I hope you all enjoyed my photos! The trip was amazing and it was really great to see my family after about 7 months! We saw many things in London and Paris that it's hard to remember it all. I really love going to places that I have learned about throughout my years of school. It's a fantastic feeling seeing something that you have studied. It was great to see the Eiffel Tower and Tower of London, as well as sooo many other things. I hope the pictures gave you an idea of how much we saw!
I have recently purchased plane tickets to come back for a few weddings at the end of July. The weddings are the weekend of the 31st of July/1st of August. I will only be home for a few days so I apologize if I don't get to see you. I am coming back in September after having finished my dissertation and (hopefully) receiving my Master's. I won't officially know until January whether I passed or not, however. I will be looking for jobs over the next few months and when I return. Hopefully I will be able to start working soon as I have a massive amount of student debt to pay off. If you hear of anything in the cultural heritage sector, let me know! :)
My dissertation is now in full swing. I am giving a lecture on my research in a week and I'm slightly terrified. I'm sure it will go fine, but I always get nervous before that sort of thing. Then, my first chapter is due on June 1 and from then on out I will be working like a fiend. I will need to completely finished with the first draft by the time I'm home for the weddings so that will at least give me an incentive to get everything done with enough time. It's a massive project working on something like this, but I also don't have classes at all. That means I have a large open amount of time that I need to structure so that I can stay on track. If anyone has any advice on time management I could use some. I always get things done on time, but I am known for procrastinating slightly. I can't do that this time around. It would be chaos.
Well, that's about all I have to mention at the moment.
I miss you all and hope things are going well in your lives!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Photos
I will be updating soon about my recent trip and how the dissertation is going but I wanted to give you a heads up that I put photos up on my Flickr site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34201125@N05/
Hope you enjoy them!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34201125@N05/
Hope you enjoy them!
Monday, March 30, 2009
I'm a slacker. Give me a break.
With all the free time I have you'd think that I could keep up with this blog. Oh wait...
I'm now finished with classes forever. At least for this year anyways, who knows if I'll go back to school. Not anytime soon that's for sure. I just handed in my last 2 essays and we are technically on break right now. We don't actually get a break however. We have alot of research to do over this break for our dissertations. Speaking of dissertations, it's really scary to now be working on it. A little bit overwhelming also. I have realized that there is an insurmountable amount of scholarship on the Israeli-Palestinian topic and I am going to have to be selective and skim most of it. There is much less on cultural heritage though. I think I will easily be able to fill my word count for the final draft, but I'm just hoping I will be able to find more that is pertinent to my topic.
I've started looking at jobs as well and I have found some really great ones. Most of the ones that I have found are in Washington D.C, but that's probably because I was looking at the government jobs in Cultural Heritage. The ones in DC pay alot more, but you need to have work experience. We'll see. I will probably apply to them anyways because some say that a Master's degree can replace the requirement for work experience. Awesome. I'll have one of those. *finger's crossed*
I have 2 weddings later this summer that I would love to come back for, but not sure I'll have the time or money for it, so I'm still thinking about whether or not it's a good idea.
What else is new.... Oh yeah, the ducks and geese seem to be in excess poop mood. There is a disgusting amount of bird crap everywhere on campus. They actually have a (excuse my language) shit-zamboni (for those of you that aren't hockey fans or Canadian, a zamboni cleans the ice between period in a hockey game) that goes around and cleans it up. It's really gross.
Katie is coming to visit in about 10 days and the my parents come 5 days later. We are all going to London and Paris which is really exciting!
Well, that's pretty much all that's new with me. I know I did that long list of things that are different between here and the US. I can try and think up a few things now.
They don't really use the phrase gov'na here like people think. Also, if someone says your English accent is like Dick VanDyke's, it's not a compliment. He has an awful English accent. It's not a British accent like people say because Britain includes Ireland and Scotland so it's impossible to have a British accent. Scottish accents are really awesome. I had a few lecturers in my classes from Scotland and I love it. People here think a 2 hour drive is a really long ways to drive. Distance is completely different here. I have no problem driving 2 hours back home, but here it's just not done unless absolutely necessary. If you think about it this way, it takes about 6 hours to drive from the north of England to the south of England... It's not very big. But, there are tons of people who live in the north that have never been to London and vice versa. Traveling is just not that common here. Also, the actor that plays Dr. House on the show House, is actually English and he was in a hilarious British comedy called Blackadder.
