Picture of the Day

Laundry Day!

Picture of the Day

Bonfire Night

“'I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone.'
'I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!'”

From The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

If you know anything about British history you are probably aware of a holiday in November called Guy Fawkes Day (aka Bonfire Night) - "Remember, remember the 5th of November" - ? Sound familiar? If not I'll give you the Reading Rainbow version of the plot (minus the 'read it to find out the ending' part). in 1605 Protestants had pretty much reached dominance over Catholics in the aftermath of the Tudor bloodbath (you know, Bloody Mary and Queen Elizabeth? If you don't know about this than you need to pick up a history book and refresh your memory, this is not a 'history for dummies' blog). However, there were still come Catholics that weren't happy about the situation. Soooo, they decided to blow up the English Parliament building! To accomplish this the rebels put a bunch of gunpowder kegs under the House of Lords. Before the plot was enacted the government was warned and they stormed the cellar where they found Guy Fawkes with the kegs. Fawkes was killed and ever since that day the Brits have lit bonfires, burned effigies of Guy Fawkes, and held 4th of July style fireworks displays in commemoration.
Everyone (that might be hyperbole) in Great Britain celebrates Bonfire night, though I think it has less to do with a Patriotic feeling than with liking to set things on fire. My friends and I decided that we wanted to make an event of it and bought tickets to see the fireworks at Kenilworth Castle.

Picture of the Day

Coventry Train Station

Picture of the Day

Allison & I went shopping in Birmingham at the

Bullring Shopping Centre...strange looking, right?
(Mom, I thought you'd enjoy this building, strangest mall I've ever seen!)

Picture of the Day

Lunch with Leena, Katherine, & Shadia after a stressful week

My friend Shadia was missing home (Bahrain, it's ok if you don't know where that is, I didn't even know it was a country before I met her) so we went to Habibi, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Coventry, and had a lovely meal in the Bedouin tent in the back garden. 

It was a bit on the cold side but we enjoyed ourselves.

Picture of the Day

Interesting it's called Humanities when we often feel that they things they make us do is inhumane...

You're welcome for the deep thought of the day.

Picture of the Day

Favorite thing about these cookies is that when your friend asks you if you want one you can say,

"Hit Me."

(I might be a little delirious from my week...and yes, I know it's only Wednesday and I have to survive two more days until the week is over)

Picture of the Day

Untitled #2 (Campus)

Picture of the Day

Untitled #1 (Campus)

Halloween?

Queen.

"There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
Therewith fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down the weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with her drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious buy
To muddy death."

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Before I go into detail regarding my Halloween at Warwick let me just say that normally I don't do the whole Halloween thing. Like many kids I enjoyed trick-o-treating and going to "Harvest Parties" and the like, but for a variety of reasons I've never really done much with the holiday. In part it's relates to the fact that I usually work as well as the fact that I lived in a neighborhood that wasn't conducive for treat-o-treaters. That being said, being back in Uni made me want to have fun with a holiday that is pathetically American and has been transplanted into England only as an excuse for people to drink and party while wearing as little clothing as possible (and that is not a cynical view, just a honest one). That being said, I had a very strange combination of experiences for my Halloween this year.
My fore-planning skills for a costume were extremely limited. Thursday I realized that I had no idea what I was going to dress-up as on Saturday; all I knew was that I didn't want to be a witch, a vampire, or a zombie. This limited my options to an extreme degree.
I lassos-ed Allison to come with me into Coventry after classes to find a costume. I was thinking "butterfly" or "bat". You know, buy some wings and be done with it!
A few issues showed themselves when we arrive into Coventry City Centre:

Picture of the Day

Research: Stage One

Not Shown: Twenty-one Journals Articles on my Nook

Picture of the Day

Bonfire Night! 

Picture of the Day

Aren't they beautiful! 

I'm such a book nerd.
And yes, I am spending my Friday evening in the Library...so's the life of a PostGrad!

(Side note - why don't they make such lovely looking books like this anymore?)

Picture of the Day

First "really cold" day here - out came the fuzzy socks!

Book Review: Skellig

"'Sometimes we just have to accept there are things we can’t know. Why is your sister ill? Why did my father die?…Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can’t. we have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine.'"

From Skellig By David Almond

Skellig by David Almond

Course: Writing for Children and Young People

Picture of the Day

At Allison's Halloween Party

Our hostess helped us get in the spirit - I got horns and Anni got a witch hat (not shown).

(we'd both come from class so the dressing up with limited)

Picture of the Day

Weekly Shopping

(I splurged and got cinnamon...wild woman!)

Read This! Page

Dear Reader,
I hope you are enjoying reading my blog. I've recently added a new page that I hope you will find interesting. If you click over the the Read This! page you will find selected reading from my course that I've especially liked. These are mostly books I'd never read or heard of before coming to the UK so I hope that they are new and exciting to you as well. Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on the books once you've read them. I can't wait to hear your feedback on my recommendations!

Pros and Cons

"You set your heart too much on things, Anne," said Marilla, with a sigh. "I'm afraid there'll be a great many disappointments in store for you through life."
"Oh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them, exclaimed Anne. "You mayn't get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says 'Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.' But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed."
From Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 

After three weeks of training and trials, the decision for who would make the Rowing team finally arrive and...(drum roll, please)...I didn't make it. I know, sad face.
However, I'm one who believes that every events has its good and bad aspects. To help me see the best in my sad situation I made a classic Pros/Cons list of not making the team: