If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium

Well this blog title has absolutely no bearing on what will actually be in this blog but it's just something my Dad says a lot and it felt appropriate. I mean, it is Tuesday, but I'm not in Belgium. Although, it would be pretty cool to be in Belgium, but I'm not exactly sure what happens in Belgium. I think they're known for their chocolate. And the capital is Brussels. They also may be half French and half German. This has now turned into a stream of consciousness and I'm positive all of you have stopped reading. My apologies.

Now onto what I actually did on Tuesday. Class didn't begin for us until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, so I had the entire morning free. After staying up a bit too late on Monday night, I awoke and pushed myself to go for a run on the Thames. I ran by a man dressed in a mouse costume sitting on a bench overlooking the Thames, and that made Tuesday a great day. I then met up with Melissa and Jenny for a visit to the National Portrait Gallery before class. They have a life size statue of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert dressed in Anglo-Saxon dress. I've decided to commission a photo of me when I return. I'm thinking this one to my right would be best.

We spent about 1.5 hours going through there before grabbing lunch at a nice Italian place in Leicester Square. Then it was off to class, where we took a tour of the London Library. It was a really great tour, and we got to see a lot of what this amazing library has to offer. There is a post on my class blog about it and you can access that here.

After the tour ended, we were once more on our own for the rest of the day. It was raining quite a but as we left so Melissa, Jenny, and I went to the local Tesco to pick up drinks and some finger foods for dinner. Then it was back to blog and enjoy the evening. It was a rather lazy evening, but sometimes that is needed. Yet another great day in London!

It Comes in Pints? I'm Getting One

Once more, life and travel in and around London has forced me to put off my blogging. But I'm back and ready to fill you in with everything I've done for the past three days (over the course of three blogs)

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day in Oxford. Now, my parents tell me that I was there eleven years ago but I do not remember. Still, it was an amazing experience. Oxford is located about an hour or so outside of London, and we traveled there by train. We traveled through the industrial parts of the city and suddenly found ourselves in the vicinity of Oxford University. It's beautiful buildings dominate the landscape and the architecture ranges from old English Gothic to the Renaissance, to modern day commercial architecture.



We received a tour of the Bodleian (above), which I posted about on my other blog. You can access that here. Then we were allowed some free time to get lunch an explore. Melissa, Jenny, and I took advantage of the tour guide's generosity to see another part of the library, the Radcliffe Camera (on your left), and then had lunch at a small cafe under a church. Then we went through The Museum of the History of Science, but had to cut that short to meet up with our group at Christ's Church College.

We went through the grounds, seeing the Great Hall (which was actually used as the Great Hall in Harry Potter), and then saw the church itself. We then got a personal tour of the library (right), which is much smaller than the Bodleian but has its own distinct charms. After that tour, we were once more left to our own devices so the three of us rushed to the Ashmolean Museum, a very famous museum of Art and Archaeology. We went through the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman areas, and then saw a Stradivarius. Several major nerd moments occurred.

We ended the day with a pint and some food at the Eagle and the Chive. This is where several famous Oxford attendees used to hang out, most notably Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. It was so cool to be there and I finally got a beer that I truly enjoyed. And the bartender informed me that I was a serious drinker. Still trying to figure out of that's a compliment or not....I'm taking it as a compliment.

We made it back to the train through some rain and were back in London within an hour. Our trip to Oxford was a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July but it seemed very surreal. I definitely missed not being in America for the holiday and plan on being there next year.

A Quick Jaunt Across the Pond

(Editors note: Sorry about not finishing my Ireland blog. I got swamped with school at the end of the semester and then it ended...and I moved...and then something else rather surprisingly happened...and now I'm leaving again. So it just never happened. Sorry! I plan on returning very soon so I promise to blog on that trip.)

I must say, I am insanely calm despite the fact that I am leaving the United States in two days. For those who know me, this isn’t usual. I’m seriously acting as if I’m merely going to one state over when really, I’ll be across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom for one month. Normally, I would be freaking out. I mean, I really should be freaking out. I shouldn’t be able to sleep at night due to excitement. I should be looking up every possible library/archive that I will be visiting. I should be planning all of my weekends and evenings. I should be worried about everything that could but probably won’t go wrong. This is what old Kate would be doing. However, it seems that Kate is now laid back about life. She’s mellowed in her old age and has learned how to go with the flow.

Right now, I’m positive you're rocking back and forth and muttering, Inconceivable. (In the most non-crazy way.) Well, I'm not sure how or when it happened but sometime in the past month or two, I’ve become more relaxed and laid back about life. It’s all too short to worry about all the minute details. And in the end, all the major ones get done. I’ve just somehow learned not to stress too much about it. NBD kids. I’m handling everything with extreme ease. Packing? Yeah it will get done. I made a list. I’ll be fine. I'm sure you have questions. Such as, will she have to resort to working the corner in Piccadilly Circus to pay for food and booze? Not at all. I'm totally flush with cash, being a grad student and all. (but really, I am good with money. I will not resort to such illegal activities and be forthwith deported.) How will I communicate, you ask? I got Skype working and I’ll get myself a phone in the UK to call people I meet while I’m there. Homework? Well, I have one of my book reviews done and I finished reading the second book. It’s not due until Thursday. It will get done. And it's a library science course - it shouldn't be too difficult.

Still, this trip to England is a pretty big thing. And since I’ve just rambled for two paragraphs, I guess it’s about time that I actually explain what I’ve been alluding to above. Back in January, I discovered a Study Abroad program through the University of Southern Mississippi. Their “British Studies Program” takes a large contingent of students across the pond to study and live in England for a month. When I saw that there was a library science component, I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I would be able to visit libraries and archives in England and Scotland? Sounds like a dream month. I applied, was accepted, and have been slowly preparing for my trip since April.

Well April quickly turned into May and then June and now my departure is finally here. On Thursday night, I will fly out of Dulles International Airport and by Friday morning, I will have arrived in Foggy London town. For roughly a month, I will live in the dorms at King’s College in London. The course takes us to different libraries and archives in London and the surrounding region. After two weeks, we pack our bags and head to Scotland for three days. Then I have a five day mini-break where I can go wherever I wish. My goal is to visit Germany, Austria, and/or the Czech Republic. Then it’s back to London for the last week of classes, final exams, some Olympic celebrations, and then I’m back in D.C. on Saturday morning July 28th.

It will be a whirlwind and I’m asking all of you to join me on it. I’ll be blogging in two different blogs. One will be for the University of Southern Mississippi and then my personal blog. (Here is the link to my first blog entry for USM: http://blogs.usm.edu/blogging-abroad/2012/06/19/there-and-back-again-a-grad-students-tale/ I'll try to remember to link that one to this one as well). There may actually be a third blog, for my actual course, but I will know more about that when I arrive. Suffice it to say, I will be writing a lot. And I plan on keeping a journal, as well as sending lots of emails to friends and family. So expect to hear much more from me in the coming weeks. And this blog will be much more interesting and open than the school one…..I don’t have to be politically correct on this one :) And I promise to have lots of hilarious stories….or at least I promise to make some up if nothing funny happens. (I also promise to refrain from talking in the third person).

See you on the other side!

- Kate