HI FROM MY OFFICE

I brought my laptop to the office recently to try and see if I can avoid using our ancient brick machines and use my mac instead. Thus far it has been unsuccessful - I apparently have to call the IT people and ask for a new IP address before I can get online. (Have I mentioned how much I hate the Internet here?)

Either way, this is where I spend a majority of my time, in case you were curious. I face a window that gives me a perfect view of Glasgow - it's distractingly beautiful. I'll try to get a picture of that soon.

Things are going really well so far by the way, guys. I'm getting into a routine and I'm starting to get comfortable. It's still scary, but it's definitely getting better!

this is happening!

Today is my first day of classes! I'm wearing my lucky underwear for the occasion.

I'm excited to get started, because it means I will be busy and meeting people, which is what I want. At present moment, I am only taking a reasearch skills class, which is only for first-year postgraduate students, so we'll all be in the same situation! I still have a lot to do in terms of getting all set up, but at least I will be around other people.

I've been told I'm the first person in something like 10 years to come here specifically to work with this one guy, who basically invented my field - that's totally not a high pressure situation! I keep reminding myself they wouldn't have me here if I couldn't do it. But at the same time, I am letting myself be scared, because it is OK to be scared! I think I would be more worried if I wasn't scared about this. I am a long way from home and I am doing okay. I just have to keep reminding myself of this.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Before I left for Scotland, everyone was telling me how very brave they thought I was - going so far away to a place I had never been, without knowing anybody there. And I appreciated that, but I never really thought of myself as being brave. I was doing what I had to do - the guy who essentially invented what I do is here, there's a lot of linguistics stuff happening here (sometime in the next few weeks I am meeting with someone who is working on the Oxford English Thesaurus!). It just made sense to come to Glasgow.

It turns out it was a brave thing to do.

I've been here a little over a week and things are going really well. Don't get me wrong - it's terrifying to be in a new city, let alone a new country by yourself! There are good days and bad days, good hours and bad hours, but it's really about little victories. I rode the tube by myself to go somewhere new and I didn't get lost! I went to the pub by myself and read some newspapers for a couple of hours. I asked someone to lunch and we talked for a while. I just got back from meeting another grad student who is also an American - we met up with a couple of her friends from her church, who were amazing and helpful and very kind.

Luckily everyone speaks English and everyone is very friendly. (This is the friendliest city I've ever been in!). The other students in my program are very nice and very helpful but I'm trying to not depend on them for everything, you know? I send them emails asking what I should do on a weekend, and they were all great, giving me some pubs to check out, and suggestions for theatres to go to.

But, it's hard when you don't know anybody. How do you make friends in a city? I'm trying to push my boundaries a little bit, be open to anything, and attend anything I am invited to. Do you have any ideas, dear readers?

living with the living

Hi friends! Lots of things have been going on and most of them have been sort of logistical and therefore probably very boring to hear about. Here are some basic things that are kind of interesting in a list.

1. The education system here is so different - almost everyone else in the English department is native to Scotland, if not Glasgow. It seems that you generally go to university near where you grew up and then you keep going there for your Masters and ultimately your PhD. This means I am one of the only people to have traveled to go here, and I am on a supreme learning curve when it comes to the department, the university, and life in Scotland in general.

2. Time is a cultural construct. (I know, I'm sorry.) I'm still working out what counts as "early" in the morning! I am working on getting my stomach on a food schedule - Here we get lunch around 1 or 2, go to the pub around five or six, and then eat dinner around eight or nine. I don't know how to sustain that! We had a department party last night, which involved a meeting for all English postgrads and a second meeting with a few other departments we're friendly with, both of which featured wine. Then a group of us went to the pub afterwards. When do you eat dinner in that? You've just had lunch, so you're not hungry, but by the time you leave the pub you are STARVING. (Translation: I was embarrasingly drunk.)

3. I had to apply for a Glasgow University library card, which was easy enough. However, this currently means that I have 5 library cards: the library in my hometown, UNH, Harvard, Strathclyde and Glasgow University. Additionally I have access to a bunch of networked libraries on the same systems (UNH is linked to the Greater Boston library system, for instance.) I would estimate right now that I have access to over thirty libraries, which is really exciting!

4. I was given an office, too. AN OFFICE. Well, it is more like a desk in a room of postgraduates but an office nonetheless. It makes me feel really important to say I have an office. I also have a computer, which is an ancient brick running windows XP.

5. I am quickly learning that this is not a very tech-oriented place. (Hey UNH folks, remember blackboard? I MISS IT. you read that right. Our @strath.ac.uk email goes through Outlook, and in order to have full functionality in the module you have to use Internet Explorer. No, I am not kidding about this.)

Meet All The People!

One of my advisors got me in touch with a majority of the other postgraduates in the English Department. They are all very nice, taking me out to lunch/dinner/coffee, etc. They are all very nerdy intelligent people who get really excited about immensely nerdy things. (One of them, for example, is writing his PhD dissertation on Scottish avant-garde magazines from the 60s.) One of my advisors actually invented literary linguistics, and everyone works on it to some extent here. I am in the right place! I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE. it is very, very comforting.

I will be working with some people at Glasgow University and I am to look at the linguistics lectures at the university of Edinburgh (they have a very famous linguistics dept) and attend some of their lecture series while writing and researching my MRes project. On top of all of that, I've been asked to work on a project about poetic verse. (I have been assured that I do not need to work at quote "breakneck American pace", though I'm not really sure how that will work.)

We have a postgraduate room full of desks and ancient computers which is charming in it's own sort of way (though we have a beautiful view of the city), and we have a kitchenette complete with a coffeepot (coffee is not A Thing here, tea is, which is fine except for the fact that you need me awake!) Most people drink instant coffee, which is far from acceptable; I've been told that "filter coffee" as it's called here is a big treat. (I bought the most american-looking coffeepot of all time for the apartment. My roommates are baffled by it, but don't seem to mind it.)

And the mystery 4th roommate showed up! She is also Irish and also studying Forensic Science. It turns out that she is from the same school as our other Irish flatmate - they went to undergrad together, took classes together, never met each other, but know all the same people and now are living together. It's unlikely, that's for sure.

I keep forgetting that i am an "international student" so I'm trying to get on board with that. I went to a International Student mixer yesterday evening and had fun, so maybe i will keep going to those. It's hard to meet people in a city, I think - I guess I have to go find some hobbies and get going with those. But really, I wish there was another American here. (there's a lot of canadians, which is kind of nice.) But, like, I miss America and American things. I feel like I'm in America sometimes, except for the fact that nothing is recognizably american. A lot of the brands are the same, but I don't know where to buy these sorts of things.

I was writing this while I wait for our hot water to turn on. As you can imagine I am not a big fan of this system of "turn on the hot water". Can't a girl just get a warm shower in the morning without having to wait?

send you off on a big adventure, Xs lead you to the treasure

HI FROM TARTANVILLE
actually, no, HI FROM STARBUCKS
you read that right! STARBUCKS. I am trying really hard to not be an obnoxious American, but I can't help it if the only places to get wifi are Starbucks. There are a bunch of them around here. I don't really get it, coffee's not a big thing here, but there are a lot of Starbucks.

Basically, I don't have the ability to load websites until I register as a Strathclyde student, and I don't want to register as a student until I've actually figured out a course of action (am I taking classes? yes? no? I'm still not sure), this way I can avoid fixing any mistakes I might make. And, like, I have all week to do it. Somehow I have email, Skype, and AIM access from my flat. (get at me.)

