Out of Hiding

I know, I should probably be flogged for my lack of blogging. Full apologies. This term was extremely short but they managed to cram in 4 times the amount of work meaning I spent most of my time reading or writing. Yuck. Anyways, this isn't exactly going to be a spectacular post, just wanted to say I have pictures up on Flickr and Facebook now. Hooray! I have finally downloaded all the pictures off of my memory cards (some stretching back 2 or 3 months) and managed to get some online!. I'll be back stateside for a couple of weeks starting March 29th, see many of you then!

Formals

I know I've been MIA. I came down with some sort of cold like illness I have dubbed the Palatine Plague that I am still coughing from 3 weeks later (though thankfully less frequently) and had an essay worth 50% of my grade due, so I avoided postings and such. Sorry. Now on to better and brighter things...

I have posted a couple of pictures on flickr, the rest of the candlelight vigil pics and some from formals. What are formals? Good question. Hatfield College is one of two colleges (I believe) at Durham Uni that hold formals on a weekly basis, in Hatfield's case, twice weekly. Basically formals are fancy dinners. You dress smartly and are required to wear your academic gown. Guest formals require black tie.


The MCR (postgrads) are reserved a table with the rest of the room being taken up by the JCR (undergrads). There is also a High Table where the Master of the College and Tutors sit. MCR members are also invited to sit at High Table though I have yet to do that.


Each college has their own traditions but our formals kick off with spooning. Basically this is banging your spoon on the table very loudly in different rhythms. Needless to say, there are very few unbattered spoons. All of this comes to a halt when the High Table enters, for which we all stand in silence. Once they have reached their table, the grace is read in Latin and we can then all sit down and enjoy our three course meal (four if it's Guest Formal). During dinner, drinking games can be played since wine can be bought fairly cheaply at the start of formal. The JCR Secretary is in charge of keeping order and can fine you if you break a rule (anything from getting up from the table to being too unruly/drunk). After dessert has been served, the JCR Secretary goes to High Table, silencing the room, and bows to the Master. This is the sign that you are now able to leave the room if you are ready to do so.

Candle, Candle Burning Bright

There is a tradition every Michaelmas term at Durham to hold a candlelight processional. It starts out at the south side of the Bailey and walks up (and I do mean up, this is quite a hilly place) to the cathedral. Under the idea of trying everything in Durham at least once, I decided to tag along and was very glad that I did.

(Thank you choir for the scarf! I'm putting it to good use!)

There were easily several hundred people mostly University students on the trek up the path in the dark and into the south side of the cathedral. We were lead through the cloisters into the cathedral where the chaplain welcomed us and told us a little about the cathedral.


We were then free to roam about the cathedral. By candlelight. It was gorgeous. The cathedral was built in the 1100s and is incredibly impressive during the day with soaring ceilings and massive columns, but it was even more amazing with not much light other than candles and moonlight. The cathedral is usually closed after about 6 or 7 in the evenings so it was a rare treat to be allowed in at a late hour, let alone to have so few lights on in the building. I do have to admit, it was a little creepy when the organist started to play since he somehow managed to pick the darkest, creepiest organ music ever written but fortunately it only lasted a couple songs and we were left in silence.


Pictures aren't normally allowed in the cathedral so if you want to see more pictures of the cathedral, here is a link to their website:
http://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/introduction/gallery

Note on Flickr: I have posted 2 videos of college songs. Apparently every college has their own songs they sing often incorporating the name of their college and/or teasing other colleges. I took a couple of videos of the JCR (undergrads) singing college songs at the college bar a couple weeks ago. I will apologize for the terrible quality as it was dark and I was using my digital camera which is not such an awesome video camera.
There are also now a couple of pictures from the candlelight procession but there are not likely to be any more pictures on flickr for another week or 2, I seem to have already reached my limit for the month. In the meantime I will throw in some pictures here on the blog.

So Very Cold...

It is the middle of October and it is currently 36 degrees. I have been trying to save my heaviest winter coat for, you know, winter but that may not be possible...

British Climate 14
Devon 0

To the tolling of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells

Turns out there is a tradition of bell ringing in Durham. All the old churches have bells that are rung manually, often by the Durham University bellringers club. It is a very lovely tradition. For about a week. I may have mentioned previously that my house is St. Oswald's Church adjacent. In fact my window overlooks the churchyard. The cathedral is about a 10 minute walk and can be seen from my house. It seems that the cathedral and other local churches ring their bells all day, and I mean all day, Sunday, only stopping briefly for services. And then there are the practices. It's a little shocking that they actually have to practice since there is no discernible melody, only about 6 or 7 notes repeated over and over in a cacophonous sort of scale. As I write this, I am listening to the rehearsal at St. Os's which has been going on for nearly an hour. I'm supposed to be reading for class, but my brain is a little vibratey thanks to the constant ringing. I'm hoping I'll get used to it before too long. I'll be able to test that theory pretty quickly as rumor has it there are more rehearsals on Thursday...

