Life after Russia

Just so we're clear, I survived Russia and returned a week ago from St-Petersburg. I haven't said anything about it yet because of the rash of essays due last week, the last of which is a ten-page politics paper due this afternoon. It is finished, so now I can tell you everything.

Russia.
Russia was pretty cold, really. It was more of an intense experience than Rome, and I'm not actually going to go into detail here, though you should definitely ask me when you see me, I'd love to tell you about it. Everything was very...Russian. Also, we took the subway, and the subway stations were all Soviet, which was pretty fascinating. I'll tell you about it when I see you.
The pictures are: Rachel and me in front of Cathrine the Great's monument (which you aren't see in the background). Rachel is from Massachusetts, and is excellent. Then, me on a swing in front of the Winter Palace. Yes, it was very snowy in Russia. And then St-Petersburg at sunset. The building on the right is the Hermitage, the largest art museum in the world. It was pretty awesome. Also, this picture was taken at like 3:30 in the afternoon.

Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was actually quite excellent. We had classes, which was fine because all I have on Thursday is History and we were looking at feminism, so that was good. Then I just chilled. I got dressed up for dinner and sat with several Americans. The food wasn't terrible. It was Thanksgivingish. We hung out in the dining hall for several hours singing Christmas carols. A few guys dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians. It was a good time all around.
No football, though.

Dr Bader.
So I went to a talk last night given by Alfred Bader, the man who bought this castle and gave it to Queen's. He was quite excellent, actually. A nice old Jewish man, like so many are. He talked about his collection of Rembrandt paintings, which he is leaving to Queen's. He was particularly interesting because he really isn't an art historian at all, but seems to genuinely love it, and talked about it with at least as much passion as Daphne (the art history professor here) does. Very interesting. Also, he was a real "the world is your oyster" person, which is a phrase that I interpret differently than how it is probably meant--Its not that all these opportunities are open to you if you're smart and go for it (which they are) but more about how global a community we have become, if that makes sense. Like, I can be in Italy, England and Russia in the span of two weeks. (And Sweden and Latvia, if we're counting layovers.) Do you know what I mean? Dr Bader talked about being in the States (he's from Milwaukee) and Amsterdam and here and Prague and Kingston... Because really the world is your oyster.
Anyway, Dr Bader was outstanding.

Exams.
So, this is the last week of term, followed by exams next week until the 11th, and then I get to go home. Its good, I'm ready for this term to end. Theres an end of term party on Friday, everyone is going to get dressed up. Things are winding down. This term went really quickly. I'm looking forward to next term, though, it sounds like the classes are going to be less introductory and more interesting, and I expect everything is going to be a little less new and frightening.

And yeah. I'm home on the 13th in the evening.
Which is in 18 days.
Woohoo!!

Rome

Rome was incredibly amazing. I went with my roommate, Ariane.
We ate well, we saw cool things...
Day one: We arrived in Rome around 9pm, we went to check in at out hostel, which was well-located right near the train station, and we went for dinner. I had lasagna and Italian wine. I still don't like wine, but the lasagna was outstanding. Then we walked a bit and went to sleep.

Day two: We woke up early and scurried off to the Vatican. We meant to go stand in line for the Sistine Chapel bit first, but we got kind of lost and ended up in St. Peter's instead. So we bopped around there for awhile, figured out that that wasn't where we meant to be, and went to stand in line for the Vatican Museums, which took awhile. Totally worth it, though. We saw the Sistine Ceiling and the Raphael rooms and art and things of this nature. It was a good time, overall. Then we went for pizza, which was outstanding, and then walked to the Pantheon, the Trevy Fountain, and to see the Colosseum at night. And had another pasta dinner. And then it started raining, so we got on a bus.

Day three: We woke up and headed to the Colosseum in a roundabout kind of way, via...everything. (We were given maps with important places marked on them when we got there, we went to almost all of the places that were marked.) Anyway, we got to the Colosseum, did one of those touristy tour things where they take you in and tell you about the places and you get to skip the lines, etc. Actually, the tour was really good. So we learned about the Colosseum and then about the Roman palaces and the Forum. And then we had pizza again for lunch and wandered off for shopping. We passed Gucci and Dolce and Gabanna and things of this nature. I don't really understand designer shopping, but thats how it goes. We ended up on top of one of the hills at sunset, so we could see the whole city. It was amazing. Then we kind of wandered back toward our hostel, had another pasta dinner with a really quite amusing Roman waiter, and that was that.

