Nineteen

I'm sorry I didn't write this post on the actual day, but... well. I've been nineteen since 25 April! Rebz and her family drove down from New York to see me, so I got to spend the afternoon with them. It was really nice... this is my first birthday away from my family-- I've had birthdays away from home before, obviously, but never one without my parents, and very very few, at least recently, without the Wesners, Brendon, Trevor, and the Bitondos. So I knew this was going to be different... but it's nice to have some old faces around. I finally got to introduce Rebz to everybody, we went out for dinner with Kaira, and at some point, we drove on a sidewalk. Fun stuff. A surprise party was also planned somewhere along the line, and... well. I was a little more than surprised. 


So... that was my Monday. Sorry if that was awkwardly explained... it was a busy day, to say the least. The rest of the week has been wonderful... busy, but... it's been fun. I feel like I should be under more stress, but I just feel completely in my element. I had my final paper in Historic Preservation due on Thursday (which I managed to finish sometime late on Wednesday night), and my final papers in European History and Russian/Soviet History due on Friday (I had "finished" my Euro paper on Tuesday, but I made some changes on Thursday night after my professor looked it over for me. The Russian History paper got done about four hours before class). My final project for Art History is due on Monday, and to be honest, that is really what I should be working on right now. I have an American History paper to write for this coming Thursday, but I'm not too worried about that. We can choose any topic we'd like, so I think I'm going to do something with French-British-American relations. There's a lot to go on, from the revolution, to 1812, to the World Wars... I'll have to narrow it down to the pre-Civil War years, as that's all the class covers (and if I don't, I'll be writing a book. Or several), so we'll see how that goes.


Oh! And I have some rather exciting news... Professor Fraser (my professor for Russian and European History)... well. I'll just quote part of the email for you.


"I have been mightily impressed with your levels of analysis and your work ethic this semester. If you have any interest in it, I would invite you to take my Stalinism seminar (HIS 342) next fall. It’s generally for juniors and seniors, but I suspect your brain could use more of a challenge than you are getting in freshmen-level classes. We will do more specialized historiographical readings and discuss them, but overall the point of the seminar is for students to go off and do their own 20-25-page research paper. Starting early, we’ll do several drafts and workshop papers among each other, with some presentations and peer review along the way. You always write solid drafts, but in terms of learning about shaping your writing, I think you would benefit from working on a single project all semester, and drafting and re-drafting it. Up to you, though, and certainly, no pressure!"


I met with her about it after class on Friday, and... it sounds really great. Of course, it could be a disaster-- it could be too much for me; I could flunk out and ruin my GPA, and not be able to get into the year-long Oxford program... but I've decided that I'm taking it. She's right about needing more of a challenge. And I need to take three seminars before I graduate-- if I am gone for all of my junior year, that's going to be a problem. So if I get a chance to take a seminar early, I'm taking it. I really like the idea of committing to a project for the entire semester as well. And there's the fact that Professor Fraser is the best professor I've had here: I really enjoy being in her classes, and I have a lot of respect for her. She's somebody I hope I become like later on... I also have to admit that this is all very pleasing to my ever-growing ego. I'd be lying if I said that didn't factor into the decision-making process at all. I mean, I wish I could say that the decision was made purely according to logic, but there's quite a lot of the whole "somebody thinks I'm smart!" thing going on... that's probably not healthy. 


Anyway.


It's... just nice to feel like everything I've done this semester has paid off. Recognition is always nice. 


So... to summarize: I'm nineteen, I got to see one of my best friends, I've been working on final projects all week, and my professor thinks I'm good enough to take a senior-level class in my sophomore year. I'm happy. 


Well... I'm getting back to my Art History project. My love to all,
Tasha

Visits and Papers

Well, it's been a long few weeks... I really dislike February. It is the shortest month of the year, in terms of actual days, but I don't think any month manages to drag on for this long...

Thankfully, I've had plenty to keep my spirits up. The weather in Baltimore gets warmer sooner than it does in New York... which I'm less happy about in autumn, but at around this time of year, it's wonderful. There's a bit of a shorter wait for spring. I've also been very happy with how my classes have been going (for the most part). My first paper for American History had me a bit nervous, as I very unwisely assumed I could leave it 'till the last minute, and I didn't think I did as well on it as I could have... to be honest, I thought it was awful. I just got it back last Thursday, and --surprise of surprises-- I got an A on it.