I'm still getting settled, but my apartment is nice. It's small, very purple, but it's nice. I have three roommates (we all have our own rooms) but only two of them are here so far. One is from England and the other is from Ireland (& I'm an american). We're betting that our next roommate will be Scottish, if she ever shows up. It came with more stuff than I had anticipated, like a pile of cleaning supplies. However, there are some weird things about it - we have to turn on the hot water before we can use it. So, someone has to wake up at least 30 min ahead of whenever they want to take a not-freezing shower. We've been informed that in the winter we might need to do this an hour ahead of time. I  think the idea is that we will save energy (how green of us) and $$$ -- we pay for energy usage - by not heating the water all the time.

As for living in the city, it's going well. I'm decidedly not a "city person" - I like suburbia; it doesn't bother me to have to drive 20 minutes anywhere. It's kind of nice in it's own little boring way. (I went to university in a place that was possibly more boring than my hometown.) I live in a very nice part of the city, close to the major shopping streets. Apparently Glasgow has the best shopping in the UK outside of London. I still have some trouble crossing the street, though (which way am i supposed to look? OH GOD A CAR); usually I just wait until someone else shows up and move when they do. You walk on the opposite side of the street too (this is more complicated), and I have no idea what to do when I get to a staircase - which way do I go?

I live in a really gay part of the city - they weren't kidding about that! - my neighborhood (is it a neighborhood?) is covered in rainbow flags. (A sign on the hairdressers' next to me says "gays, straights, bisexuals, no problems here; it's bald people we have trouble with"). My street has a lot of indian restaurants and I am across the street from the BBC symphony hall. I'm not far away from campus, either, which is nice too.

This week I am meeting a lot of the other postgraduates for dinner/drinks/coffee. They have all been very friendly! I'm looking forward to meeting them.

I haven't gotten a chance to walk around and take pictures yet. I will do this soon, I promise! Here is a picture of my key to the laundry room. Yup.

ágætis byrjun: a good beginning

Things are going well so far! Tomorrow I move into my apartment, wherein i will finally be meeting The Mystery Roommates, but then I will be without internet for a few days until I register as a person at Strathclyde.

I met one of my advisers and his wife - they are very, very nice. I was effectively wined & dined by them, and then proceeded to be invited to EVERYTHING EVER with them. At the very earliest, I already have standing plans to go to a wine tasting in October. In the meantime, I'm setting up meetings with other postgraduates in the department, so my first week will be full of meeting other people, which is exciting. I'll also be attending a department start-of-semester party, so I will hopefully know some people by the end of next week.

We've done a ton of shopping today. There's a lot of really nice shops around here; apparently Glasgow has some of the best shopping outside of London. I have a cell phone now, which makes me about 50% of a real person in the UK. However, the best part of today was taking a 15 minute walk away from our hotel, nearly out of the city, to go a Staples. Carriages! Recognizably American things! It was exciting. Glasgow's a beautiful city with lots to do, full of art and culture, but maybe I miss America a little bit. It's weird - it still kind of feels like I'm just on vacation here.

(However, American TV has nothing on British TV. Presently every channel seems to be playing Friends, but previously we watched a report on a sheep that had broken into someone's house and "gone on a rampage", a very thorough analysis of Zac Efron's beard, and then more things about the Pope, who apparently is here as well.)

for security reasons, all unattended bags will be collected and destroyed

GREETINGS FROM GLASGOW, everyone!

I am in a hotel in glasgow city center with Mom. I was freaking out a little bit when we were about to leave Logan, which I think is understandable, but our flights are fine, we are safe, etc.

I originally wanted to sort of live-blog this journey (or be like, a Travel Writer, but I don't know how to make things interesting) but limited wifi access without paying ~$20 for wifi at Heathrow would have made this difficult. Also, there is no wifi in the sky.



8:30 PM EST, Logan Airport. LOOK WE ARE EXCITED TO START THIS JOURNEY

2:30 AM EST, On The Airplane
I don't sleep on airplanes -- instead I am watching Late-Night-Transatlantic-TV-Programming. So far I have seen the end of a Queen Latifah movie which severely lacks a discernable plot - though I might have missed it when i went back to reading my book - and I have just watched a game show of some sort where two children are given towels to throw wiffle balls into inflatable water ring in a studio. at 3:30 AM they start showing The Office (American). NOTHING ABOUT THIS MAKES SENSE.