Day four: We got up, got on a bus back to the airport, went to catch out plane, but we had print-out tickets and the Romans didn't know what they were, so that was a bit of an issue. It all worked out though, and we got on. We get back to England and are diverted many times in the taking-the-train-back process. They're doing work on the trains, which is pretty bothersome. It took awhile to get back. Thats how it goes, though.

So, basically Rome was amazing. I think it was about the most amazing city I have ever been to.

Pictures:
Me outside the Pantheon
The Colosseum at night
Ariane holding the Colosseum, because she is cool like that.

Hallowe'en

I thought I should say something about All-Hallow's. We did a haunted house on Wednesday night in which each hallway competed against the other hallways. Ours was an asylum, complete with Nurse Ratchett and screaming people. We won for most creative theme. Then there was a Halloween party Thursday night at the pub. I dressed up as a chinadoll. It was very cute. The party was pretty good, too.

The picture is of me being a chinadoll.

Mid-Term

Hello all.
Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've been back from Midterm Trip for about a week. This is how things happened:
We left here at the crack of dawn on coach buses. We drove for fourteen hours (stopping every now and then, including at the National Coal Mining Museum of England) until we got to Edinburgh, Scotland. We hung out in Edinburgh for awhile (three days), hitting such sights as Edinburgh Castle, Scottish Parliament and the National Gallery of Scotland.
And lots and lots of tourist shops.
Scotland really is quite excellent. I liked Edinburgh a lot more than London, and even the trip up wasn't bad. It was very scenic.
On the way back, we stopped first at Hadrian's Wall, which was built by the Romans to keep the crazy Scots out of England, which they controlled. So we went to a Roman fort and walked around and took lots of pictures and generally had a lovely time.
And then we stopped in Liverpool for a night. We went to lots of Beatles sights and had generally a lovely time there, too. All the Liverpuddlians are just so kind... And...what else? Yeah. Then we drove in the buses back to school.

And then the next day my mother came to visit and we have an AMAZING time both here and in London, where we went to do excellent things such as tour the Tate Britian, and the National Gallery, see Wicked and shop in Harrod's. And eat real people-food.

It was outstanding.
The picture is of me jumping off Hadrian's wall.

Upcoming events:
Bonfire night, Monday
Rome, Thursday-Sunday
St. Petersburg, weekend after next.

And then exams and then home!
See you all soon.

The Future, Whatever...

So this weekend I was at the National Gallery in London and Canterbury Cathedral, both of which were outstanding. I haven't been posting much because it's basically reached midterm, so I've had lots of essays and things of that nature. The future looks bright, however: My last essay is due on Wednesday, and then nothing at all until Sunday, when I (and everyone else) leave for our Midterm Trip to Edinburgh and Liverpool (!!) I'm very extited. The whole school is going, its an eight hour bus ride there and then two smaller ones back (with a stop in Liverpool for a night.) We get back on Thursday and my mother is coming on Friday!!!!! I'm very excited. She's going to spend Friday and Friday night here, and then on Saturday we're going into London to sightsee and go to a show! I'm somewhere beyond excited.

Well, today has been a big day, after London on Friday and Canterbury on Saturday. Today I did laundry and cleaned my room. Big day, very exhausted.

Goodnight all.

Strike!

Alert!!
The postpeople here are on semi-strike.
SO...
You are still encouraged to send me things, but no cookies or other wonderful perishables until further notice. I'd hate for them to go bad before they got here. It would be devastating.

On the other hand, I am just finishing up the cookies, and they really are excellent. The bubblewrap didn't really work, though. he cookies broke anyway (but were still quite outstanding) and the brownies wouldn't have broken without it.
But they are good. VERY good.
Thank you!

Old Rocks

Field Studies for the weekend of 28-30 September:

Saturday was Stonehenge.
To be perfectly honest, I've been exposed to lots and lots of old rocks. I happen to enjoy them more when someone is carrying me around on their shoulders, ala Israel, but I like them fine even when I have to walk.
Stonehenge was really no exception.
When it gets right down to it, these are some seriously old rocks. Personally, I like to blame aliens for just about everything, including Stonehenge. But thats just me.
Everything here seems to have "supernatural" explanations. Its pretty cool, actually.

