Happy Late Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it! As you may have noticed, I didn't post last week. There's a simple reason for that: I didn't really have much to post about. A few fun things happened, and I had classes, but I didn't get any pictures and I didn't want to subject you all to a boring block of text. So, this post will talk about the past two weeks and hopefully won't drag on too much.
Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: Unsurprisingly, feminine medieval acts of Chrisitan devotion were extreme. Some women volunteered to spend their entire lives locked in anchorholds (tiny rooms near churches), other women starved themselves to gain religious and societal power. Slightly more surprisingly, medieval Jewish women had a good deal more freedom than medieval Christian women. Jewish women could own property, go to court, and even divorce abusive husbands with relatively few consequences.
Fantasies of Youth: Skellig is weird, Harry Potter is iconic but heavily subjected to consumer capitalism, and The Lie Tree is cool no matter what anyone else says.
Writing for Children: Ironically, while I enjoy historical reenactments, I hate writing historical fiction. On an entirely different note, I believe that people should be able to write about places, people and things they haven't experienced firsthand. If writers only stick to what they know, their writing will be boring and unimaginative. That being said, authors should be sure to approach diverse topics with sensitivity and should do extensive research in order to avoid cultural appropriation.
Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: I've started my novel over and it's actually going pretty alright. While I'm still facing some of the problems I did before, I've conquered most of the difficulties I'd been having. For example, I'm no longer adding in fluff to pad my word count and I'm much better at writing realistic interactions between my main characters. I'm also genuinely excited about writing my novel again, which is fantastic. I spent my last class session reworking my timeline and trying to flesh out my minor characters a bit more.
As I mentioned before, the past two weeks were relatively uneventful outside of my classes; I was too busy churning out essays and portfolios to go out and party. However, I still managed to have some fun. On Tuesday of Week Twelve, ASE's academic director brought her puppy into the study center and my friends and I got to spend plenty of time adoring him. Then, that evening, the program's alumni association coordinator held a HEMA workshop at a nearby church. It was very rudimentary--geared toward the classmates of mine who've never swung a sword before-- so I didn't learn too much, but I still had a blast. I really enjoyed watching my peers learn about the hobby I love, and I got to swing a boffer sword, which is always a good time. I even managed to land a blow on the instructor's shoulder, which I was pretty darn proud of!
Lawrie is the Best Boy
On Wednesday of that week, I went to the Bath Spa University Doctor Who Society Debate Night (gosh that was a mouthful!). That was an...interesting experience, to say the least. The debate was informal, but it got very heated, especially when we were discussing who the best Doctor in Doctor Who is (it's totally David Tennant, by the way). My introversion kept me from getting too involved in the debate, but the society was very welcoming and it was really cool to hear everyone's opinions about the long-running, highly popular British show.
Speaking of interesting experiences, the Tuesday after that I went to the launch party for Shadow, a picture book by Lucy Christopher. On one hand, this took place at Mr. B's Emporium, which meant I got to spend the entire evening surrounded by books--always a plus. On the other hand, I didn't know anyone else at the launch, so I spent most of my time awkwardly browsing the shelves until they announced that the author was doing her reading. The reading was done by candlelight and the book itself was super cool, so overall, the night ended on a very positive note.
Hiding by the Children's Books at Mr. B's...
On Thursday, I decided to celebrate the end of essay week and unwind by going ice skating with three of my friends. The rink was absolutely gorgeous, decked out in bright lights and festive garlands, and the ice was wonderfully smooth. My friends and I spent nearly an hour there and managed to stay on our feet the entire time, which was quite the success! Once our feet were sore, our cheeks were red and our noses were numb, we ducked into the nearby lodge to warm up with some drinks. All in all, we had a lovely time reveling in the holiday season.
Good Friends, Good Weather, and Good Exercise
The next day, I wound myself back up again by taking a bus to London. My friend Erin, who's spending the semester in Hungary, met me there, and we spent the weekend exploring London together. And let me tell you, London is an insane, beautiful, chaotic city. Erin and I saw so many things, including no fewer than two people dressed up as Yoda. Here are the highlights, listed in order from least cool to coolest:
19. Borough Market: The marketplace was fully decorated for Christmas and was very lovely, but none of the stalls were open. Which is unfortunate, because apparently that's the place to go for good cheese.