10:05 AM GMT (5:05 AM EST), Heathrow Airport
we have been awake since yesterday morning including a 6-hr flight + 5 hrs of time zone changes

13:35 PM GMT our plane from Heathrow to Glasgow has been delayed. we were supposed to be on it right now. We do not have a departure time for the next hour.

13:40 PM GMT THE POPE IS ON TV. Apparently he is here too. Mom claims that his car is called the Popemobile. I doubt this.

14:00 PM GMT WE ARE BOARDING THIS PLANE... in 20 minutes. At least we have a gate for departure now. GLASGOW HO!

14:45 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzcoffee!

15:30 GLASGOW! Hello! You are pretty!


16:15 Check in to hotel. How do we make the light switches work? We have been awake for nearly two days now. (spoiler: we figured it out.)


LATER TONIGHT I am meeting the English Department! And maybe sleeping again! I would like this very much.

i don't pretend to know how time zones work, so you will just have to bear with me for a bit while I figure out how to change all my accounts.

leaving on a jet plane

I've been flying on planes since I was a baby. I really love flying; it makes me feel really safe. I realize I am probably in the minority of people who feel this way. I guess I really just love condensed spaces. I love airports, too; I love sitting at a gate watching the planes come and go. The whole experience is just really comforting to me.

I have flown a lot of times in my life, often internationally (to Canada, mind you, which is in fact a different country, though I assure you this only a mere technicality).

Tonight I am getting on a plane that will take me to London. Tomorrow morning I am getting on a second plane to Glasgow.
I do not know anybody in Scotland.
I am in the program that I have been dreaming about for years.
This is really happening. I am really doing this. I am so nervous and excited.

(I should warn you that I will probably not have internet access for a few days, and I am going to be super busy in the first week or so. However, I will be back on here as soon as possible.)

Not A Packing List: How To Compress Your Life Into Airport-Friendly Containers

As you read this, I am waist-deep in packing. I am terrible at packing - I save it all for the very last second, putting everything into random boxes without rhyme or reason, "to be sorted later"... and then "later" happens. It's kind of like unpacking and packing simultaneously. Luckily, I am not bringing a lot of things with me. Remember what you brought to your college apartment? Condense it to the bare minimum of things you need to survive without having to start 100% anew. (We are aiming for 75% anew.) Some of it simply isn't allowed on airplanes!

It comes down to this: I have a lot of objects. I bet you do too. The last time you moved, did you keep finding things that were yours that you can't get rid of it because you need it? These are the things that are so familiar that they are almost like breathing. They're on every back-to-school shopping list, crammed into every car moving back to campus.

Okay. Take all those things, put them in boxes, and put them aside. You are packing for an intercontinental journey which is going to last for at least 3 years!

There are lots of guides on the internet about how to pack for a 2-4 day business trip, a two-week-long vacation, and even some guides about how to pack for a semester abroad. Sadly, there are not guides to Packing For The Rest Of Your Life In A New Country. This would be very helpful. I do not have a host family; I am renting a room in a flat owned by the university. (Thankfully, this strange cultural thing of having graduate students be as on-campus as possible saves me the stress of finding my own apartment from many miles away.)


I am moving to Scotland with a suitcase, a duffel bag, and a backpack or two.

Here is a list of (some of!) the things that are NOT coming with me.

> cookware (pots/pans, measuring cups, mixing bowls, basic cooking tools)
> dinnerware (plates/bowls/utensils)
> drinkware/glassware*
> toiletries** (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, etc)
> paper printer paper, notebooks. (they also use a different size paper than we do in the states/canada. our standard paper is 8.5x11 inches, they use A4, which is 8.27x11.69 inches. i must assimilate.)
> printer
> coffee pot
> laundry detergent
> bedding (sheets, pillows, comforter, blankets, foam padding)
> cleaning supplies
> extra furniture (side tables, chairs, etc)
> lighting
> books (i shipped my Essential Linguistics Textbooks Collection to one of my professors last week. everything else must stay.)
> dvd collection region 1 vs region 2 encoding /takes up too much space (i am eternally thankful that the invention of ipods means that i am not leaving my music collection behind due to space constraints.)
> trashcan
> desk supplies
> decorative things (certainly not all of them are coming. a select few, perhaps, might be. if you have ever been in my room at school, you know it certainly was a busy space.)

