The day snow came to UEA...

I know what you're thinking: "Two posts in one day? She must be done with her work!" But sadly, that would be the wrong assumption to make. Something more along the lines of "She can't read another novel or string sentences together to form logical thought to save her life!" would be closer to the truth. And since I updated about the weekend before last, I might as well just tell you about last weekend as well... Since we're on a weekend theme here.

Last weekend it snowed at UEA.

This in and of itself is not the most earth-shattering news to hit the world. I mean, it IS winter, and we ARE in England. A snowfall was bound to occur at some point. But what I am interested in is people's response to this otherwise unextroardinary (I guess that would be just "ordinary"..?) event.

To be fair, while I love my flatmates to death, they are not the most mature crayons in the box. (Case in point: last night's dinner table discussion: "Why do men like boobs?") So while I may be examining not most representative group in the population, I believe some of these conclusions can be universally-applied.

Saturday morning, we awoke to a fresh blanket of snow. Correction. We awoke to Ellie screaming and banging on the doors that it had snowed. Even more alarming was how everyone, rather than rolling over and going back to sleep like normal college students, actually got out of bed before noon and began jumping about and screaming in various states of excitement.

And where was I in all of this? Why you better believe I was jumping and screaming right with them! At its best, Portland gets an average of one snowfall per year, and half of the time its the kind that disappears the moment it hits the pavement. So while unlike my Indian and Australian friends I have experienced many a snowfall with all of the delights and activities contained therein, it is still rare enough to elicit excitement.

Most interesting was how it magically turned my "homework weekend" into a "blow off homework and play in the snow weekend." What can I say? My gumption to edit my Jane Austen paper fell away with each falling snowflake. Instead, we walked, we sledged (English word for "sled") on the single hill in East Angia (one of 5 in England and 12 in the greater UK region), we made a double-sided snowman that could simultaneously stare into our kitchen and at the outside world at once... We even partook in an epic snow battle between Norfolk and Suffolk Terrace that involved two sides of about fifty residents threateningly lobbing snowballs at each other before charging with battle cries in Lord of the Rings manner. And in the evenings (evening being 3:30 in the afternoon when it got dark) we would stumble home, frozen and soaked, to hot chocolate and movies in our Christmas-lit kitchen. Basically, it reminded me of the best snowfalls of my childhood.

So call it what you will. A type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, or the means of regressing an entire body of University students to 10-year-olds, snow is wonderful, and will always be a welcome weather in my forecast. And its most untimely disappearance by Monday reminded everyone that yes indeed, the semestre ends in three weeks, and no, unfortunately those papers will not write themselves! So, dear snow, until the next weekend when stressed-out students need reminding that other things exist than...well...being stressed-out students, so long!

Belated Post on Edinburrrrrr-ahhhhh!

I would like to formally apologize for my pitiful presence in the blog world lately. I guess when you spend all day trying to convince your professors that you are brilliant, you run out of steam to do it on the internet. At this point, I cannot be bothered to do a full post on Edinburgh, so I will tell the story in photos. Like a picture book! I apologize. This is the most my mind can summon at this point.
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This is our giddy happiness to finally have arrived in Edinburgh after a grueling 10-hour HOT coach ride. From left to right, we have Bisma, Vania, Emily, Huong, Laura, me, and Johnny. This was supposed to be a "girl's photo" but Johnny jumped in at the last minute. When he found out our scheme, he said "What? This is sexistic!" That is why I am cackling.


We were all quite giddy the first night in Edinburgh. Even though everything was dark, the lights were a perfect teaser and excited us for the next day's explorations. Later, my friend Laura would buy a street artist's painting of Edinburgh at night because it reminded her of that first fun night.


This is a street off of the Royal Mile. To get the flavor.


Laura and I had a delicious lunch at this "literary" restaurant where J.K. Rowling among others wrote while nursing a cup o' joe. We sat there for a long time trying to harness some of that divine inspiration for our papers... not sure it worked...


Edinburgh castle behind us.


This is a view of "modern" side of the city with the loch behind. The loch is called the "Firth of Forth" which was hilarious to hear Johnny try to pronounce.


William Wallace was there! To remind us that they will never have OUR FREEEEDOM!!!!

A view of Arthur's Seat from the Castle. The others hiked this the next day while Laura and I were being nerds in the Museum of Scotland. I kind of regret not going because it sounded amazing.


The Castle again.


We saw these guys! Adorable little chessmen that are among the oldest artifacts in Scotland. Their little faces were so cute!


On Saturday we went to a night club. Which I have determined are the same everywhere.


Happy Amber. ALBEIT COLD AMBER!

So there you have it folks. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I hope these images are a suitable replacement for the vivid imagery and charming description of my regular posts. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Save me some pie!....not joking.

