I don't have much to say but I thought it was time to touch base... first of all: HAPPY BIGGEST SHOPPING DAY OF THE YEAR to those of you reading from the States! I missed sending out Thanksgiving Day wishes :)
My life will be a little hectic these next few weeks:
four 2pp papers
three 12pp papers
1 presentation
1 GRE
1 final
before 14Dec. WOOT.
I also have to organize PhD applications and letters of recommendations and deal (emotionally) with the absence of CUPE employees at USask which will affect my transcript orders...
So please don't expect much from me in the near-future!
Today I got to give a presentation on Park Valley, YAY! It was so much fun!!! And the class asked all about how the church worked, so that was really different. And the prof asked me to include more about the church in my paper. :) Thanks Ang, for the photos - they were a hit!
I can't think of much else to share... except the fact that it is below freezing tonight!! On our walk home tonight, Jonathan mentioned that he didn't see ice all winter last year... and it's only November... I am afraid I brought it with me -- HAHAH!
love you all ~
23 November 2007
17 November 2007
4:30 am
So I went to our weekly class party last night at a girl's apartment off-campus. It was about a 30min walk away from campus - and another 15 mins to my place on the other side of campus. So 3 of us walked together. We all sat around talking and listening to music and discussing movies (mostly them being shocked at my limited viewing!) and realizing how dumb we all are when it comes to vocabulary for the GRE (graduate record exam... I have to take it to see if I get into a PhD program in the States... not holding my breath!) -- I have GRE vocabulary flashcards that Inow carry with me everywhere - and that provided a decent amount of entertainment. We're all nerds, what can I say? :)
Anyway! We didn't leave there until 4ish in the morning. 3 of us left again, but not the same 3. One girl ended up staying the night and we traded for another girl who lived about as far away from both places as possible! Jonathan & I walked Joan back to her place before heading to our respective apartments.
So on the way to Joan's place, we took a short-cut through a cemetery. I loved it! Not for its creepy factor, either. It was this tiny Jewish cemetery - possibly the only Jewish cemetery in the city? - with about 10 graves. We knew that one of the graves held a lady we have been learning about in our "reconstructions of the past" course, so we looked around, but couldn't find her. She must be one of the several "unknowns." In the late 1930's, Ireland was asked by thousands of Jews to host them as refugees from Nazi territory, but Ireland refused most of them. I believe this lady was one of the ones who came in illegally - was helped by a stranger. Only a couple hundred were actually allowed in. There's a huge research project going on right now here about German immigration to Ireland in the early 20th century... I am actually quite fascinated.
So it was really neat to find the place where this lady was buried. To have something tangible to connect to the stories I hear. Kind of strange that this was at 4:30am, but I guess I will take what I can get!
We also decided that we are having a class holiday party after our final exam & we're inviting the profs ("lecturers" here). And we are planning a class trip to continental Europe next term - Ryan air to Brussels, I believe. Should be fun! And we're throwing about the idea of class reunions around the world -- assuming we don't want to kill one another by the end of the year - lol!
I think that's all.
Love you guys ~
Anyway! We didn't leave there until 4ish in the morning. 3 of us left again, but not the same 3. One girl ended up staying the night and we traded for another girl who lived about as far away from both places as possible! Jonathan & I walked Joan back to her place before heading to our respective apartments.
So on the way to Joan's place, we took a short-cut through a cemetery. I loved it! Not for its creepy factor, either. It was this tiny Jewish cemetery - possibly the only Jewish cemetery in the city? - with about 10 graves. We knew that one of the graves held a lady we have been learning about in our "reconstructions of the past" course, so we looked around, but couldn't find her. She must be one of the several "unknowns." In the late 1930's, Ireland was asked by thousands of Jews to host them as refugees from Nazi territory, but Ireland refused most of them. I believe this lady was one of the ones who came in illegally - was helped by a stranger. Only a couple hundred were actually allowed in. There's a huge research project going on right now here about German immigration to Ireland in the early 20th century... I am actually quite fascinated.