What a Difference an Hour Makes...

When I went in to Open Choral practice at the College Chapel it was sunny and warm (well, warm in comparison to recent days, not what I would normally call warm). An hour later when we were done, it was raining and cold. I had heard tales of drastic weather change but this is a little silly.

British Climate 9
Devon 0


Oh and how was choral practice you might ask? Let's just say I didn't sign up to audition. Tonight they held an open rehearsal followed by singing this evening's Evensong service to give people a chance to see what it was like before auditions start later this week. I thought I would go just to be able to say I sang once in the Chapel at a service but it turns out they sing some seriously hard stuff with little to no accompaniment or rehearsal. The first piece I saw was in Latin, containing very few words I knew how to pronounce, so I was happy when we turned to the next song. Turns out the English wasn't any easier to understand/sing. At one point tonight I chanted/sang:
"Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe:
Philistia, triumph thou because of me."

Matriculation

Today was matriculation. It's an old English word meaning sit in a really old cathedral wearing academic gowns while people in fancier academic gowns and caps welcome you into the university. Look for a couple more pictures on facebook/flickr.

Back to College

It's been a little nuts getting settled in, meeting everyone, shopping for groceries and other necessities, learning my way around town, registrations, etc. so I haven't really had time to post anything without feeling terribly antisocial. But I seem to have some down time so I thought I would write a little about the University.

Durham is a collegiate university like Oxford and Cambridge. Every member of the University belongs to a college, mine is Hatfield. The college really has nothing to do with academics, it serves more of a social service. It provides accommodation, has a dining hall, a bar (yes, every college has its own bar), and often a library, gym, and chapel. At Hatfield, all of this is located in one spot we call Main College and I believe many of the buildings are from the 1800s.


This is a picture from the courtyard of Main College. The tan pointy building in the back is Durham Cathedral built in the 11th century and is about a 1 minute walk. I actually live in a college accommodation about a 10 walk from Main College with about 40 other postgraduates but as a member of the college, I'm free to come and go within the Main College buildings as I please.

The Univeristy buildings, including the other colleges and lecture buildings are scattered around Durham instead of having a central campus. Where I live is about a 10 minute walk to the Science Site where my classes will be, the Library, Main College, and shops. The only problem is that no matter where you are going, it is always uphill. I have not figured out how this works, but I promise, it's uphill both ways!

As a postgrad, I'm a member of the Middle Common Room (MCR) of Hatfield, while undergrads belong to the Junior Common Room (JCR) and tutors and other faculty belong to the Senior Common Room (SCR). I have 3 tutors. I'm not entirely sure why I need 3 of them but they are all very nice. What is a tutor you may ask? To quote Douglas Adams, having a tutor means he has "charge of [your] general welfare, told [you] when the exams were and not to take drugs." And that seems about right. They are the people to talk to if you are having any troubles and occasionally they invite you to brunch in the Senior Common Room.

Stay tuned for more posts and pictures on facebook/flickr as time allows.

Pictures!

OK, not many, but there will be more to come, I promise. Eventually. Head to my facebook or flickr pages to see them (same pictures on both so you don't have to go to both). Let me know if you have any trouble.

Rain, Rain , Go Away...

It is currently about 11 am on Oct 2, and it is 48 degrees outside. And raining. And gale force winds are expected later today. I know it is officially autumn, but really, 48? You win this round Durham weather:

British Climate 1
Devon 0

An American in Durham

I have made it all the way to my new home sweet home and have finally registered so I can now have access to the internet. I'm slowly settling in (the first thing I did was put the sheets on the bed so a could crash at any time if needed) and unpacking, meeting a ton of new people.
I'll post more later and be on the look out for pictures on flickr but right now it is time for bed, I'm still kinda jetlagy.

Really, I'm Still Here

So I couldn't help but notice it's been a while since my last post. I figure it's about time to check back in with the rest of the world...Since my last post:

-Went out to LA (well, about 45 minutes north of LA) and Las Vegas for a couple of weeks to visit family and had a very nice time. Made a solo trip down to LA for a day and despite what you may think about driving on LA freeways, Atlanta is worse. Also on this trip it became painfully clear that I am a warm weather girl. I wore long sleeve shirts and slept under a heavy blanket while my aunt and several cousins complained about the heat. And when being asked how the 107 degree weather in Las Vegas was, I found myself replying something along the lines of "yeah, it was a little warm but not too bad."