"What should Amber do with her life?": A Poll

Please cast your vote with letters A through F.

A. Do Teach for America for two years.

B. Teach English in a foreign (preferably Spanish-speaking) country for a year.

C. Work for a publishing company until I decide I hate it and earn $ to go to grad school.

D. Find an a rare job working with special collections or book preservation. Perhaps pursue that in grad school.

E. Find a job anywhere where I can read and/or write.

F. Other:________________________
(write in)

Thank you for voting!

The Invite

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long absences. The excuse is a happy one: I have been spending more time living my life than writing about it... Also, school papers make me never want to see a keyboard again. Hopefully, I will post a blog and pictures from my AMAZING trip to Edinburgh last weekend, but until then I thought I would share the invite to the Thanksgiving I will be attending next Thursday.

Traditional Thanksgiving Feast

Are you an American missing home? Or a British or international student who always wondered what all the fuss is about? If so, why not come and immerse yourself in the festivities!

Enjoy a traditional all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving feast with turkey, a vegetarian option, and all the trimmings. And afterwards the Union Pub will be showing the American Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks in the Blue Bar.

The dinner will be £16 and you can eat as much as you can and there is no admission to watch the American Football. Arrive for dinner at 18.30 to get a seat and have a drink before dinner which will start at 19.00.One drink will be included with dinner and will be either a soft drink, one bottle of Budweiser or a glass of American wine. You will be able to purchase more drinks at the bar in Vista.

The all-you-can-eat buffet menu

* Roasted Turkey or
* Spinach, Parsnip and Butternut Squash Roulade served with
* Gravy, Cranberry Sauce and Sausage Meat or Vegetarian Stuffing
* Roasted Potatoes
* Baked Sweet Potatoes
* Mashed Potatoes
* Corn
* Cream Spinach
* Green Beans with Chestnuts
for dessert
* Pumpkin Pie
* Pecan Pie
* Apple Pie

After dinner head over to the Blue Bar to an exciting American football game which starts at 21.15. Don't worry if you don't understand the game or the rules, I am sure there will be plenty of people who do and they will be happy to explain. Nonetheless it will be a truly festive atmosphere and night.

My favorite parts:
-Watching this "American football game" is apparently a fundamental cornerstone of our culture. And, you know, those pilgrims and Squanto didn't really do anything that important.
-The drink list features Budweiser and "American wine"! Even the cheapest of European beers would send Budweiser running for the hills.
-I just love the menu's conscious effort to present a well-rounded Thanksgiving feast with three types of potatoes and three types of pies.

While the thought of a mass-produced Thanksgiving that I actually have to pay for (I mean, isn't it free?) was originally less than appetizing, I am actually quite excited. I have loved absolutely everything I have done with the international students; we are all willing to sample each other's cultures and cuisine. Besides, St. Louis Kelly and San Francisco Michael and I were realizing that we would really miss Thanksgiving if we just ignored it. So while I may have class earlier that day (grrr!) I will be turkeying it up with the best of them for dinner. And who knows? Maybe I will even fade into my turkey-induced stupor to a rousing game of American football come nightfall! I could even help explain the rules.... Well... sort of.

Pictures

Oh, and for anyone who is interested, I posted pics from the last week here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197906&l=15ed8&id=11513535

An English Ceilidh

So last night I went to an English Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee) without any notion of what exactly I was getting myself into. The organizer of the event explained to us that English is missing its folk culture, and it's true. Everyone knows what traditional Irish music and dancing is, and even Scottish folk with the bagpipes and kilts is well-known, but England is one of the only European countries that doesn't have a traditional costume and music. Even most English people get stumped when asked what their folk culture is... Part of the reason for this is the prominent role the Industrial Revolution played in shaping the nation; smaller folk culture kind of faded out. By the end of the night, a roomful of international students understood English folk better than most English.

The night had the potential to be a total disaster. There was a single caller explaining to a roomful of stunned international students that they would be hopping and sliding around the floor like the people at a Jane Austen ball, but everyone got really into it until we were all laughing and clapping and hopping around like rabbits. My partner for one of the dances ended up being a great big guy who swung me around so fast, that I nearly lost my footing. He seemed to think this was rather funny, and did it over and over again until I had had about enough. There was a band composed of guitar, violin, banjo, accordian, etc. and the tunes sounded almost Irish, almost Scottish, but not fully either because they were English. There were even some folk singers who sang songs about men whose homing pigeons flew away, and one about a woman who covered herself in goose poo, which was amusing.

I met a ton more international students, and it really surprised me how intent most of them are to learn English. I have met a handful of students on exchange such as myself, whose classes aren't even going to count toward their home university when they return. Whyyy then are they studying here, you may ask? The single most often explanation is to learn English better. One fellow studying science explained that English is the language of the sciences. All the scientific papers are in English, and if you want to succeed in the field, you MUST be able to maneuver in the circle of English science.