Yesterday we took a field-study to a geological formation called Devil's Dyke. Basically, its a valley with no river in the middle of it.
The supernatural explanation there is this:
The people in the South of England were among the first in the country to adopt Christianity. According the legend, the Devil got mad at them for being Christian, and decided to dig a trench to the ocean, so that the sea would flood the town and drown all the pesky Christians. So he came out from Hell (in the middle of the night, of course, because that is the only time the Devil was allowed to come out of Hell) with his shovel, and started to dig.
An old lady heard him in the middle of the night, and so lit a candle and leaned out of her window to see what was going on. Her rooster saw the candle and thought, as roosters so often do, that this meant that it was daytime, and so began to crow. Upon hearing this, the Devil panicked. He had to be back in Hell by morning! So he went back into Hell, never completed digging his trench, and so the town was saved.

It was my geography class that took the trip, and so we were told all sorts of far less interesting stories about the formation of Devil's Dyke.
After this we hiked into the dyke, back out again, and down to a local pub for lunch. And then we went to the seashore for some more landforms. Also, we saw Ashdown Forest, where Whinnie the Pooh lives. This, of course, was terribly exciting.

The thing about it is that from what I'd heard, you know, from people who had done this program before, was that it was amazing, and completely worthwhile. Way better than going to a regular University. I hadn't gotten that. I mean, it was fine, but so are most colleges. So I got up yesterday (at 7:30 on a Sunday) and complained: some people got to have class in classrooms, and got to sleep in on Sundays. By the time I went to bed it was "can you imagine? Some people have to have class in classrooms!"

So, yes, I am enjoying myself.

Pictures: At Stonehenge (in order: Me, Kerry, Carly, Bronwen, Jen, Lauren), Devil's Dyke, My victory dance after climbing back up the side of Devil's Dyke, which is very steep.

Mind the Gap

Hello everyone.
What can I talk about tonight?
London, I think.

Friday was at the British Museum. The fact of the matter is that I had a hard time with the British Museum. The things there are lovely, of course, and they're displayed nicely, but its so very clear that they aren't from here, that they were, in fact, stolen from Egypt and Greece and Rome, that this totally takes away from their overall impressiveness. Our tour (given by Daphne, the ARTH prof--ARTH being Art History) was pretty excellent, and it was nice to get to see the things we've been studying about. But, I don't know. The museum just didn't give me a good feeling. It really was a very stunning museum--beautiful architecture that brought together the Greek art inside it and the more modern feel of, well, not living in ancient times.
So, worth visiting, but not as good as actually going places. Where, when you go, they will tell you that this or that particular piece of art is missing because it is in the British Museum.

In my free time on Friday I did a tour of Westminster Abbey, which was outstanding. Favorite church ever. I saw Newton's grave, and Darwin's (I love Darwin. He is on the 10L note here. Awesome. And so cool that he is buried in a church.) And Shakespeare, and Winston Churchill, and Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens... The tour was totally worth it, too. A little long, and a little more information about the church than I really needed, but the guide pointed out some important stuff that I would have missed otherwise.

On Saturday I got to go into London AGAIN! Even though it was Yom Kippur and I was tired and hungry and sick. (I passed up the opportunity to see Merchant of Venice at the Globe. I didn't feel like that would have been quite the right way to celebrate Kol Nidre.)

London on Saturday focused on the Natural History Museum, which was phenomenal, and which I have not at all as many complaints about as I have about the British Museum. We were early for our field study, so I went to look at the dinosaurs. Now, I've seen some pretty awesome dinosaur exhibits, but this one was really outstanding. They've made the dinosaurs real. Several of the skeletons are suspended from the ceiling, and a few of the dinosaurs are anamotronic, and so move. Which is awesome.
Then was the Earth Science exhibit, which was amazing. It was astoundingly well presented, and informative and actually interesting. Sad part is, now I have to write a paper on it. Basically, the exhibits showed how the Earth had changed over time, and what this meant for the species inhabiting it. My essay is arguing primarily that the current trend of global warming isn't so much man-made, or caused by human beings, as its just another oscillation in the ever-changing pendulum of Earth's climates. Yeah, I really should get on writing that essay...

