Winter Break and a Year in Review

The end of the semester officially arrived on Wednesday afternoon with the slightly unsettling 'thunk' of six essays being ceremoniously dropped into a locked submission box. Despite the fact that I feel relieved to have successfully survived my first semester of graduate school, when I got home Wednesday evening I felt at a loss. Mostly because I had nothing more to procrastinate and there were so many options of what to do with my time that it was slightly overwhelming.

As a result, I bought myself a reward for finishing the semester. Actor John Barrowman is a native Glaswegian and does pantomime shows at the SECC, which is a short walk away from my flat. I bought a ticket to go see it; it wasn't too expensive, and I figured it would be entirely cool to get to see one of the actors I admire up close. Boy, was I right. The show was amazing. It was called Dick McWhittington, based off of the show Dick Whittington and His Cat, but with a Glaswegian twist! It was phenomenal and while I did not get the chance to meet John this go-around, I'm thinking of going again!

And more adventures will start soon enough.

I'm bad at this blogging thing: Stirling, Linlithgow, Antonine Wall, and other miscellany.

Nervous chuckling. Apologies for the lack in updates; things have really kicked into the swing of it over here. Now that I've been here for three months (it has been three months on the nose since I left home) it's about time for an update. Time seems to be slowing down a fair bit, and speeding up almost simultaneously. And let's not mention how close to Christmas it is!

It has felt like longer since I moved here, and speeding up in the fact that since then I've written two essays (which I and my fellow Celtic & Viking MLitts would rather not think about again), started doing some volunteer stuff with my convenor, attended some amazing lectures on Iona (potential dissertation topic!), Richard III, and Stonehenge. I might get to work with some material from Iona starting in January, and I've also gone to some new places, as well!

An Eclectic Set of Adventures

Things are really starting to settle in now that I've been living here for almost two months. I get asked for directions on the street at least once a week, and I'm starting to consider that a surefire sign that I do in fact live here and while I may not be from here I know that a big part of me does belong in this country. And of course, along with the settling in comes the frequent adjustments academically. I've mentioned it before, and it seems to be an over-arching theme.

One month!

I should have written this blog earlier, but as of 9 October, I've been living in Scotland for one month! It simultaneously feels like longer, and not long enough. Classes have picked up a little more, and I'm still stuck in the everlasting rut of the "PhD or job" internal debate, but am going to seek out answers with a few professors when I can. Lately, I haven't really been going anywhere too far or too terribly exciting.

The Highlands and higher learning.

It's been nearly a month now since I've moved here. I can't say that it's been really easy, but it hasn't been terribly hard either. There are moments of homesickness that mostly come around when I'm left by myself without anything to do or anyone to talk to and won't go away and, let's be honest, sort of ruin the night. But since I last wrote, I did have some adventures. Namely my first excursion up into the highlands. I've been keeping up to date with what the International Society does and what trips they offer, and joined up on a trip to the highlands to places like Inveraray, Glencoe, Fort William, and Harry Potter Bridge (Glenfinnan Viaduct) last Saturday, September 28. I've allowed myself one day each week to go explore someplace new or do something without worrying about how much work I'll have to do later. Last Saturday's trip was beautiful, to say the very least, and very uncharacteristically warm!

Our first stop was Inveraray, which has been made famous recently in British pop culture as the location for the filming of Downton Abbey's 2012 Christmas Special.

Inveraray Castle

Inchmahome, Callander, and Edinburgh

Since I last wrote, I've done some more exploring! Thursday, 19 September, the archaeology department master's students went on a "required" field trip to Inchmahome Priory on the Lake of Menteith (fun fact: the Lake of  Menteith is the only 'lake' in Scotland, the rest are called 'lochs') and Callander. So we departed from the archaeology/geosciences building at 10:00 in the morning and didn't make it very far before we had to stop. For about an hour and a half. Turns out, the other bus had broken down and they would have to wait for a mechanic and then turn around and get another bus! Thankfully, my program in particular was absolutely required to go to Inchmahome, so I didn't miss a single thing, aside from being late.