I think that's about all I have right now. Hope it satisfied all of you who have been harassing me about updating. :)
Love you all and miss you!
I'm now finished with classes forever. At least for this year anyways, who knows if I'll go back to school. Not anytime soon that's for sure. I just handed in my last 2 essays and we are technically on break right now. We don't actually get a break however. We have alot of research to do over this break for our dissertations. Speaking of dissertations, it's really scary to now be working on it. A little bit overwhelming also. I have realized that there is an insurmountable amount of scholarship on the Israeli-Palestinian topic and I am going to have to be selective and skim most of it. There is much less on cultural heritage though. I think I will easily be able to fill my word count for the final draft, but I'm just hoping I will be able to find more that is pertinent to my topic.
I've started looking at jobs as well and I have found some really great ones. Most of the ones that I have found are in Washington D.C, but that's probably because I was looking at the government jobs in Cultural Heritage. The ones in DC pay alot more, but you need to have work experience. We'll see. I will probably apply to them anyways because some say that a Master's degree can replace the requirement for work experience. Awesome. I'll have one of those. *finger's crossed*
I have 2 weddings later this summer that I would love to come back for, but not sure I'll have the time or money for it, so I'm still thinking about whether or not it's a good idea.
What else is new.... Oh yeah, the ducks and geese seem to be in excess poop mood. There is a disgusting amount of bird crap everywhere on campus. They actually have a (excuse my language) shit-zamboni (for those of you that aren't hockey fans or Canadian, a zamboni cleans the ice between period in a hockey game) that goes around and cleans it up. It's really gross.
Katie is coming to visit in about 10 days and the my parents come 5 days later. We are all going to London and Paris which is really exciting!
Well, that's pretty much all that's new with me. I know I did that long list of things that are different between here and the US. I can try and think up a few things now.
They don't really use the phrase gov'na here like people think. Also, if someone says your English accent is like Dick VanDyke's, it's not a compliment. He has an awful English accent. It's not a British accent like people say because Britain includes Ireland and Scotland so it's impossible to have a British accent. Scottish accents are really awesome. I had a few lecturers in my classes from Scotland and I love it. People here think a 2 hour drive is a really long ways to drive. Distance is completely different here. I have no problem driving 2 hours back home, but here it's just not done unless absolutely necessary. If you think about it this way, it takes about 6 hours to drive from the north of England to the south of England... It's not very big. But, there are tons of people who live in the north that have never been to London and vice versa. Traveling is just not that common here. Also, the actor that plays Dr. House on the show House, is actually English and he was in a hilarious British comedy called Blackadder.
I think that's about all I have right now. Hope it satisfied all of you who have been harassing me about updating. :)
Love you all and miss you!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
One month later...
Say hello to the Secretary of the King's Manor graduate students club. We don't have a specific name yet, but we're working on it. We just started it up this week officially. It is now a formal university club and we are eligible to use the minibuses and get funding for trips and everything. It's pretty exciting. There's really not much more to say about that at this point because it's just started. but i will continue to update on what's going on with that.
We are about halfway through second term, just handed in our first set of papers. Next week we hand in a formal dissertation proposal. That's pretty scary and awesome at the same time. I'm really excited to start working on that. I think I will like working on my dissertation because it will be all I'm working on so can devote all my time to it, and it's something I chose and not what they told me I have to write about. That brings me to what I'm hopefully going to write about. I want to write about the cultural heritage of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. I hope to talk about the issue of Israeli occupation and see how the cultural heritage is affected by it all. I will also cover the claims of ownership of the heritage since Christians, Jews and Muslims have religious interests in the area. So yeah. It's a work in progress, but that's the starting point.
We just had quite a lot of snow today. It's only about the third time we've had snow this winter, but it was alot (for here).
My classes have been going well so far though. Not much to report about them though. They are keeping me busy.