After that we took the tube to King's Cross and took some pictures at platform 9 3/4, and then went to Paddington Station, where we could just see a little bear walking around with a jar of jam. It was Yom Kippur, and I was hungry, so that was about all I was up for. It was good, though.

Then I came back to Bader and ordered Paddington books (and Harry Potter) from Amazon.co.uk. I can't wait for them to get here, as I really should be more informed about small bears and jam.

Presents

I just want everyone to know that presents are amazing.
We have pidgeon-holes (mailboxes) in Bader (residence) in the lobby. Therefore I can see right when I walk in if I have a letter or a package (we get a slip in our hole that says "you have a package!") and it is the most exciting thing EVER. Seriously. I do an "I've got a PRESENT" dance. This is by way of saying that you should send me things. I understand that it is very expensive to send me things. A letter or a postcard is fine. Just please make sure to include a note! (My father sent me a package with no note! It was very sad. Well...a little sad.)

For example, today I got a present with FIVE individually wrapped presents inside!!! I'm opening one up each day so that its like I get five whole days worth of presents (!) and each one has its own note!! This is amazing.
I'm just saying.

SO, to recap:

Lia Yanis
Rm. C140 Bader Hall
International Study Centre--Herstmonceux Castle
Hailsham, East Sussex
BN27 1RN
ENGLAND

Thanks very much.
Also, if you do send something, I promise I'll let you know when I get it, so don't worry.

Saturday at the Castle

Well, I've been here for a week and a half now, gone to all my classes, Brighton, London, shopping, and the pub. Here are some week-end conclusions and thoughts:

Classes: first off, my profs are all different nationalities, which makes things all the more interesting. Art History and Geography profs are English, History is Canadian, Politics is Greek (and speaks with such a heavy accent one can hardly understand her, but otherwise is fairly excellent) and the Econ prof is Italian.
The classes themselves are interesting. So far, I guess, they aren't as hard as I'd expected. I kind of feel like I'm dooming myself by saying that, but I was expecting an essay every other night and exams once a week. It looks a lot more like we're just going to have a lot of reading and then a midterm essay or exam. And a final, of course. It's SO much reading, though. But the classes themselves are really good, the lectures are interesting and the material seems worthwhile. I'm looking forward to starting seminars this week (each class meets twice a week and the way its supposed to work is a lecture the first day and a seminar to discuss the lecture on the second. I don't know if this is how its going to work, but we'll see. Econ seminars don't start until the week after this one, which is sad, because Econ was amazing last week. Last week instead of seminars we basically just had two lecture periods, or an intro and then a lecture.)

Brighton and London: Our official trip to Brighton was last week, and it was interesting enough. Brighton is a little shopping town right on the beach about an hour from here. Several of us went back this morning to get things like sweaters and clubbing outfits. Personally I got a lovely warm frumpy sweater for 8L and a pair of shoes for 10L. Things really aren't that expensive here. In the states I wouldn't have gotten the things I got today for less than, like, 50$, I don't think.
London was yesterday. It was a "Cultural Study" trip, meaning that the whole school went and mostly we toured London and Greenwich, rather than we would on Field Study trips (where we mostly will be at one museum or other such hot-spot related to our class, and will then have free time. We took a bus tour of London and then a cruise down the Thames from London to Greenwich, where we did have time to hang out and shop. (Don't worry--I am keeping track of my finances!)
I took a TON of photos in London, and of course I can't put them all up here, but I'll show you when I see you.

What else is going on? I annoyed the pubtender again last night (because I couldn't decide what I wanted) until he just gave up and made me a drink, which wasn't bad.
Its Saturday, though, and I feel that I've wasted a sufficient amount of time thus far this weekend. Therefore I will leave you now, and go be productive. Or take a nap. Ah, weekends.

Cheers.

(The photos are: 1. Me and Riley at Cleopatra's Needle. 2. Me and Big Ben. 3. Parliament. 4. The Globe Theatre. 5. London Bridge. 6. The Tower of London.

Week 1

My week has been...Interesting.

