoon I headed back down the valley to Interlaken, my final destination in Switzerland.
The town wasn't that great, really. I'm not sure what crowd it caters to, but I was pretty bored. I spent a lot of time wandering in and out of tourist shops (same in Grindelwald, really) and looking at the scenery (not as impressive as Lucerne or Grindelwald, but still deliciously Alpine), and feeling cold. It didn't snow quite as much as in Grindelwald, but the wind was really cold.
Also, Interlaken has the very dubious honour of being the only place outside the US where I have ever seen a Hooters restaurant. It was right next door to the grand 19th century hotel, just for contrast.

The hostels across Switzerland were really good. My first night in Lucerne I had a four-person dorm to myself, which was pretty sweet, but otherwise I was sharing rooms. The only place that was really a problem was in Interlaken, where there were 5 other people in my room and it could be a bit distracting when I was trying to sleep. All the hostels were well cared-for and comfortable (the beds always had duvets!). Other than in Grindelwald the hostels had kitchens, so I cooked for myself the whole trip, which was nice.


From Switzerland it was on to an interminable train ride and then, finally, Rome. My arrival was anticlimactic - it was raining and chilly and dark out and I got lost on the way to the hotel, which was only about three blocks from the train station - but it all worked out, and I settled into a very nice room - with high ceilings, huge windows facing the street, and a chandelier - in an 1870s hotel near the opera. My dad and Michelle arrived the next morning (the 25th), and stayed through the 31st. We did all the big stuff - Forum, Colosseum, Vatican... walked a lot, saw a lot of opulence and a lot of nice art, both Roman and Renaissance / Baroque. We also ate. And ate and ate.
And I might update more on that later, but for now... this is a long entry, I'm hungry, and I should really get back to revising for my exam next week.

Pictures from Switzerland and Rome are up, but not captioned, here.

Pictures From London

We paid a visit to Platform 9 3/4 while at King's Cross, where our train came in.


Sir John Soane's Museum


Hyde Park


Tower Bridge from below.

The rest are here.
Some very blurry, but bright-coloured photos from the concert are here.

Happy Leap Day, and Talk of London

London last weekend was really good.
The two other times I was there I reserved my judgement, knowing that I had not been there long enough to really know if I liked it or not, but it's now official - I like London. It's short (a big advantage, in my opinion - the towering buildings of some cities make me very uncomfortable), it's pretty, it's full of history and cool things. And really good museums.

I was lucky on this trip, because my study abroad program paid for both dinners, one brunch, and my lodging - as well as my train ticket. Considering how expensive London is, that was very good.

On Friday the highlight (after an afternoon spent riding in the entrance / between-cars vestibule of the train) was definitely going to see The Shockwaves NME Awards Tour at the Carling Academy down in Brixton (in south London). Tom and I went, along with another American named Cambria who has just returned to York for another term after having been here last year.
We missed the first band, The Ting Tings, but we got there right before Does it Offend You, Yeah? started. They won my awards for Best Punctuation, and Most Direct Song of the Night ("Let's Make Out," of which the main lyrics are, yes, "let's make out!").
After DiOY,Y? Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong came on. They were the band I was most excited about hearing. They're brand new - no album out or anything. But their songs are already getting a decent amount of play, and their lead singer is Joe Van Moyland / Joe Beaumont / Joe Lean, an actor I like. They were my favourite of the night - so terribly British, clever and angular (music and looks), with Joe Lean doing his awkward pointy dancing... it was great. They weren't perfect, some of their songs were lackluster, but it was generally a really good showing. The crowd wasn't so enthused, but that's their loss. To stick with this award theme - they win My Favourite, Best Dancing, and Best Banter.
The headliners of the night were The Cribs, who were, in Tom's words, "decent." I was surprised how many of their songs I knew - they've crept into my consciousness without me being fully aware of it. The highlight of their set was definitely the fact that Johnny Marr, guitarist of The Smiths and indie god, came out and played the last few songs with them, including a Smiths cover. That was terribly exciting. They win... Most Direct Single Lyric ("I'd rather cut off my own arms then see you go out with him"), Best Guest, and Most Shoes I've Ever Seen Thrown at One Stage.