I'm doing a placement this term at the Quilt Museum. It just opened this past summer and the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles is running it. They have some amazing quilts there. One of them is from 1750. Crazy. It's in really good condition as well. I do alot of marketing/publicity stuff which is ok. The other day though, I went with a staff member from the museum to a fair for students. Basically we had a stand where kids could come up and sew something and we would teach them how to sew and they made little pin cushions. It was fun.
In less exciting news, for you, my shower head was replaced :) The one I had before was horrible. It basically sprayed mostly outwards and not down. They replaced everyones in Wentworth though. It is much better now. No more outward spray.
The people in my program are finally starting to hang out with each other. It's great. We complain about the work load and talk about our papers and stuff. It's good bonding time. :)
Ok, well I've been told I need to talk about some of the things that are different between here and back home. Well, the English eat potatoes with EVERYTHING. You basically can't order a meal in a restaurant without there being some sort of potato. Coffee. They do not have good coffee here. Even Starbucks is not the same. The tea here is amazing, but the coffee sucks. Homes are very different. They are much more compact and the neighborhoods are much more compact as well. Houses are generally set in rows more like the way duplexes are organized. They are generally 2 floors because each floor is quite small. That's the way most buildings are here actually. They are not spread out but rather go upwards. Even bathroom stalls are long and skinny. You don't have grid systems for streets. You can't do the parallel road thing. This means that I have to actually know where I'm going and not guess. It's a little frustrating, but it means that I'm forced to learn my way around, :). Cadbury chocolate here is actually good. I didn't think that the same brand of something could be different in different countries but it is. It's much better over here and you get a better selection. Also, Coca Cola is different. They don't use corn syrup here, they use real sugar. So Coke tastes different than American Coke. It's weird. They do not have the capabilities to deal with snow at all. The best they can do is put down some salt or sand. And not very much of it. People don't have snow shovels here, they have brooms. Last week London shut down for a whole day. No taxis were running or buses because of the snow. It was ridiculous. There was only about 2 inches of snow and the world stopped. A street is called a gate, and a gate is called a bar, a bar is called a pub. Fries are called chips and chips are called crisps. Pants are called trousers and underwear is called pants or knickers. Be careful what you're saying. If you say I just got my pants all wet, they might think you peed yourself.
Ok, well I'll try to do this on each post. But I think this was significantly long enough to make up for some of my slacking. :)
Love you and miss you all
Lauren
We are about halfway through second term, just handed in our first set of papers. Next week we hand in a formal dissertation proposal. That's pretty scary and awesome at the same time. I'm really excited to start working on that. I think I will like working on my dissertation because it will be all I'm working on so can devote all my time to it, and it's something I chose and not what they told me I have to write about. That brings me to what I'm hopefully going to write about. I want to write about the cultural heritage of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. I hope to talk about the issue of Israeli occupation and see how the cultural heritage is affected by it all. I will also cover the claims of ownership of the heritage since Christians, Jews and Muslims have religious interests in the area. So yeah. It's a work in progress, but that's the starting point.
We just had quite a lot of snow today. It's only about the third time we've had snow this winter, but it was alot (for here).
My classes have been going well so far though. Not much to report about them though. They are keeping me busy.
I'm doing a placement this term at the Quilt Museum. It just opened this past summer and the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles is running it. They have some amazing quilts there. One of them is from 1750. Crazy. It's in really good condition as well. I do alot of marketing/publicity stuff which is ok. The other day though, I went with a staff member from the museum to a fair for students. Basically we had a stand where kids could come up and sew something and we would teach them how to sew and they made little pin cushions. It was fun.
In less exciting news, for you, my shower head was replaced :) The one I had before was horrible. It basically sprayed mostly outwards and not down. They replaced everyones in Wentworth though. It is much better now. No more outward spray.