My room is...well, it doesn't feel like its that small, but i guess it is, compared to my room at home. My roommate is pretty cool. We aren't going to be the best-friends roommate types, I don't think, (shes tall and blonde and is clubbing right now. On the plus side, shes not 18 yet, and so hasn't been coming back drunk.) We seem to get on well enough, though. I think we're gonna go to Rome in November for bonding time or something. It'll be good. And our room is a very acceptable state of mostly-neat but not spotless.

I'm really enjoying living in res. Its a nice feeling that when I don't have class or anything to do, I can always find something. I'm on an all girls floor (there are 127 first-years here and something like 22 boys, so its no shock that none of them are on my floor) and I'm, well, not at the "friends" stage yet, but I like some of the people here a lot. We've gotten past the "hi who are you" stage of conversation now and have moved a little deeper, which is really nice.

Yesterday we spent the day on a field-trip to Brighton. Its a nice little town, I suppose. We didn't have that much time there (we also went to the University of Sussex library, which we are to use to supplement the one here and to some pretty cool cliffs which were called something that I can't remember) but some people and I are going back to Brighton on Saturday to do some shopping and hang out on the beach. (Theres a pretty nice beach there.) (Image 1: The Cliffs)

Last night (the night before classes started) we had a wine-and-cheese mixer with our profs. It was nice to get to talk to them before classes started. Most of mine are pretty awesome, actually. The history prof is going to do some archeology digs on the castle grounds, and the politics prof is Greek, and therefore is teaching us about the etymology of the politics words. Its interesting.

I can't get used to being served alcohol, though. The pubtender thinks I'm hilarious. I asked him for a free sample the first night, because I didn't want to spend money on a drink before I knew what I liked. He gave me a sample (I wasn't surprised, having spent most of the summer giving out free samples, but most of the people I was with were pretty shocked, and regretted having already ordered drinks) and so now anytime I come in he calls me sample-girl or something to that effect. As it turns out, I'm not a huge fan of drinking. I like being able to buy liquor, I'm just not a big fan of consuming it (which I'm sure will come as a relief to my parents.) A lot of people here don't drink, or don't drink much. It costs a LOT of money. (Image 2: Lia and Jamie at the pub.)

Classes started today. I had Art History, Politics, Geography and History. They seem pretty good. People keep warning us not to over-extend ourselves and whatnot, which I'm sure is a good warning (as I haven't done what I need to to prepare for tomorrow yet...) but it doesn't seem like a really outrageous amount of work. We'll see, though, I bet it is and they're just trying to lull us into a false sense of calm... (Image 3: Lia's first day of school.)

We're going to London all day Friday.

The food is terrible. Like, its so much worse than I could have imagined... Literally, there are three or four starch options at each meal (at least two kinds of potatoes, pasta and rice) and not really any edible meat. At least there is a salad bar, thank goodness.
On the other hand, the dining hall is in a castle, which is nice.
(Image 4: On the way into the Castle.)

Schedule

So I'll share (partly so that I'll remember...)

Monday:
11:30-12:50: Art History
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:20: Geography
15:30-16:50: History
17:00-18:20: Political Studies
18:30-19:30: Dinner

Tuesday:
14:00-15:20: Politics
17:00-18:20: Art History

Wednesday:
8:30-9:50: Economics
11:30-12:50: Geography
17:00-18:20: Econ again

Thursday:
10:00-11:20: History

Friday, Saturday: Field Studies.

There you have it.

Greetings from the UK!

I am at this moment sitting in my room in Bader Hall. Actually its a great dorm space (not mine in particular, Bader in general.)
I got to Heathrow at 6:00 Wednesday morning. Jamie and I then lugged all of our luggage (and there was rather a lot of it) from the terminal where we landed to the terminal where we were to meet the ISC people. We were supposed to be on the second bus. HOWEVER, even after taking a train from one terminal to the other and going through customs, we were the first ISC-ers at the meeting area. So we sat, and waited, and slowly gathered people, and eventually (around 9) got on a Coach for the 2ish hour drive to the Castle.
Which is really not that big, but excellent anyway.
The food, however, is not so good.

So I'm jetlagged (just a little...ish) and I'm going to go to bed.
More orientating tomorrow! Much excitement.

Fare thee well.

Three, Two, One...