In many cases, it is often about forward motion too. I asked my friend Johnny if he missed speaking German, and he said no, not really, that he was here to perfect his English, and didn't want to speak German as much. He said that when his German friends spoke to him in German, he would respond in English because that he what he is here to do. This surprised me, because when I was in Spain, I was SOO happy whenever I met another English-speaker, and would speak very fast, easy English to them. I know that if I had insisted on speaking Spanish all the time, I would have learned it all that much better, so the fault is mine. I find their insistence to learn English inspiring, and it kind of reminds me of how all the immigrants that came to the States must have felt when they left their home country and language behind. It IS crazy and kind of scary to think of how imperialistic this language has become, especially in academics, that people who don't need to learn it want to in order to pursue a certain career or line of study. Could English possibly become our global language someday? It certainly seems like a possibility.

Cotswolds

I can tell I am being influenced by the English because I am beginning each of my posts with a discussion of the weather. Continuing in that vein, yesterday was beautiful with some peaks of sun through the clouds, and today is just drizzly enough to create a halo of water beads on my frizz, but not enough to justify umbrella usage... However, I have been walking around with a smile on my face ever since I awoke to Nicholas' voice with the news that Obama had won. Moments later, my German friend Johnny texted me saying "Congratulations! You can be proud to be an American again!" Here's hoping! Everyone I have run into has been very happy about it; my American friends I met up with and I just clutched each other this morning as an unspoken congratulation.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Yesterday was the full-day Cotswolds Discovery tour, which I am so glad I did since I would not have been able to see half of the villages I did by public transport or larger bus. Also, I was able to reconnect with some of the amazing people from the Stonehenge tour. The Cotswolds are a 50x90 mile patch of English countryside that are known for their rolling hills and Shire-like English cottages. Cotswold literally means farm on the rolling hill. They were originally prosperous for woold production, but fell into economic hardship as the industrial revolution swept the nation forward, leaving these bucolic, thatched villages behind. It was magnificent touring through this region because there were hardly any other tourists, and mostly farmers and shopkeepers going about their business. Here are the villages I went to: Castle Combe, Tetbury, Bibury, Stowe-on-the-Wold, Upper-Slaughter, from which I walked to Lower-Slaughter, Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and Chipping Camden. Most of these villages required a brief stop to oooh and aaah and snap a photo or take a cup of tea since other than that...well, there wasn't much to do. Which was exactly why I loved it so much.

A few of us used the tour as transport to other destinations. We stayed at various hostels/B&B's in Stowe, and met up later for dinner, which I was happy for since the small village shut down at 5pm and streets were clear by 6pm, leaving absolutely no nightlife. Since I am poor, I ordered but a meager salad, but the older man bought my dinner, making me wish I had ordered the lamb or venison or other such fancy meats. I met a kindred spirit in his son, who is my age and is couch-surfing around Europe for the next six months! As a seasoned traveler, I was able to give him some advice, making me feel extremely cool as a woman of the world.

Oh my god, there is so much more to say, but my internet is running out in this library! I will have to finish when I get back to Norwich tomorrow evening. Honestly, I feel like I could keep traveling for another five days. It's been so wonderful. But I guess I have to rejoin the real world at some point.

Thank God for free internet in public libraries!!!

Second day in Bath and still no rain...yay! In fact there were even some moments where if you looked really closely, the clouds almost hinted at the blue sky behind them. Actually, I am pretty sure this is just wishful thinking.

I spent the morning in the Jane Austen Centre, which although gimicky and lacking in true Austen substance, was fun for the sheer sense of the Austen community that is out there. I am not the only one! Also, it really solidified an idea that I had secretly been harboring about the resurgence of interest in Jane Austen's work in the past few years. Movies like "Discovering Jane" and "Lost in Austen" reveal a renewed interest in her biographical side, and within the past year, the BBC has come out with at least three new adaptations of her novels. Even the widely popular Bridget Jones' books and movies suggest an interest in Austenien conceits applied to the modern day. I have decided to incorprate this into my thesis. Really, it fits in too perfectly, since I am looking at reading and the novel in Jane Austen's time. What better excuse to re-watch some of my favorite movies than for the solemn duty of research? It will be interesting to look at modern reviews, to see how today's readers have co-opted Austen to fill their modern needs. Also, it will give my thesis a greater sense of applicability rather than being "just another Austen thesis..." Clearly, my thesis will determine that everyone is just waiting for her Mr. Darcy to emerge dripping from a lake to take her away...