The people in my program are finally starting to hang out with each other. It's great. We complain about the work load and talk about our papers and stuff. It's good bonding time. :)
Ok, well I've been told I need to talk about some of the things that are different between here and back home. Well, the English eat potatoes with EVERYTHING. You basically can't order a meal in a restaurant without there being some sort of potato. Coffee. They do not have good coffee here. Even Starbucks is not the same. The tea here is amazing, but the coffee sucks. Homes are very different. They are much more compact and the neighborhoods are much more compact as well. Houses are generally set in rows more like the way duplexes are organized. They are generally 2 floors because each floor is quite small. That's the way most buildings are here actually. They are not spread out but rather go upwards. Even bathroom stalls are long and skinny. You don't have grid systems for streets. You can't do the parallel road thing. This means that I have to actually know where I'm going and not guess. It's a little frustrating, but it means that I'm forced to learn my way around, :). Cadbury chocolate here is actually good. I didn't think that the same brand of something could be different in different countries but it is. It's much better over here and you get a better selection. Also, Coca Cola is different. They don't use corn syrup here, they use real sugar. So Coke tastes different than American Coke. It's weird. They do not have the capabilities to deal with snow at all. The best they can do is put down some salt or sand. And not very much of it. People don't have snow shovels here, they have brooms. Last week London shut down for a whole day. No taxis were running or buses because of the snow. It was ridiculous. There was only about 2 inches of snow and the world stopped. A street is called a gate, and a gate is called a bar, a bar is called a pub. Fries are called chips and chips are called crisps. Pants are called trousers and underwear is called pants or knickers. Be careful what you're saying. If you say I just got my pants all wet, they might think you peed yourself.
Ok, well I'll try to do this on each post. But I think this was significantly long enough to make up for some of my slacking. :)
Love you and miss you all
Lauren
Monday, January 19, 2009
Back in the routine
Now that I've been back from my vacation for a few days I am beginning to get back into the school mode. I have begun to, once again, sink into an overwhelming feeling of stress. This always happens at the beginning of each term when I am reviewing the amount of work I need to finish. This time, however, the grade is based solely on one paper per class due at the end of term. I am constantly in doubt about whether I will be able to complete my papers, and then when they are finished I constantly worry about failing or getting a bad grade. I love being in school, but sometimes I think it seriously messes with my confidence. This term is going to seriously stretch my capacity to manage my time. This is my schedule. On the even weeks I have class Mon 12:30-2:30, Tues 12:30-2:30, Wed 9:30-4:30, Thurs 9:30-5, Fri 9:30-5. On odd weeks I have Mon 12:30-2:30, Tues 12:30-2:30, Wed 9:30-11:30. So that leaves 2 days off every other week. Oh, but wait. I have to also do 9 days of placement this term. That means, those 8 days off that I have this term will be filled with placement and I have to find a random day somewhere in there as well. I have papers due in week 5 and week 10. I basically have nights to do my school work and try and fit some fun time in there as well. I seem to always forget how stressful school can be. Sorry this isn't a happy post I'm just a little stressed at the moment. At least I'm updating you right? :)
Well, I realized that I don't really ever update on the menial everyday stuff that I do that I don't really think about. So, here's how my normal day goes. I usually get up around 8 or 9 AM depending on when my classes are. I do the shower, get ready, eat breakfast thing. I've told you this before, but I live in an en-suite room which means that I have a bathroom in my room. This is really nice because I can shower whenever I want and I never have to wait. There is always hot water and I know that if the shampoo runs out it's my fault because I'm the only one that uses it. Also, if it's dirty, it's also my fault. My flat consists of 6 bedrooms like mine which are arranged very similar to a dorm floor. We have card entry like in a hotel but there are locks on the front door, my flat door and my room door. There is a kitchen in my flat which is shared by the 6 of us. I have 2 cupboards and a shelf in the fridge. The fridge space can be kinda tight, but I have survived up till now so I think I'll be fine. After I'm ready to go I walk about 10 mins to Jane's housing. She is from southern England and is in my program and taking the same classes as me. She lives in University accommodation but not directly on campus. Once I meet her then I have a 30 min walk from there to King's Manor which is on the other side of campus. The walk is actually pretty interesting. We take a short cut that is a walkway that goes past a Victorian church that is actually quite pretty. It has a really tall clock tower and you can see the age of it by the soot build up on the stone. Once we get out of that walkway we are on a main road that goes through one of the gates of the city walls and continues on through the city. We pass through the center of town where all the shopping is and continue on. We also pass right by York Minster which never ceases to amaze me even though I have seen it everyday for the last 4 months. We end up passing through another gateway to get outside the city walls and there is King's manor. It is really a great walk and I think that is what makes the 40 mins go by quickly.
Then I attend my class and usually head back to my room. Here's a map of the path that I walk to get to King's Manor.