We got to the Lake of Menteith and it was raining. Not full-on downpour, but gentle mist and enough to get wet after standing outside for a while. Upon arriving, we took a small motorboat out to the priory itself, which rests on an island in the lake. It was absolutely magical feeling. Of course, I'm sure I'll see many more amazing priories and ruins of abbeys and the sort, but stepping foot on Inchmahome certainly confirmed that I was going to be studying the right thing in the right place. The picture to the left is my first glimpse of Inchmahome after coming off the docks.

Castles, Cathedrals, and Courses

What an interesting past few couple of days it's been! Monday marked one week since I've been living here and also marked the beginnings of a brilliant Scottish-borne cold (don't worry, I'm drinking lots of tea and eating tons of fruit to hold it off as long as I can)! Since I last wrote, many exciting things have happened! On Friday, I attended an International Orientation trip to Culzean Castle and Country Park, which is right on the coast and about 14 minutes outside the centre of Maybole, Scotland.

I was originally supposed to go to St Andrews and Falkland Palace but because I failed to pick up my Orientation tickets on time, my tickets went to someone else and this trip was left open. It was a good choice though! Culzean is less of a castle and more of a manor-style building. The house was enlarged in the 1590s and continued to grow via the Kennedy family (not associated with the Kennedy's of America!); I won't go through the entire history of the place because honestly it's a lot to take in, and very very complex at points but I will give you a fun fact! President Dwight Eisenhower was actually given the top floor apartments of the Culzean Castle as a gift after World War II. He made four trips to Culzean, three as general, once as president, and he often liked to golf, walk the beaches, and paint during his visits. After his death, the rooms were returned to the National Trust for Scotland and made into suites, which people can now pay exuberant amounts of money to stay in.

It was really fun to wander around the gardens with Carolina, one of my flatmates, and see things like the Swan Pond, and go climb down to the shoreline to linger among the rocks of the beach and explore some shallow cliff-side caves. We spent nearly all day there, and then the following day, Saturday, I spent at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The nice thing about the Glasgow Museums is that the majority of them are absolutely free. The Kelvingrove is one of them. The exhibits are excellently put together and I even got a fair few surprises when I wandered around.

I had no idea what would be in the Kelvingrove before I left, so I was pleased to find an exhibit on the first peoples of Scotland, an exhibit on the Vikings, and a Conflict and Consequences exhibit which contained suits of armor and swords, even a small display on the Holocaust. I also on Saturday went to a traditional Scottish dance called a ceilidh. For those who do not know what a ceilidh is, check out this video (our ceilidh was very very informal and filled with MANY more people, but we did actually do the first dance that is shown in that video). It was very fun, and very crazy at points.

On Sunday, Carolina and I walked for ages to get to the Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis. The Cathedral is the only remaining medieval church on the Scottish mainland which lasted entirely untouched through the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s (largely at the expense of King Henry).  

As someone doing Celtic and Viking Archaeology and is extremely interested in medieval Christianity and ecclesiastical-related topics, this was absolutely amazing to see. It's about a forty minute walk from my flat, and totally worth it (even if it did rain). Additionally, we went to the St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art which is right across the way from the Cathedral and was very informative about all sorts of religions that are represented in Glasgow. Fun fact: St Mungo (otherwise known as St Kentigern) is the patron saint of Glasgow!

Since Sunday, I've waited for my program inductions. And at long last, today, Wednesday, I've finally had them! I spent from 10:00 this morning until around 7:00 going over logistics of the archaeology department, learning IT related things that are useful to my studies (such as how to access self-taught courses for ArcGIS and AutoCAD) and I also got to meet my core professors for my program and my fellow PGTs (post-graduate taught degree). I was given so much information - on Moodle, on door codes for the PGT workspace and various rooms undergraduates do not have access too, on 24 hour code access to the building, etc. The department is also very closely knit, much like Gettysburg in some respects. I'm very excited that we have our own amenities and spaces, labs and lounges, and the PGRs are more than willing to help out the PGTs on anything they need. A popular topic on the PG moodle is "Who has this book?" where anyone can ask for a book and if someone has it, they can more than likely borrow it, even if it's a personal copy.

