York – 14th-17th February 2011

A view of the city from the City Walls

Since my partner is on holiday from work for two weeks, we decided to head up to York for a short break. I’d been before, but I was quite young and didn’t remember anything about it other than the Jorvik Centre.

On revisiting, it’s surprising that I didn’t remember any of it at all.

The Shambles; one of the best-preserved medieval shopping streets in the country

York has an incredible amount of history and charm. The city has done an excellent job at preserving its buildings, with topsy-turvy medieval buildings dominating the city centre. The winding cobbled streets can keep any explorer of the city occupied for hours, always with some new street or quaint alleyway to be discovered.

It’s impossible to go to York and not experience the grandeur and sheer scale of York Minster. The medieval cathedral, built on the site of a Norman church, itself built on a Roman fortress, is immense in size and beautifully decorated. Sadly, the end of one wing was obscured by scaffolding, but it’s understandable that a building of this age takes a lot of work to keep in such good condition. The Chapter House is particularly stunning.

The awe-inspiring interior of York Minster

The City Walls are another attraction. They surround the city centre, and are easily accessible to the public. They command excellent views of the city, and particularly of the Minster. They make for a fairly easy stroll, though the stairs to reach them are rather steep and narrow. A must-see for any visitor.

As well as its focus on history, York has an abundance of tea-rooms and cafés. Yes, there are the usual Starbucks and Costas, but there are many independent places to enjoy a cream tea or a sandwich. There are also numerous second-hand bookshops, something other cities seem to lack. It’s a wonderful experience to wander around the small shops crammed to the ceiling with old books, even if one doesn’t buy anything.

On the edge of the city centre is the National Railway Museum, which contains a wide collection of engines. Amongst their exhibits is a Bullet Train, a working turntable, and they are currently working on restoring the Flying Scotsman; the workshop is available to the public for viewing. The museum has free admission, and is an excellent way to spend a few hours for any age.

The rain only acted to enhance York's charm.

The weather wasn’t ideal for sightseeing, but the rain we had did nothing to put us off enjoying the city to its fullest. In the evening, the wet cobbles reflected the streetlamps, and only added to the old charm of the city.

York was a fascinating and enjoyable trip. Two nights wasn’t really enough to see all the sights, but we did a fairly good job at seeing what we could. The size of the city is such that it’s easy to get from place to place on foot; it takes around half an hour to walk from one side of the city to the other, and there is much to see on the way. I will definitely return to this charming city.

Boston: 29th June to 1st July 2010

Boston. Where it all started, and now my favourite American city.

Boston skyline from the harbour cruise

We only spent a day and a half in Boston, but it was fantastic. It was educational, and most importantly I felt at home there.

Compared to most American cities, Boston feels very British. There are clear European influences, and I was constantly reminded of various British cities (namely Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, and Cardiff). Whilst this doesn’t sound great, it was nice to have a reminder of cities that I’m familiar with.

We were staying at a Quality Inn in Lexington, about ten miles outside Boston. Fortunately, we were near Alewife subway station which took us directly into the centre of Boston. It wasn’t very expensive; I think it was about $17 for 5 return trips, and it was incredibly useful for us.

The park in Boston

Whilst in Boston, we bought tickets for a tour bus that also included a short harbour cruise around the bay. The bus allowed us to hop on and off all day, which made travelling around the city that much easier. It also allowed us to see parts of the city that we wouldn’t have even known existed if we were just travelling on foot. The drivers were all entertaining and knowledgeable.

We ate lunch in Little Italy, and for dinner we went to Legal Sea Foods, famous for its lobster. My parents shared one between them, and I tried a little. I didn’t really see what the fuss is about, but maybe the taste was overpowered by my shrimp and crab. It was excellent food; being by the sea, Boston is a great place for fresh fish.

Legal Sea Foods restaurant on the harbour

The main sites we saw were the destroyer boats in the harbour, the park with the bronze duck statues commemorating the children’s book Make Way for Ducklings (one of my sister’s favourites when she was little), the bar that inspired the Cheers bar.

The day was only slightly spoiled by the jet-lag from the day before catching up with me at around 5pm. The weather was ideal; around 27 degrees and breezy. It got a little chilly in the evening, but it didn’t stop our sightseeing.

Overall, our short stay in Boston was a great one. It is one of my firm favourite cities in the world, with the history that many American cities lack, and a distinctive European air about it. I’d definitely recommend everybody with even a vague interest in the birth place of the States visit at some point in their lives.

