“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” -Karen Lamb

A year from now seems like a really long time even though I know it isn't. I was talking with my dad today, saying that I was remembering living in A&I back at UCR, and how that doesn't seem like very long ago, when in reality it was four years. Looking ahead at the next ten months feels like forever. Time is funny that way. 

A little more Durham Beauty 

 Speaking of time and its funny ways, can you believe I've already been here a month?!! SO WIERD. It's a been a rollar-coaster, and this week was a good reflection of that. I was sick as a dog for a good portion of it, and my professor kept asking if I needed an ambulance. Okay, seriously, did I look that awful? Plus, please, I feel like crap, stop calling attention to me in the middle of class when I'm trying really hard not to cough up a lung onto my desk. Six days later, and I finally feel like a person again, and besides that rough patch, this week was actually pretty good.

So, being sick, naturally I ran out of tissues. I went out to
buy some and found these Cluedo (Clue for all you Americans) tissues.
They are creepy as heck but seriously, how do you NOT buy these?

                                       

A lovely tea and cake outing with Belinda.

                                     

I finished my first grad school assignment, hooray! It's formative, which means it doesn't count for a grade but tells you what you need to work on and for me, is an introduction to the British grading system. Apparently here a 70 is fantastic work, while at home it's a C-. This should be interesting. I also got the rest of my projects for the term sorted (I hope) so I have a stepping stone to go forth and conduct research...starting tomorrow.

I took the weekend off. The week was pretty uneventful, besides the fact that a guy recognized my UCR sweatshirt for what it was. He ended up being from LA, and we were both very excited. This weekend was amazing though. Friday night, it snowed. And when I say it snowed, I mean it SNOWED. White blanket in the morning. There were a few flurries earlier in the day on Friday. When I was sitting in the dining hall eating lunch, someone mentioned it was snowing outside and I flipped out. I pushed my chair back with a great squeak across the wood floor, grabbed my keys, and ran out the door in front of thirty plus people yelling, "Don't laugh at me!!!" Which of course they did. It was totally worth it though. And when it snowed hard that night, I went out twice. Once I took Belinda but she, being Canadian, was less than thrilled. The second time was after midnight and I went into the courtyard alone. It was quiet and dark, and the snow was falling in the silence. It was nothing short of magical.

Luckily the snow didn't affect this week's football match, or should I say, rematch? We played Ustinov again in the knockout round, finally getting our revenge for that 2-2 draw two weeks ago. We won 5-2 (two goals by me-yah!). We are finally coming together as a team and everyone gets along so well. It really is lovely.

 Lastly, yesterday I went to the Durham food festival with Belinda, Sabrina, and Andrea. It was freezing cold, but an absolutely gorgeous day. I found sourdough bread, which was way more exciting than finding bread ever should be. I ended up with two loaves of bread, an Italian pistachio dessert thing (which, despite my inability to identify it, was very tasty) and a bottle of ginger wine. Plus some cookies and a brownie for a couple friends who couldn't make it. It was a lot of fun.

Did I mention that I got to hold an owl.
Yeah, that happened. 

Oh, and side note, I went to a meeting for the MCR (Middle Common Room), for officer elections. I made the mistake of asking what the secretary does out of curiosity,  so I am now St. Mary's College's MCR secretary for 2012-13. Why do I do these things to myself?

Ginger wine, sourdough bread, and sea salt,
rosemary and olive loaf. 

Pistachio canole type thing. 

Oh and just one more thing (said, of course, in a Peter Falk voice) I realized you guys haven't seen my room, so here are some pics of where I will be spending a good portion of my year.

My beautiful bulletin board filled with my beautiful friends and family.
Oh, and Harrison Ford and Shakespeare posters.



At least I get my own sink, which is nice. 

Covered with books, typical. 

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters.” ― Audrey Hepburn

While this week has finally brought the torrential downpour of schoolwork I knew was coming, it has also been filled with some great times!

Firstly, I had no idea how much I missed soccer/football! I keep saying football here and people give me weird looks and ask if I mean American football. I say no, so then I go back to saying soccer and people look at me like I'm swearing up a storm. I just can't win!

But I digress. I am unbelievably out of shape but I love having this outlet. Our first game was last Sunday against Ustinov College. We came back from a two-nil deficit to tie it up with yours truly scoring the first goal of the season, and yesterday we played against Grey College, with a stunning four-zero victory!

I was huffing and puffing the entire hour due to a fabulous head cold my immune system decided to just let in, but the weather was so beautiful it was hard to care.