So it was really neat to find the place where this lady was buried. To have something tangible to connect to the stories I hear. Kind of strange that this was at 4:30am, but I guess I will take what I can get!
We also decided that we are having a class holiday party after our final exam & we're inviting the profs ("lecturers" here). And we are planning a class trip to continental Europe next term - Ryan air to Brussels, I believe. Should be fun! And we're throwing about the idea of class reunions around the world -- assuming we don't want to kill one another by the end of the year - lol!
I think that's all.
Love you guys ~
12 November 2007
5 yrs ago, this would not have crossed my mind...
I miss snow!
Today it was +9 (low 40sF)and I was walking around in a skirt and a jacket while the rest of campus was dressed for -25 (freakishly cold F). It was wild seeing all this little mini-eskimo types wander around campus wearing their toques and scarves and ski gloves and not a drop of snow in the air. The ground is green, the trees are fallish/green, the river was flowing, and I watched people prepare for a blizzard!
And all I could think was: I miss the glitter of the snow and the feel of soft snowflakes on my eyelashes... *sigh*
I am such a weirdo!
I feel like I have a split-personality (which may not be far for the truth, haha!) and I am falling in love with Ireland while leaving my heart in SK. It's a strange emotion... :)
So that's my day. I applied for a job at the nearby shopping centre - we'll see how that works out - and I enjoyed my Monday afternoon routine (for the past 3 Mondays) of cozying up in a leather chair in the Faculty/Grad Students commons area/dessert & coffee-room with a book for a couple hrs and I am really enjoying the newly opened 16million-euro bridge that I can take to campus now! It moves... just a little, when other people are walking on it, you can feel a sway - kind of neat and at night there are crazy colour-changing lights that float underneath both entrances... psychedelic!
I have the priviledge of writing about this bridge for my cultural theory class, so I am spending lots of time wandering across it - such a hardship! If I had a camera - ANY camera - I would take pics and show you... but you'll just have to wait! :)
bye for now
Today it was +9 (low 40sF)and I was walking around in a skirt and a jacket while the rest of campus was dressed for -25 (freakishly cold F). It was wild seeing all this little mini-eskimo types wander around campus wearing their toques and scarves and ski gloves and not a drop of snow in the air. The ground is green, the trees are fallish/green, the river was flowing, and I watched people prepare for a blizzard!
And all I could think was: I miss the glitter of the snow and the feel of soft snowflakes on my eyelashes... *sigh*
I am such a weirdo!
I feel like I have a split-personality (which may not be far for the truth, haha!) and I am falling in love with Ireland while leaving my heart in SK. It's a strange emotion... :)
So that's my day. I applied for a job at the nearby shopping centre - we'll see how that works out - and I enjoyed my Monday afternoon routine (for the past 3 Mondays) of cozying up in a leather chair in the Faculty/Grad Students commons area/dessert & coffee-room with a book for a couple hrs and I am really enjoying the newly opened 16million-euro bridge that I can take to campus now! It moves... just a little, when other people are walking on it, you can feel a sway - kind of neat and at night there are crazy colour-changing lights that float underneath both entrances... psychedelic!
I have the priviledge of writing about this bridge for my cultural theory class, so I am spending lots of time wandering across it - such a hardship! If I had a camera - ANY camera - I would take pics and show you... but you'll just have to wait! :)
bye for now
11 November 2007
Reasons why Jill didn't get her call this Saturday... :(
okay, so this is not good... I can't seem to keep up with a Saturday to save my life! There was a conference on all day Friday & Saturday that was being hosted by my department, a few of us went to most of that, and in-between the days, a group of girls from the class got together for a Friday night cookie-dough/celery&peanut butter night of girl-talk... which turned into a "let's meet the ONE guy in our class who's in town this weekend at the "Lodge." Well, it was 1:15am by this time, and we all were planning to be at the conference by 9am and I had never been to the Lodge. Turns out it is quite the hangout for Uni students & staff. Not a pub. Definitely a club. They were charging 8 euro and I was like "umm... no." but one of the girls paid my way, so then I felt obligated. It didn't turn out half-bad... I did have 2 guys ask me to kiss them (on the cheek) within the 1st ten minutes... lol!