And now for something completely different…

I thought I’d take a break from my reviews and make a post about something completely unrelated.

Today is one of celebration and commiseration, tears of joy and tears of disappointment; Results Day. I honestly have no idea how well I’ve done this year. There have been a lot of ups and downs in regards to studying. Hopefully more ups than downs, but again, I’m not entirely certain. If the coursework results I’ve had back so far are anything to go by, I’ve managed a 2-1. I’d be happy with that, but I don’t want to get my hopes up.

It’s also that time of year where I’m sure every student tells themselves “I’ll try harder next year.” I know I do. I plan everything out in my head. “I’ll do this many hours of studying a day. I’ll read  x amount of critical work per week. I’ll finish all my coursework at least so many days before the deadline.” Then the new year arrives. I start out with good intentions, do some wider reading, I’m really interested in the course. Then a couple of weeks in it wanes. As the work begins to pile up I’m less motivated to do it. But this year, I’ll try harder. Really.

But I’m rambling. Back to results. It’s the exams I’m worried about. At the time I felt good about what I’d written, but now I’m having doubts. I’m sure it’s just nerves talking. I hate exams. I don’t see the point in them at all.

[/rant]

They really don’t represent the capabilities of anybody. Being asked to write about at least five texts in three hours without referring to them is unrealistic. Not only do we have to remember relevant quotes from the texts themselves, but also relevant critics. And the topics are completely unknown. True, we can guess what kinds of themes will crop up in exams, but it’s still asking a lot. In what real life situation am I ever going to have to write about a text where I can’t have access to it and therefore have to do it all in three hours from memory. That’s all exams are; memory tests. I’ve never learnt anything during an exam. It’s just regurgitation.

I much prefer coursework. I don’t mind the extra work it involves since I can take my time over it. I can read extra things to fill gaps in my knowledge, or build on what I already know. I can revise what I’ve written to make sure it’s the best way to put what I’m trying to say. I actually learn things when I write essays that I didn’t know before writing them. Exams don’t offer that.

[/end rant]

With that off my chest, I’m leaving in ten minutes to collect my results. Wish me luck!

Nearing the End

It’s Wednesday, and the last week of the semester. That means it’s the last week of lectures for my second year at university. I have no idea where the time’s gone.

I handed in my creative writing assignment this morning. We had to select a text and edit it, along with annotated notes and an analysis of why we did what we did. It was quite an enjoyable assignment. Since it’s what I wouldn’t mind doing as a career in the future, it was good practise and it was fun (well, as fun as far as coursework goes). I also got the formative essay I wrote for Victorian and Decadent Literature back today. I got 68, which is nearly a First. I’ve been given some good advice on how to improve, so hopefully I’ll be prepared for the exams in May!

Now I need to concentrate on revising for my French oral exam on Friday. It’s only my MOMD (Module Outside Main Discipline), but it still counts for 20 credits, so I hope I’ll do well. And after that, revision time! I finish exams before the end of May, which is great, and my exams are nicely spread out.

This afternoon I’m going to go and see Alice in Wonderland with the two greatest people ever. I may or may not write a review on it, depending on how strong an opinion I have on it. I’ve heard mixed things about it, and I’m worried that I’ll be disappointed. But I’ll go in with an open mind and have fun.

I wrote this post mainly because I noticed I hadn’t updated the blog for a couple of weeks. My life’s been pretty busy recently, and so I haven’t had much time to read for fun, hence no reviews for a while. I’m about 150 pages from the end of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, though, so expect a review soon!

Confidence in My Abilities

I’m in a brilliant mood today.

Not only is sunshine filling my room, but I got my results back from my Creative Writing assignment, and they were better than I had expected.

I know that I could have worked a lot harder on my portfolio than I did, but at the time I was very stressed and just wanted to get it out of the way. At most I was expecting a low 2-1.

However, when I looked at the results sheet, it said I got 70%, which means I got a First! True, it’s right on the border, but still, a First is a First. I was shaking with excitement when I left the office.

I’ve read through the feedback, and it only served to boost my confidence further. The poetry lecturer here is Luke Kennard, a very talented young poet who’s been published a fair few times. It was really encouraging to know that he thinks my poetry was strong and effective. I was also happy with the comments on my prose, and it makes me realise that I do have a reasonable amount of creative talent.

Now I know what I can do when I only put in what’s required, I’ll try to over-achieve from now on. If all goes well, I’ll be graduating with a First!

