Return to Millwood

So. It's been nearly a month since I got back. First things first, I suppose: finals went well, and my grades for the semester came back: As in American History, European History, Russian/Soviet History, and Historic Preservation, and a B in Art History. And yes, I made the Dean's List for the second time. So, I'm considering my first year of college a decent enough success, overall. 

I got back to New York late on May 12th, just in time for Rebz' prom on the 13th. She looked absolutely beautiful, as always. Went to her concert the next evening, and the next week or so was spent catching up with the high school friends who had gotten home by that time. Brendon had to leave again quite soon, as he is studying abroad in Japan for two months over the summer. Other than that, I've been spending most of my time desperately applying for any job I can get an application for, and writing to all the historical societies from the city to Dutchess County, as my plans for Ireland fell through. It's been discouraging, to say the least, but I'm still waiting to hear back from a few places, so... in the meantime, I suppose I'll keep bothering people. the New Castle Historical Society is looking pretty promising, and I've gotten calls from the Bedford Historical Society, as well as the Briarcliffe Historical Society, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Cambridge is still a plan, thank goodness. My sister got into a program at Oxford for the month of July, so the family (minus Nick) is going to pick her up on the 31st, and between then and the time I need to be at Cambridge (the 7th of August), I'll be vacationing with them. We'll be mostly in the Cotswolds, and after that, my family is going their own way for the rest of their vacation while I'm in class. 

Speaking of Cambridge, I've just gotten the list of required books I'm meant to read before taking the classes. There are thirteen of them. Books, I mean. If it weren't for the fact that I now have to order them from the Cambridge bookstore, and wait for them to arrive (or preferably find them at the local Library or on amazon.com), I would be the happiest person in the world. At the moment, I'm about half-way through "Anglo-Saxon England," by F. M. Stenton. It's going more slowly than I thought it would, but that's because I'm actually reading it-- not skimming it. The thing is, I actually know essentially nothing about the period between the re-call of the Roman troops to Rome, and the Norman conquest. So... it's proving really fascinating, of course! I'm just hoping that I'll be able to get through the rest of the books at a rate faster than 100 pages per day. Oh... by the way. The classes I'm taking are: 

The Making of England: Kings and Conquests, c. 600-1066

The Norman Conquest

England's First Heresy: John Wycliffe and Lollard Texts

English Radicals and Revolutionaries, 1376-1414

Anyway. It hasn't been all work, of course... 

My mum and I went to Stonecrop Garden in Cold Spring for Memorial Day... 

...and then walked around Cold Spring itself for a while. 

...and for a while I was really perturbed by this clock, painted on the window of a clock shop. The roman numeral for 4 is written as "IIII," and not as "IV" as I know is the correct way... I'll get to the rest of that story later.

Okay, so Rebz and I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art the next day (and I was very honored to be the first person to take her), and started wandering around the European Decorative Arts wing... and behold:

...again with the "IIII."

... and again. But anyway. More on that in a bit.

A piece of sculpture we came across in the Byzantine Art section, if I remember correctly... someone had carved their name into it in 1836. 

...yeah. The clock thing was really irking me.

Swagger portraits! (Yes. That's actually an official name for them.)

When/if I ever have money... I want this tea set.

We also went up to the rooftop garden, which was really lovely... it was actually the perfect day for it. Very warm, but too much so, clear, and very sunny.

...and we walked along Central Park back to Grand Central...

...but anyway. After agonizing over the "IIII" v. "IV" thing for two days, I finally looked it up... turns out that's just the way clocks are. Really anti-climactic end, but... whatever. Supposedly it has something to do with the symmetry of the clock face.

Yep. 

As you can probably tell, things have been moving really slowly so far... so if I don't post again until August, it's not because I'm forgetting to: it's because I actually have nothing to write about. Though I probably will. 

All my love,

Tasha