-Went to my high school reunion. So I'm officially old now. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting but enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. It was nice seeing everyone and learning that just about everyone I went to high school with is a lawyer now.

-And perhaps most importantly, Durham is a go! I've finally gotten my official visa letter from Durham University which I probably could have made myself at home, it's just a sheet of paper with some info about start and end dates and a rubber stamp. No official seals or signatures, but if that's what the British government wants, I'm more than happy to supply them with it. And now that I have the letter, I've started the student visa process. First you submit an online application, then you get fingerprinted (heading to Birmingham this weekend for that) and photographed without smiling (very British, stiff upper lip and all, yes?), then you have to fill out a paper application mostly repeating everything from the online app and visa letter. Once they slap the visa into my passport, I can board a plane Sept 29thish and frolic around England for a year, oh and take the occasional class.

A Day in the Museum

I wanted to do something constructive with my summer since the university was essentially offering zero summer classes in anthropology. In weighing my options, I decided to volunteer for the Historical Society (www.historicpensacola.org). After a couple weeks of emailing back and forth with the volunteer coordinator, we finally met and I started my post. I am starting out working the front desk three days a week at the Wentworth Museum (well, the official name is the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum which I would never remember when answering the phone if it weren't painted on the wall directly in front of me). I was told it was a pretty boring post when I joined up. Since the museum is free, I don't have to run a register or anything, just give a spiel about the museum whenever anyone walks in, otherwise amuse myself with a book. But it turns out the mornings are pretty busy with upwards of 70 people coming in over a three hour period and UWF students** stopping by to hang out in colonial garb trying to avoid some other task they should be doing, such as manning the children's Discovery Gallery on the 3rd floor which is apparently a task worse than death.

The museum is in the old city hall building which is over 100 years old overlooking one of the parks in downtown and it's pretty cool if I do say so myself. It's a history museum, mostly focusing on Pensacola but also contains the collection of T.T. Wentworth who in my estimation could be described somewhere between a collector and hoarder since he acquired a mess load of really weird stuff which turns out to have its advantages. On my first day there, I learned a great way to handle children: when a kid asks "Do you have dinosaur bones, airplanes, etc?" respond "No, but we totally have a petrified cat!" and they make some sort of happy noise and then go running off in search of said flattened cat. In fact, I think if you ask anyone who grew up in Pensacola and went to the Wentworth on a school trip, the only thing they will be able to tell you about the museum is that it contained a petrified cat, I know that was I all could recall from my trips.

**One of these college students asked me if I was in high school, looks like I'll be getting carded for a few more years.

Durham, England, England Across the Atlantic Sea

So several weeks back, I decided to apply to Durham University in Durham, England because it seemed like an awesome program (and arguably the only Paleopathology program anywhere) and I figured I had nothing to loose seeing as how there was no application fee. Well, I'm happy to say I got accepted and it looks like I'll be starting the one year program in October. I say looks like because I am officially 1/3 of the way accepted. I received a conditional acceptance because supposedly something was wrong with my letters of recommendation and because FSU does not put GPAs on transcripts. Turns out there is nothing wrong with my recommendations and supposedly FSU has my GPA in the mail so as far as I'm concerned I'm 2/3 of the way accepted, just lack the email/piece of paper saying unconditional on it. The final 1/3 is getting my student visa that I can't apply for without an unconditional acceptance. Seeing as how there are no outstanding arrest warrants for me in the UK that I know of, I'm hoping the visa process will run smoothly. I'll keep you all updated on further developments.

Boo on ASU

So I didn't get accepted at ASU. Since that was the only school I applied to, containing pretty much the only program I was interested in, I currently have no plans for after the end of April when my current semester ends.
Now accepting any and all offers/ideas of how to spend the next year/rest of my life.

It's Just Your Love, It Creeps Me Out

Today's Tip of the Day: If you are asked if you want your info shared with universities, etc. when taking any nationally recognized standardized test, just say no.
When I took the GRE I said yes, how can finding out about other graduate anthropology programs be bad? Only, it turns out the universities have no way of knowing your intended area of study. I have since been contacted by several universities and here are the highlights:

University of Nebraska: 2 emails, tastefully done, simply asking me to visit their website to find out more about their grad programs

USC of Somewhere School of Engineering: Ummmm....did you guys actually look at my math percentiles? It's my understanding math is pretty important in all things engineering and while I was perfectly happy with my scores, they weren't exactly anything to brag to an engineering department about. Wait...Am I being used to fill a girl quota?

