Third year is now in full swing and I'm starting to realize that I actually care about my degree. More clearly put, I've always cared about my degree in that I've always cared about having some new credentials after showing up and jumping through hoops for four years. Now I'm really starting to love what I'm studying.
For instance: I'm far more engaged in what I'm reading, I follow up on suggested background reading; I even took out a book that was mentioned in the most recent chapter of my textbook. Considering I've coasted for the better part of the past 14 years of my education, this is quite something. It's refreshing and it's created a drive like I haven't had since the last time I left a project until 24h before the deadline (a frequent occurrence). Motivation is certainly something I've been missing out on.
On a far less lame note, I've picked up a few linguistics-related blogs which I'm quite enjoying and tonight I'm stopping by the Linguistics Society meeting to see what that's all about. Looking forward to my first ever attempt at extra-curricular involvement. It's at a bar, which helps the fact that was actually on a far more lame note. I'm catching up on some reading they're discussing as we speak; I'll probably not contribute much as most of these people probably do a lot more extra-curricular reading than I do. Hopefully it's as not-dry as the email led me to believe it would be ... some Facebook stalking suggests fellow members are socially competent and fun.
Well isn't today just a day full of goals being set (and, shockingly, met) and terrible food. Regardless of that second item, this is promising! Follow the jump for an entirely unrelated quip.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Onto another year of lackluster involvement.
Or so I thought! Thankfully, I scored a EUSA Societies' Guide (I'm as unsure about that apostrophe as you may be, rest assured, but it's on the cover) and have managed to find a number of things that look interesting. Anything with meeting schedules posted, I've plunked into my Google calendar and will hopefully make myself go to them. All others have received a brief and surely awkward email poking around for more info as to how to get involved. More on this after the jump.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Things you will be pleased to hear about:
Well, you being pleased about these things assumes that you are actually me and your week seems to have taken a delightful turn for the better with (in some cases) lasting results. Or that you are looking for a great latte.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
And so it begins...
First day of class today (for me at least). And oh, what a day it was. Started out innocently enough with my alarm at 7:30, getting up at 7:50, showering, making coffee, getting (more or less) pretty for the day and running to class at 8:51. Thankfully it is under 6 minutes to the building I was looking for. End summer vacation.
First class was two hours of corpus linguistics, which is something I have looked at for all of 45 minutes in fall semester last year. It was horribly presented, poorly explained, and altogether miserable. This was excellent though. The prof is Irish and went on to describe the common collocation of the intensifier "fucking" and kept saying "cunning linguists" and chuckling to herself. But really knows her stuff and is quite accomplished at it too, which is reassuring. It's a lab class, and we are graded on two assignments, worth 40% and 60%. Wonderful.
Break for lunch, a quick clean up, failure to open a bank account and some textbook shopping. Then it's off to Syntactical Theory and English Syntax. Which just so happens to be taught by the guy who basically invented syntax as far as the English-speaking world is concerned. His CV is 19 pages long and can be found here: I have too much time on my hands. He would be much easier to resent if he wasn't actually very funny. But he is. Nerds. Anyways, he sort of jumped into the whole subject balls deep, instructing us to read about a hundred extra pages in this book or that if we're feeling lost. (Lost, me? Pssshht...) And of course he wrote the textbook. Not in that "Oh buy my book" way, but in that "Oh every reliable book on the subject was written by me" way. Eff.
SO. Looks like I'll be reading a bit tonight. No matter, there's free wifi and two-pound pints next door. Happy days!
First class was two hours of corpus linguistics, which is something I have looked at for all of 45 minutes in fall semester last year. It was horribly presented, poorly explained, and altogether miserable. This was excellent though. The prof is Irish and went on to describe the common collocation of the intensifier "fucking" and kept saying "cunning linguists" and chuckling to herself. But really knows her stuff and is quite accomplished at it too, which is reassuring. It's a lab class, and we are graded on two assignments, worth 40% and 60%. Wonderful.