The afternoon was spent on a Mad Max Minibus tour of Lacock and Stonehenge. Lacock is a cute Cotswold Village that got me excited for tomorrow's full-day tour, and Stonehenge was actually quite exciting for me. I know what others have said: that it's cliche, looks exactly how it looks, and is a total tourist trap, but there's something about staring at those giant pieces of stone that were hauted 250 miles upriver and set in a circular calendar with absolutely no solid idea of who did it or how. They've determined that it wasn't connected to the druids, but the site is over 4,000 years old! How could the builders have even moved, let alone create columns and bridges of these stones?! It's elevation is really high so it was windy and freezing up there, but for me only added to the mystery of the place.

So that's my sappy £2 about Stonehenge. ( That's meant to be 2 cents, but there is no cents sign.) Today I did a tour of the Costwolds, which was all kinds of amazing. I think I sighed and thought "How adorable!" about fifty times. A few people from yesterday's tour were there today, which was fun. A handful of us got off in this quaint little village called Stow-on-the-Wold, and are meeting for dinner soon, so I had better go. But I will write more about the Costwolds tomorrow, and add pictures when I get back to Norwich! Thinking of you all, and GOOO OBAMA!!! I'll know by tomorrow morning, baby! EEEEEEE!!

Bathing in Bath

Arriving safely and happily in Bath has reminded me of a very important thing: I FREAKING LOVE TRAVELLING!!! I love wandering the streets of new and interesting places... I love falling asleep tothe sound of snoring on a saggy mattress in a roomful of nine of hte most awesome strangers you will ever meet. I love that I am sitting in a cozy room with them right now watching The Transformers. Basically, I love the backpacker's lifestyle because you can wake up with the certainty that that anything can happen that day. In Norwich, I had settled into a comfortable routine of school, friends, the basic necessities of life... this turns that on its head. But one is no better than the other. We need a sense of home, and the excitement of adventure. Both are necessary to fully appreciate either. So basically, I am ecstatic to be on the road again, and I hope I never forget how much I love it.

It is funny the people you run into. As a twenty-something American female, I find that I am an unlikely demographic to be travelling, especially in the BITTER COLD of the English winter. This seems to make me very approachable to the friendly stranger, easing my loneliness and in some instances heightening my caution. For instance, I was downing a much-needed sandwich/killing time in a Subway yesterday when a man sat down accross from me and inquired into what I was doing in England, etc, etc. It was all good and well until he began asking, quite insistently, that I give him my name so he could add me on facebook. Since I was in Bath, I decided to follow in the example of my heroine Jane Austen and give a pseudonym. However, the minute he asked my name I blurted out "Amber" without even thinking about it. I did have the sense, when writing it down, to change my surname. So Amber Baker, if you're out there, m apologies if a random man friends you on fbook.

Not to give the impression that you don't also run into a fair amount of awesome, amazing people. I find that I am a likely target for older couples to "take under their wing." They always start with "Are you alone?" and then a "Oh my goodness!" usually follows shortly thereafter. I don't mind. In fact, I rather like it. Last night, I bought a £3 "standing ticket" to the show Cabaret at the Theatre Royal. Literally, this means that I am standing behind the seated patrons, but standing next to me happened to be an older couple from Seattle of all places! I did not think I would be able to say, here nearly 5,000 miles from my home, that I was from SE Portland and hear "Oh, I love the Hawthorne area!" Like me, they are here for three months, but are working in London doing architecture or accounting or something random like that. And yes, Cabaret had full frontal male nudity, but no, it was not tasteful to the show.

Today, I had several self-realizing moments when I caught myself thinking "Omg, Jane Austen ambled down this very promenade" or "Jane Austen took tea in this very assembly room" or "Jane Austen may have very well relieved herself in this water closet" and then immediately follow with an "Omg, I am such a literature nerd!" Many of these moments were realized on my 2.5 Jane Austen walking tour of the city. What can I say? I'm a nerd. I also toured the Fashoine Museum and the Roman Baths, whose steaming waters are over 10,000 years old! I was very overcome with the glory of it all and how genius the Romans were in their architecture and heating methods when a tour guide enlightened us to how the Romans scraped dead skin off their bodies with olive oil and knives, burned their leg hair with hot chestnuts, or plucked their arm pit hair... *shudder* I guess when you consider all the painful things people do for beauty today, it puts it in perspective. But STILL...

A few different things than when travelling in the summer: 1) It is freezing! Easily combatible with my down coat, but the CONSTANT rain of the first day was harder to deal with. I hope it holds off... 2) It gets dark about five hours earlier, severely limiting sightseeing/walking time. However, this hostelis very warm and cozy, so I will just have to sightsee earlier and chill later. 3) No Mikey :( But I am loving travelling alone.

Tomorrow, I am seeing the Jane Austen Centre in the a.m. and Stonehenge/village of Lacock in the p.m. Hope all the election excitement is going well! Someone had better let me know the minute anything happens!