Florida Atlantic University: Got an email today addressed Dear Vanessa. Ummm... I guess you can call me Vanessa, if you really want.

University of Tampa: Full on stalker mode. They have sent several fliers about info sessions and I get at least 1-2 emails from them a week. They are 10000% convinced I should get my masters of education and hang out at Starbucks with them.

So take a lesson from me. If you don't want to be stalked by (hopefully) well meaning universities, Just say no.

Just Call Me The Crocodile Hunter

So this morning I'm sitting on the couch reading the newspaper and hear unusual noises coming from the wall across the room. First I think it is the squirrel that has figured out where the extra birdseed lives just outside the back door, but nothing is on the back porch. The noise continues and I decide it is coming from the fireplace. Sure enough there is a rather large green lizard making all sorts of noise while hanging out on the inside of the fireplace. I guess he climbed down the chimney? Seems like un-lizardy behavior if you ask me, but there he was between the glass doors and the metal curtain. Not really sure how he managed to climb around the heavy metal curtain designed to keep fire out but whatever.
I set about to release him because, silly lizard, that is not where you live. Wouldn't you know he hides on the hinge of the doors so I can't see him nor can I open the door easily without fear of crushing him to death. So I slowly open the door millimeters at a time. Then the next part of my awesome plan involves waiting for him to climb off the hinges and get to a better position so I can scare him into a cup and take him outside. After sitting on the couch and waiting for the lizard to do something for 20 minutes, I figure it is safe to scamper to other parts of the house to get dressed, check email, etc. I go back to check on the situation and sure enough, I no longer have a lizard in the fireplace because I now apparently have a lizard somewhere in the living room. And my hunt continues...

In other unrelated news, if anyone finds themselves in the Pensacola area this evening, my friend Derek is the featured artist at Gallery Coco (www.cocodesign.com) during tonight's Gallery Night. He is a photographer specializing in landscapes and is quite good if I do say so myself.

Project: Grad School

So back in December I applied to grad school at Arizona State. I got everything in/requested (transcripts, test scores, etc) 3-4 weeks before the application deadline. And yes, that was 3-4 weeks not 3-4 hours which I was terribly proud of as I am a highly trained procrastinator. I then immediately proceeded to stalk my online ASU account waiting for word on acceptance or to see if anything was missing from my application (I had been notified early on that my FSU transcripts were missing but they finally got their act together and showed up). When the January 1 deadline passed with no notice of missing items I was relieved - nothing to do but continue to check my ASU account every couple of hours until ASU makes their decision.

BUT WAIT...last week the grad coordinator at ASU emailed me to say they were missing the letter of recommendation I had requested from a professor at FSU. GAAAA!! So I email the professor and waited. And panicked. And waited. After a week of not hearing from the professor, I went today and groveled at the feet of my current osteology professor who didn't even hesitate to say yes to writing a letter for me. DR POPE IS MY HERO!! I just hope this "late" portion of the application doesn't count against me. Well, gotta go, time to check my ASU account...

It's Splanchnocran-iastic!!

Word of the Day: splanchnocranium - facial region of the skull
Try to work it into conversation. You'll definitely get some funny looks.

Meet Bucky: The Friendly Classroom Skeleton!

So last Thursday we had our first test in my osteology class. For those of you keeping track at home, that was in fact the 4th day of class. Welcome back to classes kids! I had pretty much resigned myself to getting a lowish grade but did a lot better than expected and pulled off a rather respectable A. Hurrah!

Also last Thursday after the test, we started playing with actual bones (class up to that point was strictly lecture). We are starting with the skull and have to learn every single lump and dip and hole in every bone of the head. To give you an idea of how much stuff that is, in 2 and a half class periods we gone over only 4 bones. We still have to go over the facial area, part of the base of the skull, and the jaw. This would not seem quite as daunting if we were given an entire skull or at least entire bones for the upcoming tests. Instead, we will be given little chunks lovingly smashed and sometimes burned by our professor. We will have to figure out what bone it is part of, what side it belongs on, and whatever feature a magical arrow is pointing to. Oh, and did I mention that some of these pieces of bone will be in a black bag and we will have to identify the bone by touch alone? Looks like I'll be spending a lot of my free time in the lab feeling bones with my eyes closed.

Today's Random Act of Professor: Dr Pope came over to help a classmate and myself identify a chunk of bone. While she was examining it, she sang a little song. The entire lyrics of the song was repetition of the word "meow." For a good five minutes.

I definitely have to admit that the class would be very dull and extremely overwhelming if the professor was not so much fun. Though I am finding it hard not to just burst out laughing in the middle of class.