It's kinda small but at least it gives you some sort of idea of what York looks like. The main yellow roads go around the outside of the city walls to give you an idea of where the walls are.
Well, that's all I have time to update right now, but I hope you are all doing well and that this gives you some sort of an idea of what I'm going through here and what my days look like.
Oh yeah, and just an update, I'm doing my work placement this term at the Minster so I will update when that begins to let you know what I'm doing there.
Well, I realized that I don't really ever update on the menial everyday stuff that I do that I don't really think about. So, here's how my normal day goes. I usually get up around 8 or 9 AM depending on when my classes are. I do the shower, get ready, eat breakfast thing. I've told you this before, but I live in an en-suite room which means that I have a bathroom in my room. This is really nice because I can shower whenever I want and I never have to wait. There is always hot water and I know that if the shampoo runs out it's my fault because I'm the only one that uses it. Also, if it's dirty, it's also my fault. My flat consists of 6 bedrooms like mine which are arranged very similar to a dorm floor. We have card entry like in a hotel but there are locks on the front door, my flat door and my room door. There is a kitchen in my flat which is shared by the 6 of us. I have 2 cupboards and a shelf in the fridge. The fridge space can be kinda tight, but I have survived up till now so I think I'll be fine. After I'm ready to go I walk about 10 mins to Jane's housing. She is from southern England and is in my program and taking the same classes as me. She lives in University accommodation but not directly on campus. Once I meet her then I have a 30 min walk from there to King's Manor which is on the other side of campus. The walk is actually pretty interesting. We take a short cut that is a walkway that goes past a Victorian church that is actually quite pretty. It has a really tall clock tower and you can see the age of it by the soot build up on the stone. Once we get out of that walkway we are on a main road that goes through one of the gates of the city walls and continues on through the city. We pass through the center of town where all the shopping is and continue on. We also pass right by York Minster which never ceases to amaze me even though I have seen it everyday for the last 4 months. We end up passing through another gateway to get outside the city walls and there is King's manor. It is really a great walk and I think that is what makes the 40 mins go by quickly.
Then I attend my class and usually head back to my room. Here's a map of the path that I walk to get to King's Manor.
It's kinda small but at least it gives you some sort of idea of what York looks like. The main yellow roads go around the outside of the city walls to give you an idea of where the walls are.Well, that's all I have time to update right now, but I hope you are all doing well and that this gives you some sort of an idea of what I'm going through here and what my days look like.
Oh yeah, and just an update, I'm doing my work placement this term at the Minster so I will update when that begins to let you know what I'm doing there.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Italy
Vacations are great, but there is something comforting about coming back to a familiar place.
My trip to Italy was fantastic and I saw so many different places that I have always wanted to see but I often find that traveling can be stressful especially when you don't speak the language.
Basically I traveled with my friend Liz who I worked with at Calvin in the Archaeology Lab. We traveled for 12 days and saw 3 cities. We arrived in Rome at the airport on December 30. The first hostel that we stayed at was located near the airport which is not near the city center. So, we stayed there one night and found a different place in the city to stay. This place was relatively nice and the location was great. It was within walking distance of most things, except St. Peter's. One thing that is nice about Italy and most European countries, is that their public transportation systems are phenomenal. Even the major trains that go from city to city run frequently and are reasonably priced. So, we spent 4 nights in Rome and had 3 full days to walk around and see things.
The first day we visited a few of the churches that we wanted to see. We saw Santa Maria Maggiore and San Carlo Quattro Fontane. These were both very beautiful churches. Then we walked around a little in the city just trying to find other things that we wanted to see. Rome is a great city and fairly easy to navigate. Even I was able to find my way around which is saying something.
The second day was very rainy and both of us were exhausted from the long day of traveling. We took it easy that day and found a supermarket nearby. The third day in Rome Liz's advisor from Durham who is from Italy originally, showed us around the city and brought us to the major Roman sites. Liz and I started at San Giovanni Laterano, which was a gorgeous church. Then, we went with Liz's advisor to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine. That was all mostly the morning and early afternoon. Then, Liz and I decided to find some other places so we went to see Bernini's Four River's Fountain, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Overall that was our busiest day for sure.