So, basically, I am bringing a year's worth of clothes, my computer, and not much else.

*I might be able to cram a few of these things into my luggage.
**This is complicated, as the water in the UK is different - heavier, almost - than American water. Therefore American products do not always react the same way leaving you feeling greasy and gross. Nobody believes me when i say this; it's hard to explain. You're just going to have to take my word on it.

I am arriving to Scotland with two days to run around crazed, buying as many of these things as possible before moving into my apartment. Mum is coming with me to help me move in, because God knows I do not have the ability to handle all of the necessary restocking by myself in under two days. It will be a giant game of Collect All The Things.

left and leaving

This past weekend I was in New Hampshire for what is more than likely the last time, engaging in what I called Operation SEE ALL THE PEOPLE. It was like a choose-your-own adventure game, but featuring me. I would be in/on/around Planet UNH for about 56 consecutive hours (including sleeping) and everyone had the opportunity to make plans with me - I would do whatever they wanted me to do. While this might sound like a logistical disaster it actually worked out very well - I think I saw something like 30-40 people while I was around.

And everyone had such nice things to say! There were so many nice words of affirmation and love and encouragement from so many people - people who i seriously respect were telling me that I am inspiring and motivated and intelligent and Going To Do Great Things.

It was strange to be in a place where I was essentially outmoded - the freshmen are tiny babies and I felt too old and out of place. (A friend put it well when she said "if you had been here for another year you would hate it. you've maximized the university at this point.") While I'm really nervous about meeting my new department on Thursday - they are all going to be smarter than me! - I am super excited about the classes that I'm taking and what I will be doing. I know that I am definitely making the right decision. There's no second guessing getting on a plane.

jigsaw falling into place

As we get closer to Departure Day, I am finding out more things. It is exciting! I stopped counting each Day In The States because it stresses me out to think about. (I do know I am leaving a week from today, Wednesday the 15th. I am measuring my life in Wednesdays, much like how J. Alfred Prufrock measures his life in coffee spoons.)

Until about a week or so ago, I wasn't sure if I would be taking classes. This shouldn't have been this vague, but it was. Strathclyde does not offer a Masters in Literary Linguistics, but they do offer a PhD, and I need a Masters degree to be in a PhD program. (I believe I am a PhD-track student, but I'm not 100% sure. It's complicated, as you can see.) Way back in November 2009, which by the way feels like a lifetime ago now, I wrote up a research proposal for my application as a research ("PhD") student. Because I was not applying for a taught program - where there would be a set course structure - but rather a research program, it was unclear exactly what my first year would look like.

It looks like I will be taking two classes at Strathclyde -- one which is relevant to my research (!) and another which is a Postgraduate Research Skills Seminar of some sort. Additionally, I might be either taking or auditing classes at Glasgow University, which is our "sister school". (I am of the understanding that at Strathclyde I am in an English Department that focuses on linguistics, and Glasgow University has a linguistics department that focuses on English.)

It turns out that the day we arrive (Sept 16) is a book launch party for one of the creative writing professors. That night the English Department is having a party, which I will be attending, jetlagged and disoriented. Here I will be meeting the other postgraduates and my future professors for the first time, which will undoubtedly prove interesting.

