Today was truly fantastic! We started off with breakfast, then off to class. Today our speaker was one of our profs, Charles MacQuarrie, linguist extraordinaire. He spoke about the background of Indo-European languages, then a bit about our first book up for discussion, the Tain Bo Cuailnge. After that we broke up into groups to start discussing the study questions Charlie had given us on the book (which is clearly his favorite; there are over 100 questions on this book and maybe 20 for each of the others).
Then, it was field trip time! We walked down the Promenade and tried to catch a ride on a horse tram, but ended up at the Electric Railway temrinal before we found one available. We took an hour-long ride up to Mount Snaefell, the highest point on the Isle. According to legend, one can see Man, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, the Irish Sea, and Heaven from the top of the mountain. Unfortunatley, Manannan's cloak kept us from seeing too far out. We spent about an hour exploring the mountaintop, which was amazingly green and mossy and springy and covered with sheep and battered by time and wind. When we came back down to Douglas, we caught a horse tram, which carried us back to the hotel.
At dinnertime, we headed to the Sea Terminal and boarded a crusie ship, which took us on a three hour tour of the Isle. We had a few setbacks, but all in all, the cruise was really enjoyable. We got to spend time together both as a whole group and mingling around in small groups. The Isle and the Irish Sea were both beautiful at night.
After that, some of us headed off for a pint at a spot near the sea...and here I am, back at home! Still having picture troubles (ARGH), so for now, keep checking that Facebook link back a couple of posts.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Isle of Man, Day 2
Today was our first full day on the Isle. We started off with the (now) usual full breakfast, although a Manx one, not English. The only difference is that the bacon here is really salty and fatty; it's really good with toast, eggs and tomato!
Today was also our first official day of "class." We had our first speaker this morning; Jennifer Kewley Draskau is one of the few experts in Manx language on the planet. She has written a book on Manx grammar and pronunciation that is now being used across the Isle. It was written especially for the one school on the Isle that has a Manx immersion program. The language has been virtually lost since the 19th century and has not been taught at school or spoken by natives here for generations, but there has recently been a revivial.
After our meeting, the group walked down to the Manx Museum for a crash course in the history of the island, from the prehistoric to the present. It was a lovely little spot, high up on a hill that overlooked the water, from where one could see the city and the hills beyond. At the museum, we were each assigned a different Manx stone to research by Charlie, one of our two professors. I was given a rather famous stone from Braddan to research. We scurried around the museum and library on our little scavenger hunt and then had a lovely tea in the dining room.
The afternoon consisted of our first shopping trip to the local supermarket and a cat nap before dinner. One of the ladies on the trip was celebrating her birthday today, so we got dressed up and took her out for Indian food. We went to a nice spot on the promenade, overlooking the sea, then ended up at a pub near our hotel for a few drinks.
I am still having trouble uploading pictures to the blog here, so you might just have to check the link to my Facebook page from the previous post for new ones, for now!
Today was also our first official day of "class." We had our first speaker this morning; Jennifer Kewley Draskau is one of the few experts in Manx language on the planet. She has written a book on Manx grammar and pronunciation that is now being used across the Isle. It was written especially for the one school on the Isle that has a Manx immersion program. The language has been virtually lost since the 19th century and has not been taught at school or spoken by natives here for generations, but there has recently been a revivial.
After our meeting, the group walked down to the Manx Museum for a crash course in the history of the island, from the prehistoric to the present. It was a lovely little spot, high up on a hill that overlooked the water, from where one could see the city and the hills beyond. At the museum, we were each assigned a different Manx stone to research by Charlie, one of our two professors. I was given a rather famous stone from Braddan to research. We scurried around the museum and library on our little scavenger hunt and then had a lovely tea in the dining room.
The afternoon consisted of our first shopping trip to the local supermarket and a cat nap before dinner. One of the ladies on the trip was celebrating her birthday today, so we got dressed up and took her out for Indian food. We went to a nice spot on the promenade, overlooking the sea, then ended up at a pub near our hotel for a few drinks.
I am still having trouble uploading pictures to the blog here, so you might just have to check the link to my Facebook page from the previous post for new ones, for now!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
London, Day 2 & 3, and the Isle of Man
I'm behind, so I'll give the short short version of events again...
Saturday in London: my roommie and I got up, had English Breakfast (we did NOT try the baked beans; I'm sorry, it's just too strange), went to the British Museum (SO crowded, and cat mummies? weird!), strolled to St. Martin's in the Fields, had tea at the Crypt there, and headed to the National Gallery. One thing we saw really disturbed me: Friday night, hundreds of people held a vigil in Trafalgar Square in honor of Micheal Jackson, and during that some number of them decided to DEFACE the outside of the National Gallery by writing notes to MJ all over the bricks. A much funnier scene we witnessed on our way back to the hotel: near the British Museum in Bloomsbury Square (a lovely little park where people picnic and sunbathe), we saw a 60-something year old woman, dressed very nicely in a sweater, long skirt, pantyhose and heels...squatting and urinating on a bush in the park. It felt like I was right in the middle of Bourbon Street. That night we met up with a few people from our group and had dinner in the neighborhood; very low key.
