Work, Work, Work

Lots of work, first paper due in a couple weeks and the term is over in a month and a half. Unbelievable. Working on my first paper about the archaeology of personhood in Balkan prehistory. Sorry for the lack of updates, busy busy busy.

Fish and Chips and Seaside Towns

Went to the ocean yesterday. Ate some fish and chips at a pub and it was the biggest order of fish and chips I have ever laid eyes on. I could barely make a dent in the meal. It was windy, cold, and kind of raining. But I've never been to the ocean in Britain before so all in all it wasn't a bad day. The town was Seaham, and basically everything was closed down. Walked past a bingo place that had fake bloody hand prints on the window and some automated voice calling out numbers and random words. Pretty weird.

Freshers' Flu

So I have caught the flu or a seriously nasty cold. I'm scared to cough too hard because every time I do I either have an asthma attack or almost have one. Had my last two classes of the week this morning, and I went even though last night I didn't sleep at all because of this annoying illness. Some call it "Freshers' Flu" (they refer to first years/freshman as freshers). I just want to get over it, as quickly as possible. This is one English experience I did not want.

First Lecture

Had my first lecture today. It's a prehistory course titled Balkan Personhood and Material Culture. Today's topic was Recent Approaches to Material Culture. We will be expanding on that later in the week in the extra hour for MA students (the course has quite a few third years [equivalent to undergraduate seniors] in it as well).

We discussed material culture and personhood and the intimate relations between person-place-object.

Personal favorite point:

Learning to use tools is learning to make the body. Things can be made by people and yet also be made out of people. There is a direct link between learning how to make things/developing skills and learning/using/developing the body.

Birthdays, Harry Potter, and Sundays

My birthday was on the fourth and some friends taped a bunch of balloons to my door. We had cake and went out to eat at an Asian food restaurant called the Fat Buddha. I had the sweet and sour chicken that was, to say the least, delicious.

Matriculation into Durham was this past week. It's a formal ceremony and everyone goes into the Durham Cathedral in groups, my group was the last. It was all the post graduates, and one member of each college goes up and signs a book. It was a bit like the sorting hat ceremony in Harry Potter. The cathedral is, yet again to say the least, incredible. No pictures were allowed so I don't have any to show but it's the most incredible cathedral I have ever seen in my life.

And apparently, everything is either closed or closed very early on Sundays. Went to a 24 hour supermarket, it closed at 4pm. It's 24 hours except on Sundays.

Postings

Sorry for the lack of updates, I will update again soon. I've been really busy signing up for classes and getting everything ready for them to start on Monday. I will try to post about once a week. So check in soon for a new posting!

Fish and Chips

Went into the city centre again today and ate some very filling (but very delicious) fish and chips. There was some sort of costume convention going on. Spotted two Waldos and had my first sighting of a Mary Poppins character, Bert the chimney sweep. Durham is incredibly beautiful. The city centre is so historic and old and there is a lot to do and see. There is a surprising number and variety of shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, and even a couple nightclubs. Apparently the worst nightclub is all of Europe is in Durham, Klute. Better believe I will go there once. I've been told that once is enough.

The archaeology course work has not started but registration for that is Tuesday. I'm looking forward to getting busy with class and work. I've all but forgotten I'm here for school. I'll remember soon enough though, so meanwhile I'll keep enjoying my pre-classes vacation.