I really enjoyed the music, and just being at a British indie gig - something I've wanted to do for years. And I liked how well put on the show was - no too-large gaps between sets, and it was all over by 11pm - plenty of time to catch the Tube back to the hotel.


On Saturday I went to Sir John Soane's Museum with Tom. I've been wanting to go there for ages, and it lived up to every expectation. The place is jammed full of the extensive collections of one of the great Classical Revival architects, and it has hardly been changed since he died - meaning it really gives a feel for an early 19th century home, and for the ways in which collectors used to address and present their collections. And, of course, it's just terribly eccentric, all these odd pieces of house stuck together, with tons of windows and mirrors and sky lights, strange little objects everywhere, no labels on anything, a random skeleton staring out at you from a box in a room in the basement. I loved it, and spent absolute ages there.
After that, I had a ramble in Hyde Park before meeting some of the other American York girls for lunch and a spot of shopping in an overwhelmingly crowded and cheap clothing store. I picked up a new top and a wonderfully sparkly, star-covered necklace.

That night the study abroad program had a river cruise dinner and dance for us. It was great - the food was good and I loved seeing the city at night from the water. We went all the way down to Greenwich and the Thames Barrier - which I was terribly excited to see, though no one else really cared. I've wanted to see it for years. We also saw the tallest building in the UK, at Canary Wharf, an odd business development that really looks like someone build a mid-size American city (maybe a slightly scaled-down Charlotte) on the banks of the Thames. You completely forget it's London.
In Greenwich we saw the terribly ugly Millennium Dome / O2, but, more importantly, we saw the remarkably strong green laser that is projected from the Royal Observatory to mark the exact line of the Prime Meridian - which is pretty freaking cool, if you ask me. tom got some good shots of it, you can see one here.


Sunday we had a very good all-you-can-eat brunch, then Tom and I set off for the National Portrait Gallery. It was quite cool - they own a lot of very famous paintings, especially in their Tudor galleries - almost every famous portrait from that era hangs in maybe two galleries at the museum. And you can also trace some of the evolution of artistic style through only that one type of painting, so it's interesting for my art historical brain.

To finish up our weekend, Tom and I did a bit of music shopping, and I picked up Bishi and Leafcutter John, two artists I've been wanting albums by, so that was good.
On the train back we actually got seats, so that was really nice. Tom took some really cool pictures on the ride, featuring reflections and long exposures -you can see them here. Meanwhile, I listen to Leafcutter John and read a book I finally bought on an impulse after wanting to read it for a while - The Book Thief. I'm so glad I picked it up, it's stunningly good. Markus Zusak's turns of phrase are brilliant.

Since London I've really just been relaxing. I've been sick, so it's good to get some rest.

Two Weeks... Oops

So, brief highlights post of the last two weeks.

The walk two Sundays ago was quite nice. We started at the top of Sutton Bank, a very steep drop-off from the hills that makes up most of the North Yorkshire Moors. We then walked down by the Kilburn White Horse, a chalk horse on the hillside, while small planes pulling gliders took off above us. Then there was trees, mud, some really pretty horses, and a lot of walking through fields and young forests. There was a stunning patch of snowdrops and a really pretty little lake with a sandy bottom that had ripples in it - it looked like an underwater zen garden.
We had lunch at a pub in Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, which apparently (according to Wikipedia) is the longest place name of anywhere in England. whilst waiting for out food I was messing with my camera, and I pressed what was apparently a very incorrect button, and lost all my photos. Oops. Luckily, on our walk back we did a good bit of backtracking, so I managed to re-take some of my photos (see my web album).

The next big event was the Jorvik Viking Festival - a week-long celebration of York's Viking ad Anglo-Saxon heritage. It was great. And I have more to say about it, but I also really, really want to go eat breakfast and get ready to leave for London for the weekend - so for now, check out the photos in the above-linked album.