Today I am wrapping up my research project at Harvard and Wheaton, and I still have to figure out what I am doing with my column. This weekend I am headed to Planet UNH to see a lot of people in a very short period of time. This whole-leaving-the-country thing is getting real!

a brief treatise on plugs OR, heather is a stupid american

[editor's note 1: once upon a time, specifically in 2008, i went to Cambridge University for a six-week study abroad program through the unh english department. today's post is edited and reblogged from my blog about that trip. if you are the curious type, you can read my old blog here.

editor's note 2: some friends of mine from college - wow that is weird to say - and i have just started a music blog, where we post playlists. check that out if you want some free music from us.]

---
Did you know that plugs are different abroad? I didn't until I was preparing to go to the UK the for the first time. I think it would be great if someone designed some sort of universal plug for every major part of the world; it would certainly make things easier.

I'm assuming we are all familiar with the American system of plugs: some have two prongs and others have three prongs. This (I think) has something to do with voltage; the three-prong plugs presumably use more volts than their two-pronged cousins. This system is also used in Canada.

However, the rest of the world uses different plug shapes. You can buy extensive kits! It's sort of exciting. To quote a plug-adapter seller,
"If you are planning to use electrical appliances in another country, you need to know which type of electrical voltage is used in that specific country and which type of plugs and outlets are using there. If the voltage is the same or you’re using a universal power supply, all you need is a plug adapter converter to change line voltage from one to another amount. Please note there are different types of adapters for the specific countries, please select the right one when you’re traveling (otherwise, the adapter will not work because this is not specific design for that country)."

Furthermore, "a 120-volt electrical appliance designed for use in North America or Japan will provide a nice fireworks display - complete with sparks and smoke - if plugged into a European socket."





Up there are a bunch of illustrations showing a variety of different plug types worldwide. The UK uses plug style H. The internet tells me so, and the internet is always right... I have a bunch of these adapters sitting around; I hope they work and don't make things go kaboom. [ed.: they were great. nothing blew up. always a plus in my book. they are coming back with me for round two.]

This whole system strikes me as vastly unproductive, or perhaps very lucrative, I'm not sure which. Either way, I think someone should get their act together and figure out a way to keep voltages pretty much equal or create some sort of consistent plug shape. I'm not saying everyone should adapt to American standards, but surely we can figure out how to consolidate electricity into one standard form. This system strikes me as being wildly ineffective.

The Dog Days Are Over

1. Happy September, blogotron readers! I am leaving for Scotland in two weeks. This is exciting! And terrifying! etc! I originally started this blog to write about grad school and my experiences living abroad and we are FINALLY GETTING THERE. In the meantime there are lots of feelings to process and many, many things to do. Soon there will be lots to blog about and probably not enough time to talk about it all. Thanks for sticking around even when things were boring. If you're new, welcome and thanks for dropping by!

2. I feel like I should mention this somewhere, but I can't figure out where else to put it. So - I guess I am putting it here. I have been to Scotland before, exactly once. In the summer of 2008, I went on a study abroad program through UNH at Cambridge University. It was a lot of fun, and one of the trips we could go on would bring us to Edinburgh for a weekend. While we were there, almost the entire group - myself included - had food poisoning, putting a bit of a damper on the whole experience. I distinctly remember feeling like hell but dragging myself down the Royal Mile, through a theatre festival, through The Scotch Whiskey Experience where we were given shots, through the Museum of Childhood, and trying to sleep on every available flat surface. (It was a strange time.) That was Day 1. (For the record, night #1 - prior to Day 1 - involved accidentally wandering into a Scottish punk club. It was awesome.)

By Day 2 I was feeling 100% better, and finally got to see the city - perhaps not in its entirety but significant portions of it. And I fell in love with Scotland. I felt like I was the only one who had fun, and I had completely forgotten about that until I revisited my diary from that trip. "You know how people talk about how they fall in love with a place the second they set foot there? That pretty accurately summarizes my feelings about Scotland. It was all so beautiful and so perfect; I could spend the rest of my life there. I was so immediately comfortable in a way I hadn't expected. I hope one day I get to go back."

GUESS WHAT, FORMER SELF. YOU ARE GOING BACK. Bet you didn't see that coming. This is going to be awesome.