So, I haven't posted in a long time....

But I would like to come back to the world of blogging so that my parents don't think I am locked up in my room studying all the time (I'm actually locked in the library and studying all the time...) The big news right now is trying to get a job for next year. Do not ask me about this or I will bite you. Literally. When I have good news, I will tell you.

Happy February!

I'm baaaaaaack.

And hopefully on track. I just got back a few days ago of my whirlwind tour of Spain, France, and Italy and now I'm getting ready to start up a new term here (which is like starting a new semester). So, that means that when you lovely Wellesley ladies have gone home for the summer, I will still be studying for about 4 weeks after you leave. But hey, I can't complain. I just had 7, yes 7, weeks of break.

So, of course, pictures will follow at some point. I'm in the process of figuring out what I want to do this summer. What are you guys up to?

Ok, I have to go hop on my bike and head over to meet my new supervisor for the first time. Something tells me that he's not going to be as cool Hugh Grant-meets-Snape as Georgie, but a girl can hope, can't she?

Oh, and just to show you how crazy and British my program really is, I have pasted the most recent email from the director of my program, the "good Doctor" as we like to call him, Dr. Alan

Dawson.

Oh how I love it here. (and by the way, "the master" is the headmaster of Pembroke, who happens to be the former head of MI6). But let me say that the funky line breaks are not his doing, they are Blogger's fault and I can't figure out how to get rid of them.

Hi, and I hope you are all well, refreshed, European and ready to go?
We have been, by virtue of some unseasonably cold weather, holding
the Spring back for you so that you can wander among clouds of sweet-
smelling blossom with a slim volume of poetry between library stints
and classes. I would think the Orchard tea rooms and garden are in
full blossom right now by the way. If you are tennis players, the
Pembroke sports ground has some lovely grass courts and we can lend
you tennis racquets and balls.
A note for your diary if the formal invite has not yet arrived - you
are invited for drinks by the Master and Lady Dearlove next Monday
(28 April) at 6.00pm.
Call by if there is anything concerning you and I will see you on
Moday if not before.
All the best
AD

¡Hola de Córdoba!

Man, I love typing on a Spanish keyboard. It´s really hard, but fun because things like the upside down exclamation point and the ñ have their own key.

So, I´m in Spain. Just been here for one day so far, but it already feels like I´ve been an española all my life. Being here has make me a little sad that I didn´t go abroad to a place where I would get to practice a foreign language, because everyone here speaks exclusively Spanish and Emma and I are actually doing great. My two years of Wellesley spanish is enough to understand what people say to me, nodding along with a thrown in Sí, sí, whenever I want to look like I understand. And I am so thankful for the food chapter in our book, because I can order basic things easily and understand how much they cost. And read signs.

And Eliza´s Spanish is amazing, clearly. Emma and I are muy jealous. (jalosa?)

Well, just wanted to let you know I´m alive and well (especially eating well). I never had so many tapas in my life (obviously) and I have a new place in my heart for a few sips of this drink that I can´t remember the name of, but in Eliza´s words is the poor man´s version of sangria. And this cold soup that is like gazpacho, but I like it even better.

Oh, and our hostel is really just a small hotel, which is nice. Emma and I have our own cute little room and a bathroom and we are constantly asked if we need anything by the owner, who introduced himself as Fernando Guapo. haha.

Oh, and the sun doesnt set here until about 9:30, and you don´t eat dinner until 10 or 11. wowza.

¡Besos!

Vacay! (let's all go!)

Hey everyone.

Sorry I've been a slacker blogger (per usual) but I've been on my very very extended Spring Break.  And I will be even more of a slacker for the next three weeks as I take my vacay to the Continent (Spain, France, and Italy).  So just keep in mind that I won't be able to check my email regularly until April 20th.  

For those of you who are Facebook-challenged (you should know who you are--plus where you were when Kennedy was assassinated), here are the links to all of the pictures that I have posted to Facebook from my trip this far, starting from the most recent.

Miss you all!

PS.  For those of you who are celebrity gossip lovers---One of my friends here on the exchange program is friends with Blake Lively.  They went to high school together.  I'm not so secretly hoping that Blake will decide that she needs some time away from filming and will come visit.

Photos:

Album 4

Album 3

Album 2

Album 1

AND, there will be videos coming shortly!  (by shortly, I may mean April 20th)

"The Building of the Skyscraper"

The steel worker on the girder
Learned not to look down, and does his work
And there are words we have learned
Not to look at,
Not to look for substance
Below them. But we are on the verge
Of vertigo.

There are words that mean nothing
But there is something to mean.
Not a declaration which is truth
But a thing
Which is. It is the business of the poet
'To suffer the things of the world
And to speak them and himself out.'

O, the tree, growing from the sidewalk--
It has a little life, sprouting
Little green buds
Into the culture of the streets.
We look back
Three hundered years and see bare land.
And suffer vertigo.

George Oppen, This in Which (1965)

Stories about Georgie

So Cleo informs me that my publishing skills are not up to her time standards. I will try to meet those demands in the future, Ms. Hereford.