Still Catching Up

I'm still behind on updates!

This past week I finished my first British essay, then spent my whole Sunday out on the moors, getting cold and damp and so, so muddy and having a wonderful time of it. York's Outdoor Society leads hikes (simply called walks here) every Sunday to beautiful hiking places in the area - of which there are quite a few, as we're just south of North Yorkshire Moors National Park and not that far from Yorkshire Dales National Park.

This hike was at Goathland in the North Yorkshire Moors - a stunningly pretty place, all told, with big moors on top of the hills and green valleys below, beautiful forests, a raging river, old stone buildings and bridges, lots and lots of mud, and sheep wandering everywhere; everything the English countryside is meant to be, really.
And, this being England, if you take the medium walk (one short walk in the morning, one in the afternoon - maybe 6 miles all told), you spend a long lunch break in a pub in the nearest village, eating hearty food and "puddings" (dessert), drinking tea or lager, and sitting as close as possible to the radiator in hopes of drying off a bit before you set off again.
You can, of course, see many photos of this adventure here.

Other than that, it has been a fairly chill week. Last night Tom and I went to Evensong at the Minster, which was really nice. I think I'm going to be going a lot, actually. It's close, it's pretty music, it's in a ridiculously, overwhelmingly beautiful place, and it's free. All good things.

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras - which is mostly known as Pancake Day here. Some Americans might recognize the concept - we used to have Shrove Tuesday pancake dinners at church when I was a kid. These pancakes were quite different, more like what Americans would call crepes. A few Brits invited some of we Americans to come have made-from-scratch pancakes in a dorm kitchen, so Tom and Anna and Becky and I filled up on so much jam and Nutella and chocolate and syrup and... well, there were pancakes in there somewhere, too. That was nice.

Tonight is a huge pub-crawl type event in town (one of the big annual social events at York), Sunday I'm going for another walk, and next week is the Jorvik Viking Festival, so I've got a full calender lined up. Should be great!

Also : Spring is coming, to a certain extent. There are snowdrops and crocuses (including some of a stunning light purple colour that looks like it is glowing) popping up all over campus, and I saw forsythia in bloom in someone's garden. It's odd, that, what with it being February, but I guess it never really gets that cold here - although we did see snow on the walk last weekend, leftovers from a big storm they had earlier that week.

Far too much to write about

I've just finished the first draft of my first York essay... which isn't for a grade, which is both different, and relieving.

It has obviously been far too long since I've updated here. I was away last weekend, so... it just didn't happen. And I have far too much to write about, so I can't do it now. I need to go to bed then get up early and finish my essay.
But last night I did make a list of things I mean to write about, so consider this both a mini-update and a teaser until I get a chance to do a real one... or several of them.

- Going into York every day but one last week, and twice on one day (and you wonder why I didn't blog!). Open mic, the most amazing moon, pub-going, trying to club.
- Betty's Tea Room, and what made me say "This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!"
- Family visit last weekend! Art! Family! Food food food! The Anglican church! The fanciest pub... ever!
- York Minster. Upstairs, downstairs, all over.
- Bird activity: duck mating, swans.

I took 160 pictures in the Minster, but a lot of those were duplicates. I've just uploaded about 85 of them to my Picasa. The space is remarkably beautiful - the pictures are worth a look, I hope.
I've also upload photos of fish, my endless Doctor Who dorkiness, a nicely-placed rainbow, and my host family. Hooray!

Gosh, has it really been a week?

I've been a bad little blogger.

This week was good. Quite long. I had my first classes - one session on Monday, one on Wednesday. Yes, that's right - I'm only in class four hours a week, and my weekend is 4 days long. It's... interesting. A bit of a change. But it means that I actually have time to get all my reading done, as well as having a life and goofing off a great deal - which is completely exceptional for me.

