Sense and Sensibility?

A few weeks ago some of my friends and I made a trip  to Chatsworth House. This is the house that they used in the Jane Austin movie Pride and Prejudice. It was absolutely gorgeous inside and out. I got to try out my new camera and it took amazing photos, even adjusted the light in the dark lit rooms for me. Like magic! We spend the whole day relaxing and having fun. Pretending we didn't have dissertations to do.

I almost DIED when I saw the library

My photos don't do much justice for actually being there. I took so many and so many are not included. The house and gardens are beautiful. 

So after a day off... we suddenly realized it was crunch time. Less than a month now until my dissertation is due. As of tonight I have just finished my the draft of my full paper. GO ME! I'm far from finished though. It's time for endless edits and rewriting until I have it as perfect as I can get it. I'm impressed with what I have accomplished here. I never thought I could do research like this, even with having done I.S., is such a short amount of time and to a degree I'm actually proud of. What's even better is I haven't exploded or killed anyone yet! Even with major hiccups like my Adviser telling me I missed an entire for of trauma which doubled my results and caused all my data to change, 4 days before I needed to be finished with my discussion chapter. I survived that and I've given myself a buffer (in theory) for any other problems that could happen (since they probably will) *knock on wood*.

I also had a visit from a Wooster friend this week. It gave me an excuse to get out of my room and do some things I haven't done in York yet, and share some things I have. I couldn't take all the time off and often had to leave her to her own devices but luckily she didn't mind. We went and walked the wall, This was my second time doing it (first being when in October when I first got here), the weather was much better this time around and things were actually green. We also did the York Dungeon and Betty's. You have to go to Betty's of course but the York dungeon was actually really cool. I would recommend it. It's not all that scary and teaches you a lot about the grim history of York in a really fun way. 

Megan and Brittani walking the wall

I'll miss this city

I didn't do it!

The moon was huge the other night

Before I know it I'll be packing up and getting ready to go on my Month long trip. What is happening?!

"Around" the World in 30 Days!

Once Upon a Time a girl went abroad. She spent a LOT of time doing school work. She worked really hard at it and it was great but it was also not the adventure she dreamed up. Then one day her friend Brittani and Maria had a brilliant plan! travel Europe for a month after school was done!

And that is exactly what we are going to do. For a month after school ends and I get kicked out of my house I'm going on a HUGE adventure! I figure I'm not going to be this way again in a long time so I had better make the most of it.

Below is my super amazing Google map that I made for our trip. The places we are stopping are marked along with some photos of places we know we want to see. Click around! Now you may look at this map and say that is a LOT to do in a month! But keep in mind. We are going to take a lot of overnight trains and that this is all just a mapped out guide. We gave ourselves 5 days wiggle room if we decide that there is somewhere we would like to stay longer or somewhere else we forgot. We also plan on fully immersing ourselves in the culture of each place. Oh and since I know you are all wondering. No we don't speak half the languages. That's part of the adventure! good thing I'll try anything at least once!

I'm so excited to have finally committed to this trip. It's what keeps me writing this dissertation. I can't wait to come home and tell of all my adventures.

Let's go to the Beach!

Mini post!

So the other day the graduate department paid for a trip to Whitby which is on the coast. Naturally my many of my housemates jumped on the idea of going to the coast for a day at no cost to us. In the middle of writing our dissertations a break was definitely needed. We had a fun day in the sun and just relaxed.
First we went to the Abbey because, well because we are archaeologists duh. Also it was in inspiration for the Dracula castle. Then we got THE BEST fish and chips I've had so far. If you are going to get fish and chips you must of course go to the coast! We spend the rest of the day walking on the beach and frolicking in the waters. I have now set foot in the North Sea!

Dissertation update: it's coming along. I have two chapters written and my word count is almost at half. I have all my lab work done now it's a matter of figuring out what it all means. .... goody....

Whitby

We like museums

Whitby Abbey

Mine and Ruth's feet in the North Sea

I risked my camera for these shots... SO worth it.

I Have No Life

Being a Grad student kinda sucks out your soul. I haven't posted in awhile I know. But that is because I've actually started research and lab work for my dissertation. For the last month I've been spending my days in the dungeon of Kings Manor analyzing skeletons. I've almost finished my first collection which is 72 individuals. Which is good since i have a month to do the other collection which is just as many. There is a LOT of work yet to be done. A lot of research. I need to get my ass into gear and start reading when I get home from the lab. It's just hard when you spend from 10-4 working on things in the lab, to come home to a pile of books you need to read. My brain is fried by then and doing research is the LAST thing I want to be doing. But it really needs to start happening. I'm feeling like I'm behind. I have no way of knowing if I am, but I feel like I am.
This week I have my assessed lecture where I present what I have been working on so far to a committee and my peers.. ugh when I put it like that it sound terrifying. ... maybe because it is. I've practiced my lecture and gotten feedback from my classmates but I'm still so worried about it.
That's another thing about Grad School. You don't sleep as it is, and when you do you don't sleep well because you are so stressed. I just can't win. I mean it doesn't help that I have other issues that keep popping up on my plate but still. I'll be glad when this is all over.
... Speaking of over. On top of trying to write my dissertation I need to start applying for jobs writing and fixing my resume and all that jazz. I'm going to tell you all a little secret. I have no idea what I'm doing! I don't know where I can get a job or what type of jobs to even look for. I know what I like to do and that is about it.
Anyway nothing exciting happening her because I have no life. The weather has finally gotten warm and Thunderstorms apparently do happen in England (I was starting to lose hope). Let's see if I can find some pictures for you all.
Oh yeah! I had a visit from home. Two actually. The Skonce family came to visit Ellen who is from Wooster studying abroad here for a term. Which meant that my Bestie Joe and I were reunited! It was the best! I was so very happy to see him. It was really just what I had needed at the time. I also Had a surprise visit from Mrs. Swanson who was in town and we met up for a lovely lunch in the Museum Gardens and caught up. It's visits from home that give me a little boost and keep me going.
*cough cough* Letters and Packages do that too..... *cough cough*

