Flats 11 and 12 sure know how to do a Christmas dinner!

I don't know how we did it. We managed to cook an entire Christmas meal for 14 people without a real oven. Our microwaves have a convection oven setting, and you'd be absolutely shocked to see how well those things cook a turkey and potatoes. Our dinner consisted of a roast turkey crown, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, pigs in blankets, leeks, peas, gammon, deviled eggs, broccoli, yorkshire puddings, roasted parsnips, brussel sprouts and this awesome mix of rice, beans and tuna that we wrapped in leaves of lettuce. For dessert we had a strawberry cheesecake, a blackcurrant cheesecake, two apple pies, ice cream and custard. It took the use of our kitchen in flat 11, the kitchen in flat 12 and the kitchen in flat 8 (two floors below us) in which one of my flatmates has a friend. I peeled potatoes, chopped carrots, sweet potatoes and leeks, and roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes--and to my delight, didn't mess any of it up! (The potatoes were slightly burnt, but we'll ignore that fact). The whole deal--prepping, cooking, eating and cleaning up--took about 7 hours. We began preparing at 1:30 p.m. and finished everything about 8:30 p.m. It was an excellent break from essay-writing and such, and the entire meal was unbelievably delicious. 

After dinner I returned to my room and finished writing my final essay. I edited and proofread it this morning, handed in the other two essays I had finished earlier in the week, and e-mailed the last one to Professor Rudalevige and was finished with my first semester of junior year at about 1 p.m. today. I celebrated by going into Norwich and doing some Christmas shopping, which unfortunately wasn't quite as successful as I had hoped it would be. All's well, though. Bought a couple gifts, packed most of my stuff up last night (and had to stuff my suitcase in my closet because there's nowhere else to keep it in my room. Normally I stow it away in my bed because our mattresses lift up and there's a compartment in the beds to provide extra storage room). I'll leave to catch the bus to the train station at around 9:20 a.m. tomorrow for a 10:30 a.m. train. My flight doesn't leave until 5:05 pm, but you never know what's going to happen with transportation, so I planned my trip so I'll arrive at the airport a good three hours before my flight is scheduled to depart. I'm supposed to arrive at John F. Kennedy Airport at around 8:30 p.m. tomorrow, at which time I will probably be exhausted, but incredibly relieved. I can't believe it's time to go home for the holidays. The semester seemed to drag on and on at the beginning, and then all of a sudden it was week 10 in the semester (out of 12). For the record, I'll be leaving on my 114th day abroad. I've been keeping track for kicks. I think it will be fun to know exactly how many days I've spent abroad when I return home for good in the spring.

On another note, if you've checked out the songs on the left side of my blog, you may have noticed there are links to videos for some of the songs. My mother (aka Mom Dukes) brought the awesome video for Since I Left You by The Avalanches to my attention. Take a look at if you have a chance. Here it is.

Well, that's about all for now. Hope everyone is well! If I have time, there will certainly be a post or two while I'm Stateside. All the best!

-ZMG

A Literary Dilemma

I've been reading some of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories in a collection put together by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1989). I haven't read any Fitzgerald since 10th grade when we read The Great Gatsby with Mr. Sternstein, which I unfortunately don't really remember (everyone says it's great though, and I vaguely remember liking it. Add it to the reading list!). I love Fitzgerald's writing: it's poetic and catchy, his dialogue and his exposition flow smoothly and he paints fantastic pictures of the upper class just before the Great Depression. Perhaps I have a somewhat romanticized vision of this time period--the jazz, the dress--everything seems perfect to me, but Fitzgerald seems to portray it just as I would imagine it. But there's a big, not-so-subtle issue that I struggle with in his writing: the blatant racism. In his story The Offshore Pirate, I came across a passage I loved: "'You see,' said Carlyle softly, 'this is the beauty I want. Beauty has got to be astonishing, astounding--it's got to burst in on you like a dream, like the exquisite eyes of a girl'" (81). A wonderful description of beauty and a beautiful piece of writing. But throughout the story, there is repeated use of derogatory terms to describe black people, and it is quite clear that Fitzgerald did not have the highest opinion of black people. I have a few choices in this situation. I can:

1. Dismiss his racism as a product of contemporary society and not hold him at fault;
2. Put down the book and boycott all of Fitzgerald's writing;
3. Form my own opinions about the type of person Fitzgerald was and read his writing for the sheer value of his words, sentences and ideas.

As you may have guessed, I chose No. 3 and continued reading. I definitely don't appreciate Fitzgerald's prejudices and certainly don't agree with them, but his writing is too significant to the literary world to be ignored. Furthermore, if we were to just put down books we didn't like because the author was racist, would anyone read Huckleberry Finn? Of course, there is much debate on whether or not Twain's masterpiece is actually racist, but that's an issue for another time. Plus, I've found that Fitzgerald's writing has even influenced some of my recent writing. And his stories are fantastic. 

So, I keep reading. I keep in mind that perhaps Mr. Fitzgerald is not the kind of person I would have liked to be friends with, but he sure can write a damn good story. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Thoughts?