Break for lunch, a quick clean up, failure to open a bank account and some textbook shopping. Then it's off to Syntactical Theory and English Syntax. Which just so happens to be taught by the guy who basically invented syntax as far as the English-speaking world is concerned. His CV is 19 pages long and can be found here: I have too much time on my hands. He would be much easier to resent if he wasn't actually very funny. But he is. Nerds. Anyways, he sort of jumped into the whole subject balls deep, instructing us to read about a hundred extra pages in this book or that if we're feeling lost. (Lost, me? Pssshht...) And of course he wrote the textbook. Not in that "Oh buy my book" way, but in that "Oh every reliable book on the subject was written by me" way. Eff.
SO. Looks like I'll be reading a bit tonight. No matter, there's free wifi and two-pound pints next door. Happy days!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Weekend!
This is unofficially my first weekend in Edinburgh (it's unofficial because Operation Get Friends is still in the planning stages so I'd like the official first weekend to involve someone other than blood relations - no offense, Wilma). That being said, I have had a wonderful time with Wilma and Ricky these past few days and I'm really excited to get to spend time with the famjam here in Scotland. Fabby!
As promised, I will give the low-down on my flat. It's university accommodations, and it looks it. Very residence-y: tiny boxy rooms and generic functional sort of furniture. But I quite like it. It's very bright, so far quite warm, and it's also pretty quiet (no friends is handy for that) except at night since the window must be plastic wrap or something and I can here the frosh being froshy on the street. But that's what earplugs are for. Wilma took me round to IKEA and set me up with a bright magenta sheet set and some other things I needed (dishes, etc) so now it's looking much less like a hospital. The shower is electric heated so always warm, and I've got my own radiator and controls in my bedroom. Best of all, there's a wine shop two doors down. Happy days! (to quote Wilma)
Flatmates seem nice. One girl is from Japan and so far completely invisible. Another is Scottish and I have now spoken to her on three one-minute occassions. And the last is from the states and probably very nice. Scotland is the only fresher, the rest are on exchange like me.
Back to the weekend!
Plan today is do a bit of shopping on the high street. I need jeans, but I might see something cute too (highly likely, I'll be going to TopShop). Also needed: flatiron and mirror. The first is cheaper to buy new than to get a voltage converter for (over a hundred pounds!) and the second is only available in the WC and shower and I don't want to be a bathroom hog. Might go see the castle, too. Wilma said she'd ring me and take me around later on, so that'll be nice. Tomorrow is completely open, so I'll see what happens!
Weather is lovely and cool and sunny yet again, so I'm off to enjoy that while it lasts.
As promised, I will give the low-down on my flat. It's university accommodations, and it looks it. Very residence-y: tiny boxy rooms and generic functional sort of furniture. But I quite like it. It's very bright, so far quite warm, and it's also pretty quiet (no friends is handy for that) except at night since the window must be plastic wrap or something and I can here the frosh being froshy on the street. But that's what earplugs are for. Wilma took me round to IKEA and set me up with a bright magenta sheet set and some other things I needed (dishes, etc) so now it's looking much less like a hospital. The shower is electric heated so always warm, and I've got my own radiator and controls in my bedroom. Best of all, there's a wine shop two doors down. Happy days! (to quote Wilma)
Flatmates seem nice. One girl is from Japan and so far completely invisible. Another is Scottish and I have now spoken to her on three one-minute occassions. And the last is from the states and probably very nice. Scotland is the only fresher, the rest are on exchange like me.
Back to the weekend!
Plan today is do a bit of shopping on the high street. I need jeans, but I might see something cute too (highly likely, I'll be going to TopShop). Also needed: flatiron and mirror. The first is cheaper to buy new than to get a voltage converter for (over a hundred pounds!) and the second is only available in the WC and shower and I don't want to be a bathroom hog. Might go see the castle, too. Wilma said she'd ring me and take me around later on, so that'll be nice. Tomorrow is completely open, so I'll see what happens!