18. London Bridge: I know, I know, it's practically blasphemy to say that London Bridge isn't particularly cool. But I have to admit, it was a little underwhelming, especially after seeing Tower Bridge and Millenium Bridge. It was pretty, but not quite as stunning as some of the other sights we saw.
17. Parliament: We didn't go inside, but the outside of the government building was pretty neat--very regal and dignified. It was also awesome to be so close to a central hub of British politics and history.
16. Leadenhall Market: Again, all of the shops were closed, which sucked. But we did get to see the building that served as The Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter movies, which was exceedingly cool.
Leadenhall Market
15. The Globe Theatre: We only saw this attraction in passing, and I am aware that it's merely a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre, yet the sight of it still made my breath catch in my throat a little. It was a stunning reminder that I was traversing a city that held hundreds of years' worth of history.
14. London Eye: This London monument was very impressive, even from a distance, and seeing it made my Doctor-Who-fan-heart happy.
Two Buds at the London Eye
13. Big Ben: This would've ranked much, much higher had it not been undergoing construction and completely covered by latticework. In any case, it was still awesome.
"Limited Edition" Big Ben
11. National Gallery: I don't like art museums much, but I got to see some paintings by Van Gogh and a room where they filmed a scene in Doctor Who, so I can't complain.
10. 221 Baker Street/Hyde Park: Sorry folks, I'm just not a Sherlock Holmes fan. That being said, visiting a place with such literary relevance left me slightly awestruck. Additionally, the park was breathtakingly gorgeous, though it was also full of very, very aggressive birds.
Braving the hordes at Hyde Park
9. Kensington Gardens: This was the last stop of the weekend for Erin and me, so we didn't get to spend much time there before we had to run and catch our respective busses. Which was a shame, because the gardens' autumn colors were absolutely stunning. The squirrels were also very friendly--one of them almost climbed Erin's leg!
8. Goodwin Court (aka Diagon Alley): Speaking of places with literary relevance that left me awestruck...
Anybody else have the Harry Potter theme song stuck in their head?
7. Trafalgar Square: The square was dazzling, the lions were cool, and the Christmas Market was cozy. What else is there to say?
6. Millenium Bridge: Remember that scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince where Death Eaters tear through London and twist a bridge into a pretzel? That bridge, my dear readers, was Millenium Bridge, a structure that looks like it couldn't stand up to a stiff breeze. Of course, because Erin and I are fearless, we walked straight across it.
Westminster Abbey
4. Buckingham Palace/St. James Park: The palace facade was gorgeous, and since Erin and I saw a group of police cars cruising down the nearby streets, I'm pretty sure we witnessed someone famous arriving at the grounds. The park was equally gorgeous and housed enormous pelicans that could've easily bitten my head clean off if they'd been so inclined.
Buckingham Palace
2. Platform 9 3/4: Erin and I have officially lived the dream of all Potterheads everywhere. We had to wait in line forever to get our pictures taken at this iconic Harry Potter site, but it was worth every minute. And the pictures turned out so cool!
Petrificus Totalus is Surprisingly Effective...
1. The British Library: This place had so many things to fangirl over that I don't know where to start. There was the literal wall of books, the oldest written copy of the New Testament, The Gutenberg Bible, The Book of Margery Kempe....oh, and we can't forget the original copy of the Magna Carta (that's the second copy I've seen on this trip!). Visting this library made me the happiest bookworm in the world.
As you can probably tell, my weekend in London was insanely busy. Still, I had a great time catching up with Erin and seeing as much of London as I could. Next week I'll be commenting on ASE's attempt host an American Thanksgiving dinner (spoiler alert: it was spectacular), so stay tuned for that!
Thanks for reading!
Abby
Artsy Picture of the Day: Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery
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