Am I getting ahead of myself? No, it’s just ambition. Yay!

Results, Birthday, & No Films

This week has been interesting, if a little quiet.

It’s the third week of my semester at university. On Monday, I got my results back from my French Tandem module, and did better than I expected. I wasn’t expecting a lot. But I came away from the office rather happy with myself.

Wednesday, I stayed on campus after my morning lecture (I’m coming to the conclusion that studying Wilde at 9am really isn’t good for me) and went to the LGBTQ coffee meeting. It was fun, and I met a few new people. I stayed with people until about 16:30, when I finally got home and pretty much collapsed.

The next day I had my Editing seminar, where we got split into our ‘editorial teams’. Essentially, these are groups of five of us who have to work through poetry submissions and select some to put into an anthology. Having read through them, it’s going to be harder than I thought. Sadly, none of them seem to jump out at me as being a poem with potential. It might take a few read-throughs with a fine-tooth comb to pick out the ones that need the least work. I’m not lazy. It’s just that the vast majority are pretentious crap.

That evening, my housemate and I went out for a pub dinner and a few drinks. Well, a lot of drinks. It was a fun night with just the two of us. A ‘bonding session’, if you will. I’m sure all kinds of dark secrets were told that neither of us can now remember. Alcohol lubricates the tongue, as it were.

And then we come to today. I spoke with my parents on Skype. They’re doing well. As are the cats. Cookie (aka Derek) is the youngest at about 4 months old, and had the snip on Tuesday. It’s not made any difference to his boisterous behaviour at all; even when he came home from the vet’s he was bounding around and generally annoying the older cats as usual.

It’s Dad’s –th birthday on Wednesday. He and Mum are going to Las Vegas for a few nights to celebrate. On his actual birthday they’ll be going on a trip around the Grand Canyon in a helicopter. It should be an experience for both of them, especially Mum since she’s afraid of heights.

This evening I decided that I’d go to the LGBTQ film night, where they’re screening ‘Paragraph 175′, a documentary about the persecution of LGBTQ people during the Holocaust. Sadly, only four people turned up, and then the staff at the Guild couldn’t find the remote control for the projector. Typical. So we decided to leave it for the night. It’s a shame, since I rarely go to these things.

Oh, and it snowed quite heavily whilst I was out. It was bizarre to get back from campus to find the ground covered in a light dusting of snow. It’s nowhere near as bad as it has been, but still surprising how much has settled.

Anyway, now that I’ve bored you enough, I’ll leave this update and get on with some reading. And maybe some writing. I’ve got some ideas itching to get out. Farewell!

Wilde, Editing & A Good Book

The second week of my second semester is over. Yes, my weekend has begun, and will last until Wednesday next week. It might sound attractive to have only 4 hours of lectures per week, but when I’m spending over £3k for the year, it’s more than a tad irritating.

So I fill my time with independent studying. That’s probably what the university wants us to do, and this semester is much more fun. I have completely fallen in love with my Victorian and Decadent Literature module, and also am really looking forward to beginning my assignments for the Editing module.

This week, we studied The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of my favourite novels. My seminar tutor happens to be one of the leading Wilde experts, and I’m very happy to have him teaching us. Things I’ve learned so far about Wilde’s time is that though homosexuality acts were outlawed, there appeared to be a great number of people who were known homosexuals. I’ve also found out, somewhat to my disappointment, that Wilde wasn’t quite as witty or original as he made out. He reused a lot of his work throughout his career, and wasn’t adverse to literally cutting and pasting pages of other people’s works when giving lectures. His witticisms were never just ‘off-the-cuff’ either; apparently he would spend hours refining to make them in the quotations we know so well today.

The lecture this morning on Editing was a little less exciting, but still interesting. We practised editing a piece again, though I always seem to be put with the group that doesn’t want to do any work. Hopefully I’ll be lucky when our editing teams for the assignment are finalised.

In other, non-university-related news, I’ve been reading more of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and interesting book by Susanna Clarke. It’s just over 1000 pages long, but I’ll hopefully finish it by the end of next week, and then I’ll write a review. I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far, and I’m looking forward to reviewing it.

This has seemed like a fairly random post, and in all honesty it is a random post. It’s been nearly a week since my last update, and I’m determined this year to post more regularly, even if I haven’t got anything in particular to say.

A Very Hectic Week

It’s been a while since I posted a blog purely about my life at university. A possible reason for this is that the Christmas holidays have only just ended. Another reason might be that I just haven’t done that much worth talking about.