The next day we headed off to Naples where we stayed for 2 nights. We went to Naples to see the National Archaeological Museum and also go to Pompeii. The museum was great and had tons of sculptures and paintings. The museum also had alot of frescoes from Pompeii and a room called the Cabinet of Secrets which was erotic frescoes also from Pompeii. Pompeii was absolutely amazing though. The site itself is huge and there are so many things to see. We spent most of the day there and we saw almost all of the site. There were quite a few frescoes still on the walls of plenty of the buildings and alot of them were in really good condition. I still find it amazing that this site was mostly covered in ash and volcanic materials. I can't imagine being an archaeologists and coming across this site.
After Naples we headed to Florence. I love this city. It's much less fast paced than Rome and it is very beautiful. We went to Santa Maria del Fiore also called the Duomo. This is a beautiful church and the dome is amazing. It is an 8 sided dome built of brick. Quite amazing. We also went to the Uffizi museum which has so many famous works of art. It was also huge and we didn't get to see everything that we wanted to see in it. We also went to the Museum of Santa Maria del Fiore. This museum held many of the famous works of art that were originally in the church. It also held plans of the dome and restoration work that had been done as well.
The last day few days that were in Italy were back in Rome. The first day we went to this church that had an undercroft that was built in the early 1600's by Friars. The Friars used the bones of past Friars and those from a Roman gravesite to decorate the undercroft. There were so many bones it was kind of creepy. But, it was amazing as well. It was unbelievable the designs they created from the bones. They were beautiful. The next day we went to St. Peter's Basillica and the Vatican Museums. St. Peter's was really beautiful and it was amazing to see. We spent a little over an hour going around the church. Then, we went over to the Vatican. This was absolutely huge. They have so many things in this museum that it was unbelievable. The best part, however, was the Sistine Chapel. This is really great. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I don't have any photos, but there are so many different things to look at on the frescoes that you can sit in there for hours just staring at the ceiling. The chapel was packed with people. I am really happy that I got to see it.
Well, that's the gist of my trip and I can elaborate on anything if you want me to. I put all my photos up on flickr so here's the link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34201125@N05/
Well, I do have to say that it was weird to come back to York after my trip instead of going back home. It made my stay in York much more real as well. I think it really hit me that I was actually in York for a long time after coming back here. I don't know why this specific event triggered that but I think I actually have come to terms with the fact that I'm here for a while still and not just on a long vacation in England.
I miss you and love you all. E-mail me if you want to hear about specifics of my trip! My e-mail is lauren.devos@gmail.com.
Love,
Lauren
My trip to Italy was fantastic and I saw so many different places that I have always wanted to see but I often find that traveling can be stressful especially when you don't speak the language.
Basically I traveled with my friend Liz who I worked with at Calvin in the Archaeology Lab. We traveled for 12 days and saw 3 cities. We arrived in Rome at the airport on December 30. The first hostel that we stayed at was located near the airport which is not near the city center. So, we stayed there one night and found a different place in the city to stay. This place was relatively nice and the location was great. It was within walking distance of most things, except St. Peter's. One thing that is nice about Italy and most European countries, is that their public transportation systems are phenomenal. Even the major trains that go from city to city run frequently and are reasonably priced. So, we spent 4 nights in Rome and had 3 full days to walk around and see things.
The first day we visited a few of the churches that we wanted to see. We saw Santa Maria Maggiore and San Carlo Quattro Fontane. These were both very beautiful churches. Then we walked around a little in the city just trying to find other things that we wanted to see. Rome is a great city and fairly easy to navigate. Even I was able to find my way around which is saying something.
The second day was very rainy and both of us were exhausted from the long day of traveling. We took it easy that day and found a supermarket nearby. The third day in Rome Liz's advisor from Durham who is from Italy originally, showed us around the city and brought us to the major Roman sites. Liz and I started at San Giovanni Laterano, which was a gorgeous church. Then, we went with Liz's advisor to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine. That was all mostly the morning and early afternoon. Then, Liz and I decided to find some other places so we went to see Bernini's Four River's Fountain, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Overall that was our busiest day for sure.
