On the hunt?

Why hello my friends!

I am now in Glasgow, home of Scottish industry, an amazing Cathedral and necropolis, and, of course, Belle & Sebastian. George and I arrived this morning after the easiest bus-catching of my life (we literally walked into the bus station, heard a fat Scottish man yell "Glasgow" and got on the bus) and have checked into our hostel, where we have to pay for TV but have our own bathroom. So. We shouldn't be watching TV anyways, although last night did provide us with the most hilarious show ever broadcast.

So you know Chippendales? The male strippers? You know people with physical disabilities, who are sometimes cruelly referred to as cripples?

Ladies and Gentleman, may I present the Crippendales.

Disabled men with the desire to be male strippers work towards their dream--and then it is broadcast on TV, nasty bits and all. Yes, that is right. Genitalia was on television. It was shocking and horrid and hilarious and the funniest thing on TV just about ever.

So far in Glasgow not much has been done; just a lot of walking and the Cathedral really. We had a really good lunch, and are walking to Glasgow University (former school of many B&S members!) and generally enjoying the FREEZING COLD WEATHER.

Oh! We went to Loch Ness yesterday. Nessie totally came and hung out with us. She's a cool prehistoric monster. She told me how she ended up in Loch Ness, but its kind of embarassing and she's shy, so I promised not to tell. I can tell you, however, that the Scottish Highlands are breathtaking. Sheer rock for miles and miles with heather everywhere and goats and tiny villages along perfectly still lochs. It was awe-inspiring. A ruin of a castle sits on Loch Ness and we were lucky enough to explore it before going out on the boat. It was really neat.

In food news: I finally ate a bagel. Apparently, the UK is bereft of bagels as well as Mexican food, but Glasgow has the good sense to have this shop called Bagel Mania. It's a chain, but who cares, its bagels. A wide variety too. Delicious. I told the girl at the till that I was really excited and hadn't had a bagel in over two months and she was like, ohhh okay and thought I was nuts. But really--two bagel-less months for a food obessive like myself is quite difficult.

Glasgow is charming. At first we thought it was a bit rough looking, but its not. It's lovely and sweet and makes me want to walk down the streets on a warm night wearing dresses with my best friends, laughing til our sides hurt. Maybe some other time.


Love,
Meagan

Scotland!

Okay--

We're here. We're alive. We're having fun.

Edinburgh is fantastic, a really beautiful city that is easy to get around. We've walked approx ten miles today (ten billion according to george) and it has been really fun. Edinburgh Castle is beyond cool. GO THERE.

There is so much history and so many stories in each stone and building. It makes you feel very small and young and helps you realize what a long story these places in Europe have. Wowzers.

Tomorrow it is off to Loch Ness and the Highlands!!! HOORAH!!! I will find Nessie for all my loves back home, no worries!!

It has all but begun

I turned in my first Sheffield essay just now! I am a bit nervous about it, but it should be fine. I was informed yesterday by my professor for Modern Lit that the British system "prefers hard work over any sort of creativity or original thought." Sounds a little bitter to me.It is true, however, that they are very interested not necessarily in what you as a student have to say. They really just want to see that you've studied what OTHERS have said and are able to research/reference/quote the shit out of actual scholars. The lack of creativity is a litle depressing to an ex-OMer, but it is one of those small (and annoying) cultural differences you never expect. You also do not turn papers in to your professor. All papers are turned in to the department office by a certain time and must be processed by the office before they reach the marker (grader). You have to sign some forms stating word count, that you didn't plagiarize, etc. It's all rather formal and intimidating. It is a very different style, and I don't think I quite got it right for my paper. We shall see.

Tomorrow George is arriving! This marks the effective end of any work being done by myself, and so is really the beginning of Easter break (forget freedom from religion, they don't do things PC and call it spring break over here, nope, it is allllll about the resurrection of Christ) and with Easter break lots of fun plans!