This week is an exception.

I landed back in the UK at 8am on Friday morning. I didn’t get back to the house until about 10am, after a £30 taxi ride from the airport. I then slept for a few hours to try to get over some of my jetlag.

The next day, I went into Birmingham hoping to buy a new laptop. My parents had given me the money for it as a Christmas present. However, the shop I went to buy it at, and the only in the area that I could get to, had sold out, and wouldn’t have any more in stock until the next week.

So my first plan after arriving back in the UK had failed.

I had a deadline on Wednesday to finish my Creative Writing coursework; 2000 words of prose with a 1000 word analysis, and 100 lines o poetry with a 1000 word analysis. I hadn’t done much work over the holidays, so this meant I had to catch up. Needless to say I didn’t finish until the afternoon of the Tuesday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning encompassed the most stressful time of my life. I nearly broke down, but struggled through to succeed in handing my essay on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday also marked my first lecture of the year; Victorian and Decadent Literature. It was a fantastic seminar, and my tutor is incredibly well-versed in the subject. He’s practically the leading expert on Oscar Wilde and his time period. I can’t wait for next week’s.

Thursday was the start of my next Creative Writing module; Editing. This was something I was really looking forward to; after all, I’d like to be an editor when I graduate. This seminar was less exciting than the last. The subject matter is all good and interesting, but the lecturer is one of the dullest. I don’t understand how she can talk for two hours and not actually say anything. But still, I’m looking forward to doing the coursework project this semester.

This week, a couple of friends and I have also been looking for a house for our final year. We spent five hours on Monday morning trapsing around the student village before finally finding one we liked. And it’s amazing. It’s much closer to campus than the house I’m in at the moment, and it’s in the centre of everything. We signed the papers this very afternoon, which was a scary, exciting and expensive activity.

Afterwards, my friend and I went into Birmingham. We both had irresitible cravings for McDonalds, and I wanted to see if I could buy my laptop. Second time lucky. I managed to buy it, turning today into a very expensive day, but a very productive one.

Let’s hope the rest of the semester is less stressful, but keeps me just as busy.

The Wheel of Time Turns Once More

I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I walked into a high street book store to see the new Wheel of Time novel, complete in shiny hardback, sitting on the shelf by the door; The Gathering Storm.

The fact that the next installation to this epic series had completely slipped my mind, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it to discover the first part of the conclusion to this series. I have a little way to go before that, though, since I only recently finished the 8th book in the series, The Path of Daggers. (On checking my bookshelf for which book I’d finished, I realise that I don’t have it with me. It must be in America…)

I’m a reasonable newcomer to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. About four years ago I was browsing the shelves in the shop for a new series to start, and the numerous, thick books in a line caught my eye. My first attempt at reading The Eye of the World only led me to read half of the novel, but I soon started it again, and devoured it. I’ve since digested another seven, and my cravings for the next are starting to resurface.

Whilst the series is criticised for its lengthy prose and multitude of characters and plots, I can’t help but love it. It calls out to the part of me that has always loved the fantasy genre, and I find it truly inspirational. Needless to say that I was shocked and upset when I heard that Robert Jordan had died in 2005.

Recently, however, I found news that his series would be continued and completed posthumously by Brandon Sanderson. I hadn’t heard of him before, but since Jordan’s wife had a large say in who would continue her husband’s work, then he must be a worthy candidate to complete the series. After all, she had edited Jordan’s work herself.

So, I will eventually go and buy the 9th book of the series, and work my way through them once again. Perhaps I can catch up with the series before it’s completed, but I won’t rush. The Wheel of Time is a series that must be thoroughly chewed and not gulped down.

Looking Back and Forth

I had my last lecture of my second year with Luke Kennard this morning. A very upsetting occasion; his lectures have always been entertaining. The chocolate was a welcome relief for the pain.

In all seriousness, the poetry module this year has been very rewarding. I’ve written quite a lot of poems that I’m reasonably pleased with, and some less successful ones that I can work on.

We covered many different forms, and it served to increase my interest and awareness of poetry as a whole, both in a historical and contemporary context. I’ve even been writing more poetry in my free time than I used to because of this module.

I’d like to buy some collections of contemporary poetry. Could anybody suggest any poets or collections that I ought to read?

I’ll have to wait until my third year to get lectures with Luke again. In the mean time, I’ll have to put up with a somewhat less interesting lecturer teaching what I hope will be an even more interesting module; Editing.