Maria was going home to the US for a few days... I was going to go along.

C.O.W Students in York.

The weather go so nice that we had a bit of a "bon-fire"

Reunited! 

Scotland!

Vacation is a wonderful thing. It's relaxing and rejuvenating. I spent a week in Scotland enjoying the sites and sun and amazing weather. Although it was rather windy and chilly up north the sun was out everyday and made for amazing photos.

We began by taking a train to Edinburgh and spent a few days in the city. When we got there we went to Holyrood palace which is a working palace (where the queen stays while she is in Scotland) so I only have photos of the exterior. We also had the best Hog Roast ever at Oink. Oh. and our Hostel was pretty cool we stayed in the room Titled Gothem City and my bed was "Batman" (I am the night!). Our room was a co-ed room and we had some pretty interesting roommates... Let's just say boys are gross.
The next day was amazing weather so we Climbed Arthur's seat (and the smaller one in front of it). It was VERY windy and there were a few times I wondered if I was going to blow off the edge of the cliff. But it was totally worth it for the view, even if I was freezing. Day 3 we spent at Edinburgh Castle. That took all day, a lot longer than we thought it was and we were pooped and tired of walking. On top of that we had to get up at 5:00 am to catch our train to Inverness.
Inverness is up more north in the Highlands, meaning the train ride was beautiful! So many amazing views and mountains. Once at Inverness we got a rude awakening... it is... I would call it a dying city. there is NOTHING to do in Inverness except use it as a hub to get to Loch Ness. Which is exactly what we did.
Loch Ness was amazing! so beautiful. and we had perfect weather. We went to Urquhart Castle and then went out on the Loch in search of Nessie! I didn't find her but I did fine two ducks! I turned around in the boat to take a photo and this duck was flying right at my face! I thought it was going to run into me but he was just trying to land on the back of the boat and get a ride. I did scare me though. After two days in Inverness we returned to Edinburgh and explored the city some more. One of those days we took off to St. Andrews which is on the coast! So we saw a beach, had the best fish and chips ever, and went to the castle and church (we like castles and churches apparently). The beach rejuvenated all of us, even if we couldn't go in the icy water.
Over all the trip was amazing. There isn't much to say about it, because it is one of those you had to be there things. I hope my photos help give a sense of how great it was though!

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO SEE A SLIDESHOW OF SOME PHOTOS!!!!

http://www.photosnack.com/FE76F6FEFB5/pdz9w333

My First Dig!

I did my first dig these last two weeks! It was a lot of work! Did you know that when you start a dig you have to de-turf the area that you are working on (usually if it's on private property and you have permission to work there). This means that you have to take the grass and stuff out in square blocks and stack them up so that you can put it all back at the end of the dig. Let me tell you that is a LOT of work for a 10 meter by 2 Meter trench! and then you have to Mattock and shovel out all of the top soil until you find the archaeological layers. In other words I'm a fit and muscled beast now!
I learned a lot on my dig like how to do drawings or Plans (looking down) and Sections (the stratigraphy of the sides aka the layers). I can fill out all sorts of context sheets, and talk about how dirt isn't just dirt and brown it has colors and is made up of different things. I am a great photographer now too!... well sort of... I of course got to break in my new trowel and he earned a name! First thing I found with it was an iron buckle. Not anything cool and not anything old but my trowels name is now Bucky (also for Captain America reasons).
I got nice and dirty during the week. It rained a few times and I came home covered in dirt and mud. Good thing I bought water proof pants and a sweet jacket. If there is one thing England knows how to do it's their rain gear! I stood in the shower and was able to rinse myself off of mud in my clothes and boots, which were also awesomely waterproof. But even with all my effort I got pretty dirty everyday. But hey it's what I was there for right?

This is AFTER I rinsed some of the mud off with TWO water bottles 

I know you all want to know about the archaeology that we found and and all the good stuff but we can't talk about it, sorry. But over all it was a lot of fun! my trench ended up being over a meter deep too! That's a LOT of dirt  to move! Lucky for me we did NOT have to back fill that one.

Anyway, Monday I'm off to Scotland with some of my housemates! I'm SO excited to travel a bit. I'm turning into a regular outdoors person. Got a kick as backpacking backpack and everything. I will take a TON of photos of course and there will be a post about this adventure.

TO SCOTLAND!