So what were the highlights of my week, you ask?
Well, class has been quite good. It is seminar-style, meaning we all talk, instead of just listening to a lecture. It is therefore relatively familiar to me, and I've already been speaking in class a great deal, and feeling like I have pretty much got a handle on what is going on. I am already learning a lot - the material (about London and York in the 18th and 19th centuries - the structure and architecture of the cities, the way they were depicted, etc.) is very engaging and is unlike anything I've studied before.

The other highlight of the week was probably training at the radio station. It only took an hour (as compared to WESU's many hours over several weeks), but exposed me to a great deal of new concepts. URY (University Radio York) has less of a broadcast range than WESU, and is pretty much a student station, but it has a great pedigree, as it is the oldest legal independent (non-BBC) radio station in the UK. They have some amazing technology - they use a good deal more computer technology than WESU, including a program which enables you to set up a show from your home computer, drawing both from the URY digital music collection and your own - and then broadcast said playlist from the URY studio without, say, burning a CD. Your uploaded music from home is just there, in the computer, ready for you. And that, my friends... is magic. I can't think of any other way to describe it. And I always like things that add to the magical world of radio broadcasting...

This week I also: cooked a good deal (including my first time ever cooking tofu) and participated in my college pub's pub quiz with some of my American friends (we managed not to come in last place!). I'm sure I did other things, but I can't much remember now.
Oh! I bought a big Doctor Who poster! That was exciting - AND remarkably cheap. Even considering the exchange rate, posters cost about half as much here as they do in the US. The Doctor cost me £2!

This weekend was also quite fun. On Saturday morning I got a message from my friend Patrick (PhD student from the Netherlands; I've mentioned him before) asking if I wanted to go to the aquarium in Hull - which I did, of course. Hull is... downriver from here, and despite travelling there yesterday, I have no idea how far away it was. Patrick, as a post-grad, is allowed to have a car, so he drove - and it was worth the trip just for the views along the road. Little villages, huge expanses of fields with Yorkshire-type heights in the distance; sheep... it was nice. And slightly surreal, as I've not gotten used to the UK roads yet; left-hand driving and roundabouts... and to make matters more confusing, I was riding in a European/US-style car, with the passenger on the right.
The aquarium (The Deep) was nice - their fish collection, so to speak, wasn't especially expansive, but the exhibits were informative (and entertaining), and it was fun to walk around with Patrick and look at fish and watch all the little kids run around being so excited... and, yes, of course, I was pretty excited, too. I love fish!
On the way back we went to a bigger supermarket than my usual ones, and I managed to find canned beans, which was good - every other place I've been to had only baked beans and chickpeas in cans; all other beans are dried, which can be a pain, since you have to soak them overnight, which therefore requires you to plan quite far in advance for meals - which I never do.

I have been meeting more people in my dorm block, which is nice. It's sort of funny, though, because a lot of them are about 2 years younger than me - at times it feels like being back in my freshman dorm at Wesleyan, which is not necessarily a bad thing - it can be very social, and entertaining.

I think that is all I have to say, for now... Other than that my overhead light in my room is broken, making a bit of a strobe-light effect when I turn it on... so I'm living a rather dim life right now, illuminated only by my desk lamp. Eventually I'll ask someone about getting this fixed...

More Photographs

All Taken Wednesday, January 9th.

Walmgate Bar again - I was really pleased by the sunlight in this one.

Paving stones and shadows outside York Minster.

The Minster (or part of it).



Me on the city walls. The sun was in my eyes.

See more here.

There are cats in Britain.

On Wednesday the 9th I went into York again - and this time made it to the city center. Tom (who is also on my program) and Becky (another American who is also studying history of art at York these two terms and lives next door to me) and I went in for a bit of sight-seeing and shopping. It was beautiful out but very cold and windy - as it has been most days, when it hasn't been raining. We traversed the city center (the part inside the walls), seeing the narrowest street in Britain - The Shambles - before meeting up with Patrick, the Dutch chemistry student we met Tuesday, outside the Minster.