Regardless - the boy (Jonathan) didn't make it because the club closed at 2 and he got there after the door was closed to incomers, so that was a little sad. When we left, Nicole and I had a 45 min walk back to our dorm, and by then I was frozen (only wore a sweater - was NOT planning on a 45 min walk) so it took me until nearly 4am to get to sleep.
But I made it to the conference at 9! Went to the 1st 2 sessions, tried to go home and take a nap, got distracted by lunch & a great conversation with a classmate & prof, went to the 3rd session and went home. I finally got to take my "nap" at 5pm, which lasted until 9am this morning! (Sunday). So, YAY for 16hr "naps"!!!
Regardless - the boy (Jonathan) didn't make it because the club closed at 2 and he got there after the door was closed to incomers, so that was a little sad. When we left, Nicole and I had a 45 min walk back to our dorm, and by then I was frozen (only wore a sweater - was NOT planning on a 45 min walk) so it took me until nearly 4am to get to sleep.
But I made it to the conference at 9! Went to the 1st 2 sessions, tried to go home and take a nap, got distracted by lunch & a great conversation with a classmate & prof, went to the 3rd session and went home. I finally got to take my "nap" at 5pm, which lasted until 9am this morning! (Sunday). So, YAY for 16hr "naps"!!!
05 November 2007
Copy of an email to Ky:
Subject: You know what's great?
Actually having a CLUE what I am writing about for my thesis. And bonus: I can continue it on into my PhD, so there's TWO decisions made in 30 mins! All it took was a half-hour conversation with my prof. :) WOOT!
So I am not taking the magic realism route this year. I have decided to propose a research project on the history of fiction. This will be more theoretically founded than I am used to, but since it's my theory prof who suggested it, I will take his word for it that I am capable of that level/style of writing. The ultimate goal is to write on the history of irish historical fiction for my PhD. again, WOOT! So nothing to do with my original thought, but this I not only think/know I CAN do, I am also really excited about it and not stressed when I think about it! :)
I just thought I would share. I am hoping to apply to USask with this, but its doubtful I will get in since they don't have a strong irish research faculty. Did I tell you I was planning to apply to USask for my PhD? I hope I did! It will be an interdisciplinary proposal between english & history. We'll see! I am also applying to Notre Dame (longshot, but MUST be done b/c of their prestige and centre for irish studies... and then U South Carolina-Columbia and Colorado U-Boulder for comparative literature, which will not follow in this vein. Maybe I will go magic realism on those proposals... hmmm...)
Tell me your thoughts...
Actually having a CLUE what I am writing about for my thesis. And bonus: I can continue it on into my PhD, so there's TWO decisions made in 30 mins! All it took was a half-hour conversation with my prof. :) WOOT!
So I am not taking the magic realism route this year. I have decided to propose a research project on the history of fiction. This will be more theoretically founded than I am used to, but since it's my theory prof who suggested it, I will take his word for it that I am capable of that level/style of writing. The ultimate goal is to write on the history of irish historical fiction for my PhD. again, WOOT! So nothing to do with my original thought, but this I not only think/know I CAN do, I am also really excited about it and not stressed when I think about it! :)
I just thought I would share. I am hoping to apply to USask with this, but its doubtful I will get in since they don't have a strong irish research faculty. Did I tell you I was planning to apply to USask for my PhD? I hope I did! It will be an interdisciplinary proposal between english & history. We'll see! I am also applying to Notre Dame (longshot, but MUST be done b/c of their prestige and centre for irish studies... and then U South Carolina-Columbia and Colorado U-Boulder for comparative literature, which will not follow in this vein. Maybe I will go magic realism on those proposals... hmmm...)
Tell me your thoughts...
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