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

Tea and Cookies (or Biscuts. I'm not really sure what to call these, actually.)

That title pretty much sums up my week. I spent most of it sitting in my room or in the Atheneum finishing up final projects, studying for finals, staying up late doing nothing with friends, and surviving on earl grey tea and shortbread cookies that say "Biscuts" on the front. It also says "Product of Scotland" on the front, so that explains that. Anway, I'm sure all the adults in the audience will be very pleased to hear about my ever so healthy diet. Except not really, at all.

Anyway.

I spent the weekend at my friend Ellie's house: she lives about half an hour away from Goucher, and she invited to come see a dance concert at her old high school. It was fun, and of course it was nice to get a break from studying and frantically tying up loose ends. But it was a little... well. Awkward. I've only met her parents once before, and I think I was too busy being shy to make a good impression. In any case... it was odd. Whenever I go to somebody else's house, I feel like I'm walking into somebody else's entire life. And... well. There's a big difference between walking into your best friend's house, and walking into a near stranger's house. Ellie is my best friend at Goucher, but... I think we've all gotten used to the idea that our homes are now our dorm rooms-- not where we came from before Goucher.

Okay. Enough of that rambling.

The next week should be a lot better. I don't have classes, and only one actual final test (on Tuesday morning). So I'm pretty much free to roam Towson and Baltimore for the next week. Kaira and I are hoping to finally make it out to the Baltimore Art Museum on Wednesday: she's interested in the Andy Warhol exhibit, and I just feel ever so slightly embarrassed that I haven't been there yet. Especially since I'll be taking Art History next semester... I get the feeling I'm gonna get to know my way around the museum quite well before the year is out. I'd also like to go back to the USS Constellation and go through a better tour. I rushed through it last time, as I was looking for pretty specific information for my Historic Preservation paper, so I'd like to do it properly this time. I also want to see the other ships in the harbor: USCGC Taney (a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941), and USS Torsk. So, I'll let you know how that goes. Theoretically, I'll be able to borrow Karia's camera for pictures, so... yep.

I'm leaving for New York on Thursday afternoon, so I'll get back that evening. And... I will write another post then! Until that time, my love to all,

Tasha

Cardinals and Snowflakes

Hello again!

Firstly, I saw a snowflake today. Yes. One, single, snowflake. Not much, but it was enough to keep my hopes up for a real winter. Secondly, I just finished my last piece of work for Philosophy EVER. Thirdly, yesterday was my last day of work at the Stables until next semester. So... yes. It's been a good day.

...I've got to figure out what I'm doing over the Winter break. I have a few plans laid out: I'll be visiting Mallorca in January, and I'm really excited about that. Of course, there's the annual Holiday party at home. This will be the first one I haven't been preparing for for months prior with our little a capella group... and there's the obligatory giant get-together with my high school friends. A few of my friends from Goucher may also be coming up for New Year's... so that should be good. But other than that... I mean, it's not like I'm going to have class work to do, or finals to study for. What am I going to do with myself?

A lot of hiking, hopefully. But other than that, I've been attempting to... well. Lots of non-academic projects going on, actually. A list might be the best format...

1. I'm trying to get a jump start on Arabic (which I will be taking at some point) by teaching myself the Arabic alphabet. So far, it's going as one would expect it to... slowly. I'm not worried, as I taught myself Elvish in the space of two weeks over the summer. If I can teach myself a made-up language in two weeks, then I can figure out a real one in the space of a few months.

2. I'm teaching myself basic Egyptian hieroglyphics. Which is exactly as practical as it sounds. Which is not at all. But it's a lot of fun, and the way I see it, if I get an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which is what I'm trying to do, but more on that later), I can hang out in the Egyptian Art section and try reading the 'glyphs for myself.

3. Applying for internships. My most ambitious is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's unlikely I'll get this one, since they want college juniors and seniors, and one question on the application concerns how many languages one speaks...

...er... how about (barely) fluent English, basic and very slow Spanish, random phrases in Elvish (plus the Quenya alphabet), half the Arabic alphabet, and some random Egyptian hieroglyphs?

Not gonna work.

Seriously, though. I'm suffering from a bit of... how do I even describe this? "Language anxiety?" I don't know. But everytime I let myself sit around and think for too long, I start worrying that I don't know enough languages, or the right ones. Which is a competely valid worry, thank you very much. I keep telling myself I'm gonna really get down to work on my Spanish (I'm saving up for a Rosetta Stone program for Spanish, to help me practice and hopefully, get me beyond kindergarden level), and that I'm gonna try to teach myself Arabic/German/French (any of those, depending on what mood I'm in that week), but... urgh. Maybe I am worrying about it too much. Probably not though.

Anyway, I'm also looking at an internship at the Archaeological Department at Colonial Williamsburg, which I think would be... well. Pretty perfect. Colonial American and British History are my favorite areas of study, and I'm curious about Archaeology as a study... AND, the College of William and Mary is literally right there if I want to take classes and get some credits out of the way.

I'm also looking at internships at the Museum of the City of New York (where I saw a great exhibit on Dutch New York a while back), and at Mount Vernon (George Washington's home and plantation).

4. Knitting myself a sweater. It's the first time I've ever actually tried to follow a pattern, and it's coming... slowly, but well enough. I only work on it when I have nothing else to do (which is pretty rarely), so... yep.

Anyway.

Not much more to talk about... except... well. Okay. My friend Chris and I are thinking about getting a pet shark.

...yes. A pet shark. The ones we were looking at grow to 14 inches long.

In any case, I'm just thinking about it. It started out as just his pet shark, and I was gonna get him a tank for Christmas, but if we decided to share the shark, and split all the costs, it would probably be a bit more beneficial for both of us... and more fun. (Come on. Who doesn't want to be able to say they have a pet shark?)

Well, I'll keep you up to date on that. And... that's about it. I'll write again soon.

Love to all,
Tasha