The York Minster is the largest medieval building in Britain, and it is duly impressive. Quite tall and... made of stone. We didn't go inside, but took lots of photographs and walked in the park beside it. We'll be back before tourist season heats up - that's one advantage of being here while it's freezing, we get to see York without the throngs of tourists that apparently flock here.

After that bit of sight-seeing we had to do shopping - which took us both to cell phone stores and H&M and to the central city market, where I bought some wonderfully cheap produce from (as one of my study abroad orientation documents put it) "authentic farmers." My other big purchase of the day was a bird book, so I can go about identifying all of the birds which float by my window daily.

After the shopping Patrick had to go, and Tom, Becky, and I looked for lunch. We ended up at a place we'd heard mentioned - El Piano, which is a sort of vegetarian Mexican/Latin/Mediterranean place. It was excellent. A lot of food for fairly cheap, and both filling and tasty - which is more than I can say for a lot of the food I've had here so far. As soon as my food came El Piano became my favorite restaurant in York - a crown which is going to be very difficult for any other establishment to claim, I think. There's little that can beat a bowl of beans and rice.
After a satisfying and warming lunch we set off for the city walls again - starting west of the Minster and heading north for the same store we ended up at the first time we walked the walls. The walls were very cool - quite heavily restored, and impressive. The views of the Minster and of the gardens of some very fine houses were nice, too.

We ended the day with more shopping at the big grocery store, actually buying things to make meals. Then we trudged back to campus, just in time to see kids coming home from school in their uniforms, which was cute. In all we must have walked 8 miles - maybe more - and some of it with all our shopping. It was a tiring day, but very good.

....
On Thursday there was an initial meeting for my class - or module, as they say here. We talked about the course and went over the syllabus. It doesn't seem too bad - it's a seminar, so the teaching style isn't too far removed from what I'm used to in the US, and the material seems really engaging.
The lecturer mentioned "In Ruins" as one of the books she thought might be worth buying (unlike in the US, we're meant to mainly rely on checking books out from the library, not buying them) - and I was quite thrilled, as that is one of my favorite books, and I never expected to meet anyone else who had read it - let alone be told to study it. It's too bad I don't have my copy with me.
Today I've been doing a lot of preparatory readings, boning up on my architectural knowledge. This weekend I really need to start doing the assigned readings, as our first class is on Monday.
Tonight I cooked for the first time. The three Americans (including me) on our hall got some pots and pans to share, so tonight I made couscous - which was really easy, given that we have an instant boiling water tap. I also had some of the green beans I bought at the produce stand - it was quite a good meal. It's nice to be able to cook for myself. I know I'm eating better, and cooking food I like and know, in my own space, is so comfortable (and comforting).

All right, it has gotten quite late on me. Tomorrow I will post a few pictures from my most recent trip to York, but until then, you check them all out here.

Also! I'm now keeping a life list of the birds I see whilst I'm here. You can see it here, or by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Some Photographs

All taken on Monday the 7th.

Walmgate Bar

Topiaries and Heslington House

Heslington House


Church in Heslington

See more at my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahloveshermusic/England

"I haven't played hearts with real people in a long time." - me

So two full days at York have come and gone - two long but very good days.

Yesterday morning we (by we I mean myself, all the other people on the program with me, and one other American girl - the same cast as the trip to the pub on the first night) took an adventure to the local huge shopping market. It was originally going to be an adventure to the York city centre, but we got distracted by the city walls and our need for food and other supplies.
It transpires that to get to the supermarket / the city we walked down a road which leads to one of the old city gates. Upon discovering this we promptly got up on the back of the city wall - where defenders would have stood. This was led by myself and our one guy, Tom. We tend to lead most of the walks / excursions / anything, because we both have long legs and walk very fast, AND we spend more time looking at maps, and get more enjoyment out of the activity, than the rest of the group.
On the city walls we walked north, all feeling rather enchanted, I think - the walls are partially restored at that point, and so look quite nice, and they lead between fairly suburban apartments (inside) and a large ring-road with shops on it (outside). The walls ended at a small tower and what used to be an "impenetrable swamp" to quote the information sign, and what should be right across the road but the store we had been intending to visit later that morning? At this point it started to rain, so the trip to York turned into the trip to the walls and Morrison's.