I guess every time you do something really exciting you kind of know its coming in the back of your mind for awhile before it really hits you. I've known I'd be leaving for England on September 4 since spring break. But it wasn't until a few hours ago that I really got that this includes moving out of Highland Park.
As it so happens, I hate moving. I like living in the new place, its just the in-between part that gets me. I don't enjoy saying goodbye. I tried to call and talk to everyone this week so that I could, I guess, avoid saying goodbye as much as possible. Because I am not a fan.

Orientation starts the day after tomorrow.
I'm already checked in to a 4:40 PM British Airways flight direct from O'Hare to Heathrow tomorrow. It gets in at 6:something Wednesday morning, local time.

This is my way of saying goodbye.
And thank you.
xoxo

Mail, Please

Lia Yanis
International Study Centre
Bader Hall
Herstmonceux Castle
Halisham, East Sussex
UNITED KINGDOM
BN27 1RN

It should only cost about a dollar to send a letter. It'll be a little more if you send me a package. You should anyway. Packages make life a little happier.

I know you will send me wonderful things. (Mostly food.)
Thanks in advance!
Much love.

Ready, Set...(hurry up and wait!)

Fare thee well, everyone.
Here it is, today, 23 August, and I shan't be going to England for 12 more days. Melanie has begun classes already, and Abby is already all moved in and settled, and Alissa left today, we shall say goodbye to Chan on Friday and Linds next Monday... And here I don't leave until two weeks from last Tuesday!! Its just wrong, really. Stuck in Highland Park Teenage Wasteland. Even the highschool starts before I do.
Oh, well.

I've begun packing, if you want to call it that. I have two suitcases with jeans and shirts and things in one of them, and big boxes all over everywhere because--joy--I have to empty everything out of my room because my parents are gonna tear it down. Yes, indeed, when I come home from school I will be living in the guest room, because mine will be under CONSTRUCTION! On the other hand, at least I don't have to bring as much stuff to college as most of y'all are.

I finish work on the 2nd. I can't wait.
And then I have a British Airways flight, direct O'Hare to Heathrow at night on the 4th. I'll be met by a Coach (bus) on the other end. It'll take me (and many, many others) to Herstmonceux Castle. This followed by a few days of orientation, and classes start on 10 September.
Finally.

SOAR

Hi, everyone. And by everyone, I mean my avid readers. (YOU.)

So today was ISC-SOAR (Summer Orientation to Academia and Registration) for students attending the International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle Fall 2007. It was pretty fab. It was really nice to meet people, finally. Really, though, there weren't that many people there. Like, 40 out of the 130 who'll be at the castle. So not a lot. But Liz Steel (one of the people in charge of making sure we're taken care of next year) was there, and it was nice to hear what she had to say about things. There were other people, too. It was basically a day full of lectures and talks and conversing with new people, and so on. It was kind of nice. The most exciting part? Signing up for classes!!

So...

You're excited, I know...

Wait for it...

First Term:

ARTH 116: Art and Architecture in Britain from the Classical Period to c.1700

ECON 111: Introductory Microeconomics

GPHY 102: Earth System Science

HIST 125: The Evolution of Modern Europe

POLS 110: Introduction to Politics and Government

Second Term:

PHIL 157: Moral Issues

ECON 112: Introductory Macroeconomics

GPHY 101: Human Geography

HIST 125 (cont'd)

POLS 110 (cont'd)

Summertime (pre-blog...)

So I'm figuring out how to make this work. People have been asking me since I announced that I was going to Herstmonceux Castle next year for University how they could contact me while I was there. Apparently some of you want to hear tales of my adventures and such. And so, a blog.

What I hope to do is to update this with important information, what amazing trips I've just gone on, schedules (aka when you can come visit me) etc. I'm not going to put my mailing address up, but if you email me (onimonilia@aol.com), I can send it to you once I get it in September. I'm gonna want letters and packages. Seriously. I'm at home this summer, and I want letters and packages, so just imagine how much I'm gonna want them when I leave! (a lot. please send me things.) Um... I'm trying to decide if there is anything else that I should say here. I don't think there is, there isn't anything interesting going on.

I'm leaving for school on 4 September. Classes start 10 September. I can't wait.
If this website doesn't work out, I'll find somewhere else to say things.
Come visit me at Sweet Pea's Ice Cream in Highwood this summer!