Let's see, when we last left off I was just about to go to my first supervision with my supervisor, George Yeats. A funny story about George:

Emma and I have taken to calling him Georgie or Yatesie. He gave us his cell phone number in case we got lost on our way to meet him, so I put him into my phone as Yates. Well, one day I decided that it would be way cooler to have him in my phone as Georgie, so I go into my phonebook, find his name, and type in "Georgie." Then I pressed "ok." Much to my surprise and horror, my crazy phone (the one from Uganda) says that it had just sent a text message---

Yep, you guessed it. I sent a text message to my Cambridge University supervisor that simply said, "Georgie." Needless to say, I will not be sending any more messages to him, even if I am late or stranded or anything. I do not want him to ever know who sent him that text message. I hope at least he thinks he has a secret admirer. (He's only 27 or so and looks like a cross between Jason Schwartzman, Hugh Grant, and Snape). I know, kind of scary.

Well, Emma and I have been to 3 supervisions so far and they have been getting better each time. What I mean by that--we don't freeze and stare awkwardly at each other because he fires off questions at lightning speed about the book that we read. The first day, we came out of the supervision with our mouths open. He gave us tea and cookies to start off with, and we thought it would be easy. We were WRONG. Be thankful Wellesleyites. It's like going to a class at Wellesley with no "that girl" to answer all the questions for you or at least to get the conversation started. If I ever get kidnapped and interrogated by the Russian mafia, I'll be ready.

Let's see. Other things. Um, I like to go to the grocery store here. A lot. It is customary to go at least every other day. It is magical in there. The food is healthy and cheap and all of the vegetarian food has a special green label. Yess.

For the art fans out there, I can report that the British really like porcelain and china. The Fitzwilliam Museum, the university's museum, has room after room dedicated to tea pots, bowls, and the like. I found one or two paintings too.

For religious fans, the King's College Chapel is gorgeous and the choir are goosebump worthy. (That and the giant chapel is a bit cold).

For the rowing fans, you should clearly come visit me. I have been on about 5 outings on the Cam and the weather has been beautiful for the past 2 weeks. Except today you can't see through a giant cloud of fog. But it's so much fun to row in England because the terms are almost all completely different. It's really fun to hear the cox call cheerfully, "Easy there!" to ask you to stop. And when another boat lets your boat come by, there is usually a "cheers!" or two thrown in there.

Ok, I should get back to writing my 4th essay. Doing an essay a week isn't as bad as I thought it would be, because I have plenty of free time. Ah, another quick story. I was just thinking of my free time, and then I thought of Friday, and then I thought about how I have plans with these 2 British girls that I met last Friday. I went to Formal Hall dinner with Suzanne and about 10 other people from my program, but the tables were all full and we had to split up. I ended up sitting in the middle of a giant table of people I didn't know. So, I turned to the girl next to me and told her my sad story and I became friends with the three of them. They told me all the scoop of Cambridge, their stories of playing netball (it's like basketball but you can't move at all with the ball, eek) and they asked me all about American politics. I have come to learn that the British have their hopes set on Obama (and that the most conservative politician in England is more liberal than Obama or Clinton).

Ah, work.

You all should do yours too.

Miss you all.
Cheers!
~dcb

No, I haven't seen Colin yet.

Yes, it sadly is true. After two weeks of living in England, Colin Firth has not thrown himself at me and declared his undying love. Oh well.

Other than that horrible fact, things are going great. Cambridge is definitely the most beautiful city I have ever lived in (and it actually makes Wellesley look kind of ugly, which I think is VERY hard to do). And people are so European: they bicycle everywhere, use their own bags at the market, and everything is tiny--cars, people, showers, food, everything! Except for the tea. It always comes in massive quantities. Also, my room is rather large (probably the same size or bigger than a Freeman double) and it has a little place where a fireplace used to be but now the wind just howls.

So, I'm living at Newnham College, which is one of the two (or maybe three) women's colleges at Cambridge. (Irony of all ironies, I know). I attend about 2 or 3 lectures a day, but none of them are actually required, you just go to the lectures that interest you. And one of my professors looks vaguely like Michael Vartan, so that lecture clearly interests me. The lectures take place at the English Faculty (the word for Department) building which is only a few minutes walk away from my dorm. I love the English Faculty building and its library. Speaking of libraries, this place has about 1000 of them (literally). Every college has one (and colleges are kind of just like clusters of dorms with food and faculty living there), every Faculty has one, and there is a giant one that is the University library and is the biggest library i've ever seen in my life and looks like a prison. You can't take any bags in with you and only pencil. It's glorious. I'm officially a member of Pembroke College, which is the 3rd oldest and one of the best, but I live at Newnham because they didn't have any room to house us. So, we go to Pembroke sometimes for meals or parties, but it is about a 10 minute walk. (It feels like walking to bates from pom). But, in general, people walk A BUNCH. And read. And drink tea. So, basically the country of England was designed for me. All the food even has labels that say "suitable for vegetarians." But when I "matriculated" to Pembroke, I got to sign a book that makes me a member of the college for life. And then we got dressed up in gowns and went to a formal dinner that was just like the opening dinner of harry potter with the professors all sitting at a raised table at the front of the room. i'm pretty sure that mrs. j.k. stole her idea from that. Oh and we have really cool scarves too.


I just finished writing my first essay (we have one 5-8 page essay due every week) and I have to hand deliver it to my professor's house tomorrow morning. I'll bet you can guess what's coming next--it's a looooong walk. And then on Friday (MY BIRTHDAY!!!), Emma and I have our first meeting with him and we have to take a bus to get there it's so far away. We'll see how he liked my essay. I changed my spell check to British English.

Check my facebook for photos of all of this!
Miss you all,