I'm starting to think Karia has a point when she tells me to calm down about these things. (Actually, I've been hearing that from a lot of people recently. They may have a point.)

I also got back my first paper for this semester of European History the other day. It was really fun to write-- the premise was a bit more complicated than this, but essentially, I got to blather on about the Enlightenment for 5-7 pages. Of course, being that the Enlightenment is my favorite time period, and I've managed to keep everything I learned about it in high school stuffed in my head, I had a lot of material to work from... so,  yes. My paper is ten pages long. And I could have written at least five pages more. And I'm definitely not going to let it get to my head. In any case, Professor Fraser writes really detailed comments, and for papers, she actually types out a separate page of comments. Personally, I think this is a brilliant system-- I wish all the professors would do that. But anyway. I now have a page of what is, essentially, her going on about... well. Here's what she said:

"Comments:



Natasha, this is excellent- not only for a first essay of the semester or for the level of analysis I expect for this introductory class, but as a proper historical essay that succeeds on a much higher level. You write very well, using clear, concise prose, and your analytical observations are astute and sophisticated. Your attention to chronology in these documents and how they compare to each other is very good, and you have shown an understanding of these documents that far exceeds my expectations at this level. Well done! I sense that you have even more going on in your brain than you could fit on the page, so throughout the semester, something you can work on is achieving even more succinctness and clarity with your arguments and examples. History writing can be particularly challenging because there is always so much we can include! I have no problem with the length of your essay here, but I think you can also work on conciseness and precision- and practicing the always difficult decision-making process about not only what should be included, but also what can be left out. I almost hate to give this grade on the first assignment of the semester, lest it indicate there is no room for improvement, but this really is very well done. Keep it up!


Grade: A "

Yep... I'm happy. Historic Preservation and Russian History are going just as well, though I wish I could say the same for Art History. It's not that I'm doing badly... I just don't have quite the same level of enthusiasm for it as I do for my other classes. I'm sure it's just the way this professor is teaching it, and that I'll be a lot happier once we get to the survey part of the class (where we actually learn history), but right now, we're just going over all the theoretical stuff. There really is a certain type of person who is cut out for it. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm one of them.

Ah well. I honestly cannot complain. Too many good things going on to be able to grumble because I have one class I'm slightly frustrated with.

Daria, my sister, visited the weekend before last! It was great to see her again... unfortunately, it turned out to be a really busy weekend for me in terms of work (both for class and for, you know, actual work), so we couldn't do anything interesting... I feel really bad about it. But I suppose that's the way things happens sometimes... next time, I'll have to make sure I have a enough free time to go around to museums and such. We did manage to get to the Paper Moon Diner, after a bit of an adventure in wandering around Baltimore at 7.00 in the evening, and Daria finally got to meet Kaira and Ellie, so I'm happy about that at least. (By the way, if you're reading this Daria: Kaira and Ellie say "hello.") We also went to see a friend of mine play at the Gopher Hole (the bar/coffee shop of Goucher campus), which was really fun. And... that's about it. I'm a very boring older sister. (Sorry.)

Speaking of work... I've been looking to get another job, since I'm now only working at the stables on the weekends, and at a really inconvenient time too. I wouldn't mind that, if it were a job that was actually helping my resume, or my major, or my education in general, but... well. Feeding horses doesn't do any of those things. So I'm looking into getting a job at the library for next semester (or for the remainder of this one, if possible). If I do get a job for this semester, the hours are likely to be a little odd, as the library is open 24/7, and nobody really wants the 3am-6am shift... but if it gets me time to do my work on the weekends, I'm happy.

Anyway... that's about it for now. It's been pretty dull around here, to be honest. I've been rather slowly working on A History of the English Speaking Peoples, by Winston Churchill. I'm about halfway through Volume II (so just around the Spanish Armada), and I'm hoping to read The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, after Volume III... so I'll be needing book suggestions for this April-May. Ideas, anyone?

My love to all,
Tasha

ps. I've had a lot of Edward Elgar running through my head lately as well.