George will be arriving Wednesday, and then Thursday I will briefly have my Irish Writing seminar on (gasp) ULYSSES! Ahhhhh. Yeah. Fun. I looove Joyce. Otherwise lots of Sheffield exploration and hangouts will be taking place. On Sunday we leave for Scotland and will be there for about four and a half days, then its off to Italy, on April 3 George and I split ways and he heads back to the US and I head to Germany. There I will see my friend from high school, Jacob, and hike around the Black Forest, eat some good food (FINALLY) and generally revel in being in Germany again. Then it is off to Paris with Carl, and hopefully Becca my flatmate will be joining us. The chance to see so many places is really exciting and I can't believe this is actually happening. I will be sure to send lots of postcards when I can, and will upload pics to facebook once i get back. Hoorah!

I won't be able to check the nets much, except while at Jacob's, so I apologize for any tardiness in answering emails or any of those other internet ways in which we communicate. Please still send them, however-- I love to hear about all of your lives and adventures! Send me some encouragement as well: when I get back I have several more essays to write and very little time to do so. Part of this is my own fault, as I am going to Glasgow with Natalie and Emily to see Camera Obscura in April. I may have posted about this already, but I am very excited, and so gush about it. A lot.

Love,
Meagan

Word counts and window cleaners

Hello all!

This is the time where Sheffield students snap out of their reverie and partying ways (or at least the international students do) and start the hard work. The library suddenly is always full, computers are in high demand, and the flats are suprisingly quiet at night. This is when the essays are set. (They say set, not assigned.) In my American lit class, the questions were just emailed out to our Sheffield accounts (which I barely check) and not a word was said about them in class. Luckily a girl mentioned it and I ran to look at my email. Yup, I have an essay due next Tuesday by noon. Not to exceed 1500 words, including footnotes, or I will be up for review and can fail for not folling the rubric restrictions. These Brits do not mess around. My essay so far is crap. Whatevs. I just want to get it in.

To give you all an idea of the work assigned here, I will give you the work I was supposed to have done this weekend:
Read Women in Love-D.H. Lawrence: 542 pages
Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man-James Joyce: don't know pages, but long and dense
Read Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne: pages unknown, but sort of long
Start paper for Early American lit.
Do weekly WebCT (Blackboard) assignment.
Come up with 6 questions on Scarlet Letter.
Make notes on role of water in Portrait.

This wasn't even a bad week. Just a normal one.

I only read part of Portrait, did the 6 questions for Am Lit, and finished Women in Love. Oh well. I just started the paper today. I am hopefully going to be done by Friday night/Saturday morning, as Saturday is St. Patrick's Day, and my roommates are planning to go all out. Three of them are Irish, so its a huge deal to them.

My plans for the week:
homework
homework
paper
hangouts
St. Patrick's Day madness
final spring break planning/booking/prep
clean room
do laundry
freak out

A week from today George is coming to visit me! He gets in Wednesday morning while I am in seminar, so it will be an exciting run up the hill after to see him. I am really looking forward to it. It will be nice to have a face from home around.

Today the window cleaners came to Taptonville. Liz and I sat in the kitchen and laughed as they cleaned the kitchen windows of the opposite flat and James skittered around trying to avoid them. Karma does exist, because while I was changing my pants, the cleaner came up to my window. Luckily he didn't see anything, I had finished. Thank goodness. So lesson learned: if window cleaners are here, remember to shut your blinds.

It is beautiful here in Sheffield. The weather has taken a huge upturn. It has been warm spring days for awhile, with the sun warming your hair and everything. I've been able to wear just a light jacket! Hopefully the weather will stay nice and George and I will be able to go out into the Peak District for some "hiking" as they think of it. It really is just extreme walking.


The attitudes of British kids towards school is hard to identify. They always go out (like 5 nights a week, no joke) and claim to have never done the work, but they are lying. The kids in my classes have been really insightful and made good points. I can't keep up. They look at different things in their analysis as well. In the States we seem to do much more character analysis and close reading, while here there is a lot of talk about theory and the literary tradition pieces are a part of in the classes. It is hard to adjust, but I think it is making me at least aware of these different ways of looking at literature.

Love and kisses to all my dearies in Chicago.

Me

Paws Please

Today my flatmate Liz and I ventured to a pet shop down the hill and around the block to see the guinea pigs, dogs, and fish. We were suprised with bunnies and birds! It was lovely to see and pet and smell animals again. The dogs were these big ole nasty mutts that just wanted love. The younger, more active one (my favorite) was the strangest looking thing, and its tongue was too long for its mouth. Adorable. It was good to have animals around again. THey really do make life easier.