Sunday in London/Douglas, Isle of Man: had English breakfast again, strolled around the neighborhood in the direction we had not explored yet; almost EVERYTHING was closed, so we went to Charles Dickens' House. Then we found a perfect little pub on Queen's Square, had a pint, and took a taxi to London City Airport. The flight to the Isle of Man was short, but turbulent. The Isle is soooooo lovely! As we flew in, it was like a perfect picture post card: cows and fields and cliffs and ocean. We took another taxi to our new hotel and finally got to meet up with the rest of our group (only about 5 of the 15 of us had been in London for the weekend). Beth and I carried our gear up to the 3rd floor, unpacked our bags, then the whole group went walking to the Promenade, the seafront area in Douglas. We had dinner and drinks in the basement of a little Italian place, then half of us ended up at a little Irish pub where more drinks were had...Now, I am off to bed!
P.S. I have tried 5 times to post pics with this post, and it is still not working. I'm posting some to my Facebook page, and I'll try here again later!
Saturday in London: my roommie and I got up, had English Breakfast (we did NOT try the baked beans; I'm sorry, it's just too strange), went to the British Museum (SO crowded, and cat mummies? weird!), strolled to St. Martin's in the Fields, had tea at the Crypt there, and headed to the National Gallery. One thing we saw really disturbed me: Friday night, hundreds of people held a vigil in Trafalgar Square in honor of Micheal Jackson, and during that some number of them decided to DEFACE the outside of the National Gallery by writing notes to MJ all over the bricks. A much funnier scene we witnessed on our way back to the hotel: near the British Museum in Bloomsbury Square (a lovely little park where people picnic and sunbathe), we saw a 60-something year old woman, dressed very nicely in a sweater, long skirt, pantyhose and heels...squatting and urinating on a bush in the park. It felt like I was right in the middle of Bourbon Street. That night we met up with a few people from our group and had dinner in the neighborhood; very low key.
Sunday in London/Douglas, Isle of Man: had English breakfast again, strolled around the neighborhood in the direction we had not explored yet; almost EVERYTHING was closed, so we went to Charles Dickens' House. Then we found a perfect little pub on Queen's Square, had a pint, and took a taxi to London City Airport. The flight to the Isle of Man was short, but turbulent. The Isle is soooooo lovely! As we flew in, it was like a perfect picture post card: cows and fields and cliffs and ocean. We took another taxi to our new hotel and finally got to meet up with the rest of our group (only about 5 of the 15 of us had been in London for the weekend). Beth and I carried our gear up to the 3rd floor, unpacked our bags, then the whole group went walking to the Promenade, the seafront area in Douglas. We had dinner and drinks in the basement of a little Italian place, then half of us ended up at a little Irish pub where more drinks were had...Now, I am off to bed!
P.S. I have tried 5 times to post pics with this post, and it is still not working. I'm posting some to my Facebook page, and I'll try here again later!
Friday, June 26, 2009
London, baby!
A small part of the wall of Chimay bottles downstairs at Belgo
Satan Ale, the beer and its eponymous glass, at Belgo
Belgo at sunset (around 9:30 PM)
The view from the bicycle taxi
The ladies wanted to eat here, but the men wanted the beer selection at Belgo'sI am here. I am exhausted. Where to begin...
I shared a taxi from Heathrow into the city when I arrived at noon. Apparently, jet lag is a good look for me because the cabbie gave me his number and told me to "ring him for coffee or drinks." If anyone is lonely in London, I'll be happy to pass Tyler's digits on to you.
I arrived at the Park Inn, Russell Square and was SO pleased to discover both hot water and air conditioning in my room. Score! Beth, my roommate for the trip, arrived; we introduced ourselves and napped. We set off to meet the rest of our group around the corner at the flat one of our professors is renting. Drinks were had, plans were made.
The group took off on foot, walking from Bloomsbury to Covent Garden, where we had dinner at Belgo. It was a really interesting spot; all Trappist, Belgian beers and food stuffs served by waiters in Trappist robes. Our Columbian driver almost ran over a small dog in his bicycle taxi.
I know; this is the Cliff Notes version of the adventure so far. I am worn out and will report with more zeal soon!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Final Countdown...