After a lunch of goat cheese on toast I went out to explore campus with Tom. We eventually discovered that our campus features a place called Heslington Hall, which is a smallish, possibly Tudor-era stately home with a walled garden, a garden of huge topiaries, and a fountain. I was absolutely thrilled by this, for several reasons. Firstly, the rest of the campus is modern and not remarkably attractive - it was built largely in the 1960s and 1970s - so it is nice to have something so picturesque. Secondly, I adore stately homes (aka manor homes, palaces, etc.) and their gardens, and it's wonderful to have something I like so much and that I associate so much with Britain at easy access.
I think that our campus might be built on the old estate. The hall is across the road from Heslington village (with the parish church on the other corner), and our campus has a pretty lake and is surrounded by fields, so it's likely built on top of the lands of the estate, which was in turn associated with the village.

I took a great many pictures.

Last night a number of us ate in the dining hall at our college (York is on a college system - the one we eight are living in is one of many on campus). I had a rather mediocre red curry which did not taste like curry, but at least had semi-decent vegetables in it. It was also Anna's birthday (she is one of the group, and was my roommate at orientation in London), so we went out and ended up at our college pub, talking and laughing and having a good old time. Then I came back and took a shower - and promptly fell asleep on my bed, not even under all the blankets, with my hair still wrapped in a towel. When I woke back up an hour later I decided it was time to call it a night.

......

Today we spent most of the day in orientation, which was both helpful and... not at all. I'm not sure which, really. Then two fellow art history students in the group - which now basically encompasses my group from the study abroad program and two other American girls, one of whom lives next door to me - and I went to find the department, which was a rather complicated task that involved a lot of wandering and asking several people. I've got my course stuff straightened out - or, rather, they do - they're quite on top of things. The department is huge compared to the one back at Wesleyan, which has only about 15 majors. I didn't count, but York's program has many more students, some of whom are double majors (aka, they are following a double course, while I am following a single course). Of course, York also has 10,000 or so more students than Wesleyan.

Tonight I had a "jacket potato" (baked potato) with baked beans in it for dinner at the college dining hall. Not especially nutritious, but it tasted strangely good, and it was filling, unlike many of the meals I've had here. I need to start cooking for myself. After dinner a few of us - including a Dutch chemistry dissertation student I met at orientation today - played card games in the college common room, where we froze - the windows were open, as they tend to be in my kitchen (they tell us to open them so smoke alarms won't go off). It sleeted while we were playing - there's a layer of very wet ice-and-rain on the ground now. So it's been quite cold, obviously - and windy. And rainy. But also sometimes gorgeously sunny. The weather is as variable as they always say it is.

I'll end this post here, and follow up later with photos from the campus excursion Tom and I took yesterday.

Things I Have Already Learned Today

I have been awake for a little under an hour, and I have already learned several things.

Firstly, the sun does not really rise in York until about 9am. It was still quite dim when I woke up at 8:30. In some ways I like this - it makes me feel like I am missing less of the day. Of course, it also is well on its way to being dark at 3pm.

Secondly, the machine that dispenses boiling water on command is all I could've hoped for.

Thirdly, my dorm kitchen does not have a stove or oven. I somehow managed to not notice this yesterday. But it does have a microwave and a rather large toaster, so all is well. I need to buy bread.

Welcome to York

I have now arrived in York - just got in this afternoon. The study abroad program dropped us off quite unceremoniously and then we six American students with the program were on our own to find our rooms, move in, and try to figure out what the heck is going on.