The next day we headed off to Naples where we stayed for 2 nights. We went to Naples to see the National Archaeological Museum and also go to Pompeii. The museum was great and had tons of sculptures and paintings. The museum also had alot of frescoes from Pompeii and a room called the Cabinet of Secrets which was erotic frescoes also from Pompeii. Pompeii was absolutely amazing though. The site itself is huge and there are so many things to see. We spent most of the day there and we saw almost all of the site. There were quite a few frescoes still on the walls of plenty of the buildings and alot of them were in really good condition. I still find it amazing that this site was mostly covered in ash and volcanic materials. I can't imagine being an archaeologists and coming across this site.
After Naples we headed to Florence. I love this city. It's much less fast paced than Rome and it is very beautiful. We went to Santa Maria del Fiore also called the Duomo. This is a beautiful church and the dome is amazing. It is an 8 sided dome built of brick. Quite amazing. We also went to the Uffizi museum which has so many famous works of art. It was also huge and we didn't get to see everything that we wanted to see in it. We also went to the Museum of Santa Maria del Fiore. This museum held many of the famous works of art that were originally in the church. It also held plans of the dome and restoration work that had been done as well.
The last day few days that were in Italy were back in Rome. The first day we went to this church that had an undercroft that was built in the early 1600's by Friars. The Friars used the bones of past Friars and those from a Roman gravesite to decorate the undercroft. There were so many bones it was kind of creepy. But, it was amazing as well. It was unbelievable the designs they created from the bones. They were beautiful. The next day we went to St. Peter's Basillica and the Vatican Museums. St. Peter's was really beautiful and it was amazing to see. We spent a little over an hour going around the church. Then, we went over to the Vatican. This was absolutely huge. They have so many things in this museum that it was unbelievable. The best part, however, was the Sistine Chapel. This is really great. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I don't have any photos, but there are so many different things to look at on the frescoes that you can sit in there for hours just staring at the ceiling. The chapel was packed with people. I am really happy that I got to see it.
Well, that's the gist of my trip and I can elaborate on anything if you want me to. I put all my photos up on flickr so here's the link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34201125@N05/
Well, I do have to say that it was weird to come back to York after my trip instead of going back home. It made my stay in York much more real as well. I think it really hit me that I was actually in York for a long time after coming back here. I don't know why this specific event triggered that but I think I actually have come to terms with the fact that I'm here for a while still and not just on a long vacation in England.
I miss you and love you all. E-mail me if you want to hear about specifics of my trip! My e-mail is lauren.devos@gmail.com.
Love,
Lauren
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I am getting really bad at updating this. Not many exciting things have been happening though because it's the end of term. I have been working furiously on 2 papers that are due in a week and so haven't been out of my room much. But, next week is going to be really exciting for me. I know I mentioned this before but Liz and I are going to London to see Hamlet on the 22nd so we will be staying overnight. I have never been to London so we are also going to see all the major sites, including the British Museum. Apparently around Christmas time London is beautiful as well, so that will be nice. Then, on the 30th, Liz and I are flying to Italy and we are going to be in Italy until the 10th of January. So, I will make sure to take lots of pictures and I will definitely update this blog after that.
I really am enjoying my classes. It's very different from undergrad in that the terms are shorter and you learn so much more. The papers are much more intense as well. Even though I only have 2 papers and no exams, I'm pretty much spending as much time on them as I would have for 4 exams and 4 papers in undergrad.
I'm hoping over break I will be able to at least start looking to see what jobs are out there. I'm going to apply for ones over here and back at home. I really need to get a job as soon as I can after I'm finished with my MA so that I can start paying back my loans.
Ok, well that's about all I have to say right now. I will update again in a few weeks either while I'm in Italy or after!
Miss you all!
I really am enjoying my classes. It's very different from undergrad in that the terms are shorter and you learn so much more. The papers are much more intense as well. Even though I only have 2 papers and no exams, I'm pretty much spending as much time on them as I would have for 4 exams and 4 papers in undergrad.
I'm hoping over break I will be able to at least start looking to see what jobs are out there. I'm going to apply for ones over here and back at home. I really need to get a job as soon as I can after I'm finished with my MA so that I can start paying back my loans.
Ok, well that's about all I have to say right now. I will update again in a few weeks either while I'm in Italy or after!
Miss you all!
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