With only 9 days left until my departure, I'm starting to get pretty excited. I did a trial run on packing with the medium-sized suitcase yesterday with surprising success. I managed to get all of my clothes rolled up and jammed in to one side, leaving the other for the copious amount of other junk I need to take. I made tedious, long lists of everythig that fit in the suitcase, all the tech junk going in my backpack, and all the small stuff I still need to get (sunscreen, dramamine for those 3 hour long ferry rides across the Irish Sea, etc.). Today I will be heading to Target with the supply list, and after I knock that out, I should be ready to go.
Suzy, one of the ladies in my group, and I will both be arriving at noon at Heathrow next Friday, so we'll be sharing a taxi into Bloomsbury. There are about six of us who will be arriving early in London for the weekend, in addition to our group leaders Clinton and Charlie, and we'll be having an official meet and greet at 4 PM at the Royal Overseas League near St. James's Palace. I can't wait to meet everyone; we've done more than a fair amount of e-mailing since we were all notified of winning the fellowship, but it will be nice to connect the faces with all the snarky comments. This should be a lively group! In addition to drinks on Friday, we've planned a visit to the British Library, British Museum, a performance of As You Like It at The Globe, eating lots of dim sum, and having many more drinks. A busy weekend it will be!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Stumped.
Last week when I picked up my plane tickets from the travel agent, I noticed a disturbing discrepancy regarding luggage regulations on my first two flights. I will be flying into London on Delta, and after a long weekend in the city, I will be flying to the Isle of Man on Aer Arann.Detour: First and foremost let me admit how terrified I am of flying, under any circumstance. My first plane flight was a 9-hour nail-biter to London fifteen summers ago. Back then, you could smoke on international flights, and I still smoked, so that eased much of my tension. Not only do I have to undertake another Trans-Atlantic crossing (without the aid of nictoine), but shortly afterward I also have to fly on one of the smallest planes known to man. This is my nightmare flight. (Okay, maybe after the recent plane crash in Brazil, both flights have featured strongly in my nightmares). In reality, that flight will only be 45 minutes long, but in my wild imagination, it will last much longer.
Back to the topic: My Delta flight allows two suitcases between 50 and 70 lbs. on international flights, but my Aer Arann flight only allows one suitcase of no more than 33 lbs. (Darn that tiny plane!) I was already close to panic mode at the thought of having to pack every item I might possibly need during a span of six weeks into one suticase, but now this? I must admit, I am stumped. I'm trying to imagine how my suitcase, clothes, shoes, toiletries, books, and miscellaneous junk will weigh less than 33 lbs. I'm also wondering why I bothered buying three new suitcases. It's like the Rubix cube of packing.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Why in the world do I need a blog???
If you are reading this blog, you probably already know (and love) me. Otherwise, I can't imagine why you would be here. Just in case you stumbled upon this by mistake, let me explain the reason for this blog's existence.
I am a high school teacher in suburban Jackson, Mississippi. I teach senior English (Brit lit) and AP Art History. This spring I was awarded a fellowship, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, to study Celtic literature, language, and art in the United Kingdom. There will be fifteen teachers in the group from all over the country, although I am most definitely in the minority as a southerner. We will be spending three weeks studying on the Isle of Man (in the cities of Douglas and Castletown) and two weeks at the University of Scotland at Glasgow. We will also spend time in Dublin and Belfast, Ireland, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
My wonderful, enthusiastic co-workers convinced me that I needed to keep a blog this summer, in order to keep them up to date on my whereabouts and my activities...so here I am. As of today, I am three weeks from my departure, so there's not much to report. In the interim I will probably upload some info on the texts we will be discussing this summer and some of my travel plans. Hopefully you will be spared from all the gory details of my packing and preparation, but only time will tell. For now I will simply say, hello, dear reader! This link will take you to the program's web site so you can see what's in store for me.
I am a high school teacher in suburban Jackson, Mississippi. I teach senior English (Brit lit) and AP Art History. This spring I was awarded a fellowship, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, to study Celtic literature, language, and art in the United Kingdom. There will be fifteen teachers in the group from all over the country, although I am most definitely in the minority as a southerner. We will be spending three weeks studying on the Isle of Man (in the cities of Douglas and Castletown) and two weeks at the University of Scotland at Glasgow. We will also spend time in Dublin and Belfast, Ireland, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
My wonderful, enthusiastic co-workers convinced me that I needed to keep a blog this summer, in order to keep them up to date on my whereabouts and my activities...so here I am. As of today, I am three weeks from my departure, so there's not much to report. In the interim I will probably upload some info on the texts we will be discussing this summer and some of my travel plans. Hopefully you will be spared from all the gory details of my packing and preparation, but only time will tell. For now I will simply say, hello, dear reader! This link will take you to the program's web site so you can see what's in store for me.
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