The reason Liz took me there is that my computer is basically dead. It freaked out on me late last night and will not turn on. I did lose it for awhile, but I am now much calmer about the whole situation. I really only use the computer to check email and to write papers. Luckily, I have wonderful flatmates who have done their best to make this easier and are letting me use their computers. I am in the library right now, and am sure that I will be able to find a way to manage without a computer for three months. Once I get home, there is always the Student Center until I can afford a new laptop. In my attempt to see this in the best possible light, I now have a reason to get the new cute little baby Mac I've been coveting for quite some time. Before I couldn't justify it, but thanks to screwy English voltage and the outlets that you have to turn on and off (or apparently kill your computer, but then again, I still don't know what exactly has happened) I will be able to justify it.

So in June, if you're thinking, man, what should I get Meagan for her 21st birthday, don't buy me some bottle of alcohol or some tshirt. Just hand me twenty bucks and wish me luck with technology.

THanks loves. I hope everyone is having a good day. Suprisingly, for having a nasty cold and no computer, I am.

Hope all is well wherever in the world you may be,

Meagan

This is not a hot dog.

Yesterday was a very eventful day, starting at about 7 am when I dragged myself out of bed and to the Give it a go trip to Stratford upon Avon. This is, of course, the hometown of William Shakespeare. It was beautiful, a perfect example of what an idyllic English village would look like. The skies were blue, it smelled like summer (summer, not spring) we got to walk through nice quiet neighborhoods, and saw sheep, dogs, ducks, and a horse. It was beautiful. We didn't even go into the Shakespeare houses (too expensive, and just old houses) but we did go to Holy Trinity Church where he was buried. It was a really lovely church. Unlike some of the cathedrals and such that were in the other places I've been, it wasn't restored and made to look perfect. The outside was crumbling in places, it still looked authentic, and it was set in the middle of a beautiful, peaceful cemetery looking out over the River Avon. It was my favorite place in Stratford. I really like cemeteries. It tells a lot about a culture, I think, to see how they care for their dead. We also stopped at a cemetery that was just off the road--no famous poets, no special frills. Just a normal, English cemetery. The graves weren't that old (at least in the areas we went) but stretched from the 1920's to today. It was really beautiful and touching to see them.

On a far less depressing note, last night was the dance party madness known as Poptarts. Poptarts is a huge dance party at the Union every Saturday night. It has two rooms: 60's/70's and 80's/90's. If you don't like a song in one, you just go to the next room. The music was fantastic. All night they just kept throwing out songs you couldn't help but bop along with, fling yourself around at times, and sing at the top of your lungs. It was odd too-- in the States, when people go out dancing they generally start dancing with members of the opposite sex that they meet there/run into/think are cute. Here, no one was dancing with/approaching/talking to the people they didn't come with or did not already know. I was sure that a large group of girls, all dressed up fancy and pretty, would get some dance partners (or offers of such). Nope. Not a single guy approached us or any other girls I saw and tried to dance with her. The English reserve I suppose? Small little things like this are so strange to notice. People don't approach each other in bars either or just randomly start talking to you. Even when you bump into someone, which often leads to a short conversation, merits nothing here. Sometimes not even an "Excuse me" or the English's third favorite phrase "Sorry." I can see how people think of Americans as very forward and obnoxious, seeing as we start conversations with total strangers often. Oh well. Different strokes for different folks. At least we didn't have unwanted creeps hitting on us. I went with a bunch of people from Taptonville. Everyone, I think, had a really great time and got a great workout. Some people opted for a taxi home, but Natalie, Emily, Carl and I braved the long, uphill walk home. Our feet were killing us, but I think the extra exercise was worth it. Plus, the chats and laughs on the way were priceless.

Something I learned last night: The English cannot make hot dogs. They just can't. We paid 2.20 pounds for a hot dog each (Kiernan and I split one) and those things just were not good. I don't know what they were. But not hot dogs, as Emily will tell you.

Okay, sorry, here is the edited version for the overbearing parents

I need a roommate for the summer and next academic year. If you know people let me know. Thanks.

I'm going to Stratford upon Avon on Saturday, and then the pre-poptarts-party at Flat 43, and then Poptarts, a dance party at the Union. Should be a good time.