Weather is lovely and cool and sunny yet again, so I'm off to enjoy that while it lasts.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Change!
Good morning!
I have just been thoroughly cheered up by CHANGE for the first time (aside for the 41p I had previously). Do you know how hard it is to get change when tax is included? Americans can shove it about how much change they get from us, the Brits have even more coins. Lovely. Also kilt sighting #1. Just grabbing a coffee before IKEA with my aunt Wilma, will update on my flat and all that soon!
UPDATE: This place had toasted avocado and tomato sandwiches for £2.50. Just saying.
I have just been thoroughly cheered up by CHANGE for the first time (aside for the 41p I had previously). Do you know how hard it is to get change when tax is included? Americans can shove it about how much change they get from us, the Brits have even more coins. Lovely. Also kilt sighting #1. Just grabbing a coffee before IKEA with my aunt Wilma, will update on my flat and all that soon!
UPDATE: This place had toasted avocado and tomato sandwiches for £2.50. Just saying.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!
For starters, it would really be polite to say welcome, welcome, welcome. Not only would it be polite, but it would be a nice change of pace from all the goodbyes I've been doing over the past few weeks. But quickly, an introduction: You already know who I am, which also means you know what I'm up to. My plane leaves around 7:30 on Wednesday night and as of 7:00 local time Thursday morning, I will be on Day 1 of my year abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. As for this blog, it's mainly a space for me to keep track of my travels and keep everyone I'm in touch with in the loop when I get too caught up to do it myself. Hopefully I manage to keep up my end of the bargain here (no promises, but I'll try). That is all, so on with it -
To all my lovely friends, thank you again for the warm send-offs! I have made my final goodbyes in Ottawa, packed my bags, and I'm looking forward to seeing the city and its delightful inhabitants (as well as the less delightful ones that linger around Rideau) again this time next year. But for now, goodbye National Capitol Region! It's been a great summer of knowledge-dropping, trinket-mongering and sweltering heat but sadly I've got to get this show on the road. My mom picked me and my numerous trunks up today and I waved goodbye to dear old Ottawa.
Now I'm in Bancroft for some minimalistic packing and down time at home. The day or two of moderate laziness will be well appreciated, if a bit lonely. Game plan: laundry, hacking down wardrobe, banking, making many to-do lists, walking the dog. Should be fun. Then a pit stop in Ajax/Toronto, a short transatlantic flight, and I'm on my merry way! No more texting until I make some friends, no more gravy on fries (which I don't really like in the first place), no more choking humidity or changing leaves ... but plenty to keep me busy and excited in old country. I have no idea what to expect, so this is going to be a blast. But don't be surprised to see this followed by an anxiety-filled pre-flight post before the fun begins.
Wish me luck!
To all my lovely friends, thank you again for the warm send-offs! I have made my final goodbyes in Ottawa, packed my bags, and I'm looking forward to seeing the city and its delightful inhabitants (as well as the less delightful ones that linger around Rideau) again this time next year. But for now, goodbye National Capitol Region! It's been a great summer of knowledge-dropping, trinket-mongering and sweltering heat but sadly I've got to get this show on the road. My mom picked me and my numerous trunks up today and I waved goodbye to dear old Ottawa.
Now I'm in Bancroft for some minimalistic packing and down time at home. The day or two of moderate laziness will be well appreciated, if a bit lonely. Game plan: laundry, hacking down wardrobe, banking, making many to-do lists, walking the dog. Should be fun. Then a pit stop in Ajax/Toronto, a short transatlantic flight, and I'm on my merry way! No more texting until I make some friends, no more gravy on fries (which I don't really like in the first place), no more choking humidity or changing leaves ... but plenty to keep me busy and excited in old country. I have no idea what to expect, so this is going to be a blast. But don't be surprised to see this followed by an anxiety-filled pre-flight post before the fun begins.
Wish me luck!
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