Good news for Oliver Cromwell...

...bad news for Christmas puddings everywhere. Just in case you were wondering, on this day (30 January) in 1649, Charles I was executed, leaving power in the hands of the Rump Parliament and Oliver Cromwell.

It's also the day on which, in 1972, The Bogside Massacre (more commonly known as "Bloody Sunday") took place in Northern Ireland. Supposedly, the annual marches on the date are stopping after this year.

But anyway. What is is somewhat more relevant to this blog is that I have now not posted in about a month.

...sorry 'bout that. It's been busy.

Well, first things first.

I ended up in Mallorca with my Mum for about a week during my holiday, and it was wonderful. I got to see my godfather, and friends that we haven't seen in a rather long time. I've included a few of the pictures, but I have a more detailed slideshow I've put together for my old European History professor that I can send. If you're interested, let me know, and I'll email it to you.

In any case, I got back to Goucher about a week ago. It's nice to be back... especially since we've had our share of snow delays and snow days.

So, that's been interesting.

And, of course, I've started my new classes! My Soviet/20th Century Russian History class and my European History class are taught by the same professor, and she seems very good. She's relatively young, Canadian, and her research is in 20th century Russian history-- particularly soldier's lives and masculinity. So, it's nice to be in a class that is all about what she's researching. And European History is European History. Not much to say about that, except that we're getting into my favorite time period just now: The Enlightenment, and the earliest revolutions that followed it (American and French).

I've only had one American History class so far, because of the snow delays and snow days, but... well. It should be interesting. I haven't taken an American History course in... well. About a year and a half. And if familiarity with the events described in the textbook are any indication, I remember less of it than I thought I did. A bit disturbing, I'll admit, but I'm not too worried. We're just past Queen Anne's War (begun in 1702; ended in 1713 with the Peace of Utrecht), and to be honest, we never really went over much of what happened before then in AP American History in high school, so, it's to be expected. It seems like it's going to be a good class, though. I'm excited about it.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit less enthusiastic about Art History, after my first class on Friday. It's not so much the subject so much as the professor that is the issue: she handed out a "syllabus," which isn't really a syllabus. It says we're going to have assignments, and what they will be: it doesn't way when they are due. It doesn't say when readings and minor projects are due. It doesn't even say when we'll be covering what material. The professor herself said that we probably wouldn't get through the entire course, but "not to worry," because she won't test us on anything we don't get to. Honestly... I don't care about what she's gonna test us on and what she's not. I'm there to be learning the material. The fact that she doesn't know how much of it she's going to teach us is really... well. It bothers me. A lot. And we had better cover everything the course is meant to, because if we don't get to Renaissance art, I'm going to be very disappointed.

And then, of course, I have the next Historic Preservation class, and it is tiny. Really. There are eight people in the class, including me and the professor. That is going to be, I think, really nice, but it could also be a bit annoying, since I'm now expected to hold up an entire 1/8th of the conversation. (Not that I couldn't-- I just tend to be rather shy, as most of you will know.) It doesn't help that four of the students in the class are seniors, majoring in either History or American Studies. One is a sophomore majoring in International Relations, and the other is a freshman who actually lives on my floor, so... anyway. I'm feeling a bit nervous about this class. It's sort of intimidating to be sitting around the table with a bunch of people who know exactly what they're talking about, when I'm still just learning most of the material.

I'm sure it will be fine, though. I had the same professor for my first Historic Preservation class last semester, and I'm rather fond of her.

Speaking of professors that I'm rather fond of... one of my best friends here, Ellie, is taking Anthro 107 with my old Anthropology professor! So now there's somebody else who thinks he's fantastic. It's not just me. (Yes, that comment was intended for somebody in particular.)

Also speaking of professors that I'm rather fond of, I ran into my old European History professor the other day while heading to Art History. Nothing really happened, except that we talked, she told me about a British History class she's teaching at Johns Hopkins next year that I should take, and I told her I would stop by and visit her soon, but... it was just really nice to see her.

...and that's about all I can think of. I'll write again very soon.

Love to all,
Tasha


ps. I just have to add... I've been working on Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, and... wow. I can't say much more than that. Just... wow.