Plus I finally broke down and bought new cleats, or boots as they're called here, along with shin-guards and socks. I forgot how much I missed my room smelling like sweat and and freshly-cut grass. 

Belinda and I waiting for the train to Newcastle. 

I also took my first trip to Newcastle this week with Belinda. She needed to do some shopping, and outside of London's underground and Heathrow I hadn't seen any of England. It was miserably grey and misty and we were accosted several times for fabulous deals on haircuts and people asking for texting donations, but it was nice to get out and the train ride was relaxing. The countryside in sunshine or in rain really is always beautiful. I took some video to upload but it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe I'll try to get it on the next post.  

The Durham train station on a cold and cloudy day. 

This one is for you Mom. Notice the two L's!!! I was so excited. Belinda looked at me like I was crazy as I squealed and pulled out the camera. Oh well! 





Other fun stuff from this week included a pizza party with the St. Mary's postgraduates wherein I ate WAY too much. I also went on my first pub crawl for the Women's Football social. The theme was "dress-as-your-major." Wow can people here ever drink! I couldn't believe it. (Don't judge my one picture with alcohol please!) I had a lot of fun but as usual I was in at 12:30. Of course, again as per usual me, I went downstairs and cleaned up the Junior Common Room after a bunch of freshman trashed it because I didn't want to be fined. This event led to another character with whom I am now associated. Besides Hermione and Pam, you can add Monica from Friends. Again, you can thank Belinda for that.

Veera is a sad criminal and I (shockingly) am Indiana Jones. 

Eleanor, Hannah, and myself. 

You would think that along with school work there isn't anything else I could possible have done this week...BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG!!!! I have saved the best for last. Last Sunday I was in the MCR trying not to collapse asleep on top of books when I was invited to accompany a group to the Durham Cathedral for a nighttime walkthrough by candlelight! It was truly one of the most awe-inspiring and fun nights of my life. Sorry College Night at the Getty Villa, you have competition! The group got split at the entrance, but I ended up with two students studying history, so the three of us were nerding out and having a grand time looking at tombs, inscriptions, and memorials by candlelight while the choir sang and the organ played. Truly incredible.

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home. -Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life

Books are also my entire life for the next eleven months, and while I love reading, that's a lot of archaeological text. It's really interesting because here there is a lot more freedom in the education system. I'm only required in a classroom maybe three hours a week? And one of those hours is for a meeting so my advisor can make sure I'm not an American slacker here as a tourist and not as a student.  I mean, all you back in the UCs know, you're in class at least twelve hours a week and typically it's more. Plus the reading is all "suggested." I signed up for the taught degree because I was hoping for some guidance in a new field. Apparently not. This does provide an excellent opportunity for me to really motivate myself to study and work independently though. Now all I have to do is...really motivate myself to study and work independently. Actually I did find a great book today that so far (two chapters in) actually has me wanting to read more. I'm finally getting back into academic mode (knock on wood)!

A little bit of local art

A WWI memorial in the St. Oswald
cemetery down the street from St. Mary's

So as the first official week of classes closes, how has it been? Well, I only had one real hour of class which was interesting, though I did go to an optional lecture on Angle-Saxon gold (conclusion: it's shiny). I also went to a museum downtown with a couple other archaeology nerds -yah!- to check out an exhibit of six bodies found in York which are believed to be gladiators. I'm not completely convinced, but the display was really amazing and coming face-to-face with the remnants of people on that level is so exhilarating.

How do you like my new backyard?

Some of the tombstones from the 

St. Oswald cemetery. 

Some beautiful scenery near St. Oswald's and on the walking paths near the banks of the River Wear.  

Belinda teased me for being so excited about finding blackberries in the wild. 

 Every sky here is absolutely beautiful. This is a typical evening view outside my bedroom window. 

 On a non-academic level, I did some more exploring of Durham since the weather has been so gorgeous and probably wont last much longer until a wet and cold winter sets in. I also joined the St. Mary's women's soccer team. OOPS football, I mean football team! First game is tomorrow, which should be interesting. I'm very out of shape, but it does feel wonderful to be playing again. Of course my cleats are in the mail currently so I've been sliding around in my sneakers bruising both hips. Less fun. I failed to escape the dreaded "Fresher's Flu" but I seem to have gotten only a mild head cold so I count myself lucky.

After the rain I look out the hallway window and see this. 