I'm a mixture of absolutely terrified, overwhelmed, and excited. I spoke with a researcher who has gone to Glasgow and is now moving on for a job, but has worked extensively with the Isle of Iona, which is what I would like to focus on for a potential masters dissertation, or even future doctoral thesis. I was torn between feeling like I know nothing, and being assured as I explained my background and interests that I would be a-okay. 

I also spoke with many of the post-graduate research or PhD students, many of whom are in their third or fourth final year of PhD. It came to my knowledge that I sort of have to decide if I want to do a PhD immediately after this pretty much within the next two months. Of course, this is all reliant on funding. I know I want a PhD eventually, however, I would also like some huge opportunities for fieldwork and research. If I wait too long, I could potentially lose the relationships that I will build here at Glasgow, or have those relationships become more distant than if I try for one now while I have the chance to become close with many of my peers and advisers. It's a decision I need to come to (also to decide: US or UK? That in itself is a load of differences - price, time [five to seven years versus four]) quite soon. Many American PhD students I spoke with did fund themselves through loans, and though they agreed that the advice not to do one unless I'm funded is ideal, they also suggested that if I have something I'm passionate about and know it will pay for itself in the long run, I should do it regardless of price tag.

Regardless, it's a large chunk to focus on rather quickly. I have a large amount of reading to do as well, but I'm more excited for that (once I figure out exactly how I'm going to do it... sharing these books with eight classmates is going to be interesting) as I finally get to explore my interests on a deeper level. Of course, I'm still having technical problems (enrollment, some issues with MyCampus - the running joke is who doesn't have issues with MyCampus?!, some issues with weird numbers coming up on my student account) but as long as I show up for my courses I should be alright.

Tomorrow, we're taking a department field trip to Inchmahome Priory and Callander, which was talked about fondly by previous MLitt students. Apparently, it's the trip and the moment where everything becomes clear that you're absolutely in the right place doing the right thing (we also take a little rowboat to the island for Inchmahome).

I have no doubt that I will feel the exact same.

"I have some bad news..."

I stood, hands shaking, in the Visa registration line after being up for nearly 24 hours on Monday afternoon (it would total nearly 36 hours by the end of the day), battling my way through several airports, and somehow managing to find the right building on campus all on my own just mere hours after landing. I did not want to believe what this very kind Scottish woman was telling me. There was no way. "Because you came through Dublin, and this happens every year to someone, we've put a notice up on the webpage and you've received a letter about it too, they didn't validate your Visa. It means you technically aren't allowed to study until you get this stamped."

I must've made a distressed face because she continued on, her tone more apologetic. "It means you have to leave the country and come back thru again."

"I ... what?"

ETA: Five days!

Might as well count it as four days, though, shouldn't I?

An update from the American side of the pond, probably for the last time until this blog officially transitions to bonnie Scotland for the next year. All of my clothes are packed and I've kept out what I want to take with me to the airport - I just need to pack the odds and ends, boots and books, pictures and things I still need to get through the next five days. I also found out that including myself, there are nine people in my programme, which makes it just the right size for someone who is used to the small, liberal arts setting!

Some Slight Turbulence

Hello! For those of you who don't get first hand experience with the tears, panic attacks, and angry rants about miscommunication, here's a bit of an update! Still on the American side of the pond, but the departure date, as you all know, is set in stone and the paperwork just keeps getting higher. Thus, we've experienced some slight, shall we call it, turbulence on the paperwork front.

Good news, however! Here's a picture of where my new home for the next year will be:

A theme of Independence

Happy Independence Day to all of you who live in America (myself included as of the moment)!

Today, on my 4th of July, I did the following: finished loan entrance counselling, applied for a loan, signed a Master Promissory Note for said loan, as well as one for a federal loan. Man oh man, am I going to absolutely (to be read with dripping sarcasm) love it when my wallet is consistently empty for the next 30 years! I also was told that my housing application should be processed within the next 7-10 days and I haven't heard anything about my CAS yet. Insert me throwing my hands up in the air and sighing.

But things have certainly moved forward in the past two days, if only by baby steps!

And something I thought that would be interesting to tell you all, that focuses on the theme of Independence!

First Benchmarks

Flight: purchased.

Housing: applied.

Loan forms: received.