-ZMG

I want the person who designed Cambridge University to redesign UEA

Entrance (from inside) of King's College at Cambridge University, Cambridge

On Friday (December 5th) we had the privilege of going to visit Cambridge and Cambridge University for the day. Professor Rudalevige happens to know a teaching fellow there, a man he met while doing his undergraduate degree, Professor Vaux. Professor Vaux showed us around King's College, where his office is, giving us a brief tour. We were allowed in the chapel at the College where the BBC was preparing to film its annual choral celebration of Christmas. The tour was a brief one; we simply walked around the King's College's campus, ate lunch in a College dining hall and then returned to Professor Vaux's office for a discussion about higher education in the United Kingdom and at Cambridge. Cambridge differs greatly from most universities. It requires that students applying must know what they want to study by the time they are sixteen-years-old. Once accepted, students take classes only within their course of study, very different from the way a liberal arts education works at a school like Dickinson. Students attend lectures: some students may be required to go to lecture four hours per week, others seven hours per day, it depends on the course. After the lectures, students have one-on-one sessions with a professor or a teaching fellow to discuss the material. Professor Vaux currently has 18 students he meets with in different disciplines, among them linguistics and French. Students have what the English call "coursework," essays and smaller assignments throughout the year, but their grade depends entirely on an exam they take at the end of the semester. Professor Vaux told us a story about one of his students who had a particularly good understanding of what he was studying and didn't hand in a single one of the smaller assignments throughout the semester because he knew he didn't have to show Vaux that he understood the material, but, of course, flourished on the exam. It's a different world...

After our discussion, we had the opportunity to explore Cambridge on our own. Lauren Deitz, my roommate from London, Tristan Deveney and I walked around together. We visited the Fitzwilliam Museum, a museum with a very diverse collection of art. There were classical paintings, sketches by Michaelangelo and Da Vinci, paintings by Monet, sculptures by Rodin. Seeing the works of great artists such as these is slowly becoming somewhat commonplace since I've been here, but it is still wonderful to see their work. 

We wandered through the Cambridge Market and some of its small streets, and stopped for tea at a small café/restaurant before going to the train station to catch the train back to Norwich. It was a good day, and the general consensus amongst the members of the group was that we enjoyed Cambridge more than we enjoyed Oxford, as many of us (including myself) spent most of our time lost in Oxford). Cambridge seemed to have more to offer, more to see. The campus was more beautiful and the city seemed more cheerful--but perhaps that is the holiday season talking. 

Here are my pictures from Cambridge:

Cambridge

Cambridge 2

Oh, and we were incredibly lucky to have one of the more beautiful days we've had in awhile in England. I found myself taking pictures of the sun and the blue sky because it had been so long since we had last seen it. It was also beautiful yesterday, and is today, as well. 

Yesterday I went into Norwich for a break from paper-writing with Deitz and Leah Gable and got gifts for my flat's upcoming Secret Santa gift exchange and the Yankee swap we are doing with the Dickinson group. For those who may not know, a Yankee swap consists of putting all the gifts in pile. Everyone draws a number, and the first person picks a gift and opens it. The next person has the option of taking that person's gift, or opening a new one, and so on and so forth. Deitz, Leah and I completed our shopping and stopped for tea at my favorite place in Norwich, the Britons Arms, a wonderful old tea house in Elm Hill, the oldest section of Norwich. 

I'm off now for some editing and proofreading sessions of the 18th Century Writing paper I finished writing this morning. When I'm finished with that this afternoon, I will have only one more paper to write before I leave on Friday. That's right, I come home in five days. FIVE! I'm very excited. On Wednesday, however, my flat and the other flat that is on our floor will be making a huge Christmas dinner together. I'm looking forward to it, it should be wonderful!

That's all for now! Love to everyone at home and abroad! See (some of) you soon!

-ZMG

iLike

I just added the "iLike" widget to my blog, you'll see it on the right hand side below the people who follow my blog, and above the blog archive. This is to give everyone an idea of what music I listen to. Click on the play button to the left hand side of each song to hear a clip!

-ZMG

Woke up this Morning

...at 8 a.m. and looked out my window. I thought to myself, "No, this can't be right. It can't be this dark at 8 a.m." To my dismay, I was wrong. Apparently in England it CAN be that dark at 8 a.m. Granted, it is a terribly overcast day, so that has something to do with it, but I was still shocked at the sheer dreariness of the outside world. And at wintertime in England, the ground is perpetually wet. The pavement hasn't been dry probably since early September. 

Here are some more observations:

1. You have to pay for rice at Japanese and Chinese restaurants, whereas in the US, main courses usually come with an order of rice;
2. (Some) English people know how to use chopsticks;
3. British people are comfortable talking about their political and religious beliefs, and will ask outright what your political or religious affiliation is;
4. It doesn't rain all the time in England. What's crazy about the weather is that it can be absolutely beautiful when you wake up, be cloudy and pouring by the time you leave your residence, and then be beautiful again by the time you return. Surely this unpredictable weather could drive anyone to insanity. I should look up statistics on insanity in Britain;
5. Light switches are different in every country.

There will be more to come later. Stay tuned.

-ZMG

Aesthetic ADD

I can't decide what template and color scheme I like for my blog, so I'm just going to keep changing it. Sorry.

-ZMG

Surefire signs you are an idiot.

1. You are a pro football player in a club on Lexington Avenue with a loaded handgun.

2. You shoot yourself in the thigh with said handgun.

Way to go, Plaxico.

Full story and the controversy surrounding it here.

-ZMG

Happy December!

Rabbit rabbit! I can't believe it's December already! Home in eleven days!

-ZMG