My room is quite nice - it was an expansive view of the campus lake, with all sorts of water fowl swimming by a storey below. I've seen ducks (mallards and otherwise), coots (probably my favourite, because they have duck bodies and chicken feet), geese (garden-variety grey and white), seagulls, and black swans. They're a joy, despite all the bird refuse on the ground and the fact that I'm sure they will be quite noisy at times I do not want them to be. I'm hoping there will be frogs in the spring - I can't see how there couldn't be, really.
I think my favourite feature of the room is the fact that it has a washbasin - meaning I don't have to go down the hall to the rather unappealing facilities to brush my teeth, wash my face, etc. I love the last time I had an en suite sink (in France) so I'm quite glad of having one again.
The storage space in the room is much better than the study abroad program alleged it would be. As long as my big suitcase fits under the bed it should be fine.

I now have a cell phone, a hand-me-down from a friend who was at St. Andrew's in Scotland last semester, and today I topped it up (it is pay-as-you-go) only to spend all my minutes talking to my mom within the hour. Soon I plan to top it up again and then spend at least some of it talking to my dad and step-mom.

Some lovely British students who live in the same college as my American peers and I escorted us to the campus grocery, where I bought the essentials - tea, cereal, and milk, and a mug and a spoon. There were no bowls, so I will be eating cereal from a plastic measuring cup until I can find one. The students also let us know something no one else seemed able to explain - classes don't really start until next week, because the York students are doing exams this week from last term. So we do have some time to settle in before things get crazy.

The six of us and another American, had dinner in a pub down the way in the little village which abuts the campus. It was recommended by one of the college porters (the people who work at reception), who has to be my favourite person I've met in the UK so far. He is very friendly and helpful and so nice - he really made us feel welcome, which was nice after feeling rather abandoned by the program and rather lost in general. He gave me a map and highlighted the grocery and the pub and our college on it, and told me how to get to both. And he got me my bedding! An all-around nice guy.

Tonight I've been unpacking (by which I mean taking advantage of the fact that I now have access to streaming video on UK television websites), and I've just had my first shower here. The bathing facilities will take some getting used to. The shower head comes up to my chin, so rinsing the shampoo off the top of my head involved something that felt a bit like yoga. The water pressure and heat are good - although the water is distinctly sulphuric in its scent. There is only one shower, and one room with a tub in it - I'm very curious to find out if anyone actually uses it. The concept is repulsive to me at Wesleyan, where there are tubs in some of the older dorms.

Tomorrow we six from my program are going to York to explore - the city is a few miles from campus, so we will have a bus adventure, I'm sure. I'm really looking forward to seeing the city. It is supposedly a really nice place, and beautiful. I need to take as many maps as possible - the place is not exactly on a grid pattern.

Updates about the time between North Carolina and here might follow. They mainly involve travel delays, lots of time on aeroplanes, and my program's orientation in London.

P.S. - Excuse the spelling. I've put on the UK English spell-check so I can get used to it and hopefully not make too many mistakes in essays later.

Pre-Departure

It is 5:00 am on Thursday, Jan 3rd, 2008. In about 4 hours I am beginning my voyage to England... and I'm still awake. Packing lasted until almost 3am (I never pack until the very, very last minute), and then it was time to store as much of my music collection as I could consider sane on mp3 CDs to take with me - because my lovely external hard drive, Exy, and all the joys it contains will not be voyaging with me.

It is too late at night. I keep misspelling voyage.

Tomorrow there will be a two-hour drive to Charlotte, then an hour-or-so flight to Newark, then many, many hours of layover. My flight for London leaves after 9pm. It shall be a trek. But I am looking forward to being in London, seeing my friend Zach, doing orientation - and lugging my luggage all over the place. One backpacking pack, stuffed full, my largest (luckily rolling) suitcase, and a big carry on. It sounds like a lot, but for me, this is nothing. It's the same amount of stuff I took to France when I lived there for a month in high school - and then I wasn't packing winterwear.

My last CD is burned. I am going to bed.

And so ends my first "blog" entry. Hooray?