Side note of interesting thing about British people. They ask if you're alright and look at you funny if you say yes. I did that a few times before I realized they were basically saying "What do you want?" Not in a rude way of course, in a how-can-I-help-you way. Also, everyone thinks everyone in California surfs and is very disappointed when I explain that that is not the case. I'm a horrid bubble-burster apparently. Also, while my Scottish accent is very popular back home, here the big winners are impersonating my cousins from New Jersey and doing a Deep South impression. I guess you really only ever want what you don't have.

St. Mary's after the rain. 

The cathedral as seen from St. Mary's.

I really like this shot of Belinda! 

Well, every journey begins with a first step. May the good Lord be with us. Onward! -Oliver S. Lindenbrook: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Part of Downtown Durham (very different from Downtown LA)

As my second week here draws to a close, I realize how wibbly-wobbly time really is. I know I haven't been here very long, but I feel like I've never been in California either, and if you told me that the rainy day when my plane arrived in Heathrow was five years ago, or even never happened at all, I would be inclined to believe you.

Statue in the city square

That being said, how have the last couple weeks gone? Well, it's been a roller coaster, that's for dang sure. The first couple days were awful. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, and I couldn't comprehend being anywhere for so long that wasn't home. In the grand scheme of things a year isn't a long time, but when you're looking at it from the beginning and you don't have the power to do anything yet, it feels like staring down the end of a VERY long tunnel where the light at the end is barely perceptible and completely unreachable. And that's hard. It was really hard when Dad left but I know it was necessary, even though he kept threatening to stay. I think he's completely done with Socal heat and was really ready to call Mom, tell her to pack and move out here where it hasn't broken 60 F the entire time.

This is what a real riverside looks like

Since then however, things have gotten a bit better, and old stresses have been exchanged for new ones (isn't that always the way). While I still miss home, I now have my own room at St. Mary's College which, while small, is my own, and for now that's enough. The food is...passable, although I did have a pretty atrocious attempt at Mexican last night. Kidney beans with taco seasoning and onions on rice is NOT Mexican. If I can ever get my hands on the proper ingredients, it's going down. The people here are so sweet and extremely helpful, which makes being a little lost American a bit easier. Plus I met a bunch of other international students who are all in the same boat, which makes dealing and adjusting smoother. There are people here from everywhere! Besides the UK there's Singapore, Dubai, Norway, Tokyo, Panama, the States, Canada, Germany, the Isle of Man, and many more I can't remember at the moment.

Part of St. Mary's College

Right now probably the most nerve wracking thing is school itself. Even though I don't start classes until Monday, the system here is so foreign, I'm having trouble understanding anything. The program description for the MA in Archaeology said no prior education in arch. required. It failed to mention however, that it would be REALLY REALLY helpful. I feel so behind and unprepared but then I haven't even started classes yet, so maybe I should just breathe and see what happens. I'm not going down without a fight that's for sure. I've dreamt of becoming an archaeologist for too long to simply freak out at the unknown. Archaeology is all about discovering the unknown, and if I have to start with the basics, so be it. At least everyone in my group is really nice. There are only four others doing Roman studies. One other girl from America, two boys from England, and another boy from Italy. The department is also really supportive, and Durham has the reputation for having the nicest arch. staff of any school in Britain. Also, they love to party. Apparently the staff has a regular pub called the Victoria, where they all go. I can't imagine my undergrad proffs walking around wine in hand and talking to every student louder and louder throughout the evening, but that was my Wednesday night.

The Archaeology Department

And it isn't just the department. Everyone here drinks... a lot. There's wine at the fancy dinners, there's a bar downstairs in my college and a bar in every other college on campus (there's about 15), plus all the pubs in town about a ten minute walk away. Whew! I haven't really gotten into that, but I did go to a couple nice welcome meals, and I got to go to a international postgrad party, wherein I danced at a ceili (an Irish party for those of you who don't know). It was AWESOME!

The Durham Cathedral on the River Wear. I wish we were allowed to take pictures inside. 

On a more serious note, I officially matriculated, which is like reverse graduation where you dress in robes and nice clothes and are welcomed to the university. It took place in the Durham Cathedral, which is by far one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my entire life. Plus the courtyard where we lined up was where they shot scenes from Harry Potter, so while I was in my gown there I totally looked like a witch. That was pretty darn fantastic. The cathedral itself takes your breath away. It's almost 1000 years old and is always evolving, including the installation of a millenium glass window. You should all google it to see how gorgeous it is, or better yet, come visit me and see it for yourself!

Durham Cathedral courtyard. You can almost see the quidditch teams meeting.