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

NaNoWriMo

Last night, I registered for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is simple: write a 50,000-word (roughly 175 pages) novel between November 1 and November 30. Editing and clarity will go out the window in a frantic rush to be one of the elite few that had enough time to write 50,000 words that will probably be completely jumbled and incoherent. Will I do it? Stay tuned and I'll keep you updated. For more information or to register if you're interested in participating, visit www.nanowrimo.org. 

Oh, and Happy Halloween! =)

-ZMG

What to do with a five day weekend?

Yes, I have a five day weekend. How did that happen? Well, I only take two classes at the University of East Anglia (UEA), one of which meets once a week for two hours on Tuesday (Contemporary Writing), and the other, 18th Century Writing, meets twice a week--a lecture and a seminar--both an hour long, both on Wednesday. I do, however, have the class I take with the Dickinson program, which meets once a week on different days to coincide with the schedules of all 25 people in the class. 

I've been in Norwich for six weeks now. I'm completing my sixth week of classes and I handed in a paper for each of UEA classes today. I've been acclimating myself with the UEA campus and a bit with the city of Norwich. UEA is a terrible concrete atrocity in an otherwise beautiful part of England. The 1960s or '70s architecture is full of hard right angles and grey concrete so that the university actually resembles some sort of maximum-security prison. That being said, the way the campus is laid out is quite fascinating. It is contained within itself. There's a bookstore, food outlet, bank, post office, a pub (but no dining hall, grr...), even a booth to have passport photos taken. There are elevated walkways that take you to the Student Union building, the library, the lecture halls and virtually all other academic buildings. 

The Sportspark, I believe, is one of UEA's finer qualities. It has squash courts, a gym, four basketball courts that are also used for other sports (badminton, netball, baseball, cricket, etc.), a swimming pool, a climbing wall, and several football (soccer) fields. Okay, let's be honest, it's not that much better than the Kline Athletic Center at Dickinson (if at all) but the facilities are pretty nice. I've joined the baseball team and I'm on the men's basketball second team (not quite good enough to be on the first team). Two weekends ago the baseball team took a roughly three-hour trip to Nottingham for a baseball tournament where we played teams from Oxford (who we lost to and then beat the next day), Southhampton and Nottingham. It was great fun, and wonderful to finally be playing (somewhat) competitive baseball again. I'm sure you can imagine what the level of baseball over here is...We ended up coming in second place! When we returned home, however, I was experiencing soreness in muscles I didn't even realize I had. 

I've had some time to explore Norwich, which is a 10-20 minute bus ride from campus depending on traffic. Nrowich is supposed to be in the "top ten" of English cities for shopping. There's a mall, an open-air market, and winding roads of old, beautiful cobblestone streets. Two symbols of Norwich are the Norwich cathedral and Norwich castle. The spire of the cathedral reaches high into the sky, far above the rest of the city. The castle is a peculiar one. It's a large stone cube that sits atop a man-made hill. The ground in Norfolk is so flat that it was necessary to build a hill to provide an advantage against attackers. One of my favorite pastimes in Norwich thus far has simply been to wander the city alone taking in its small, beautiful streets and discovering what the city has to offer. I've heard there are places to go to hear live poetry, but I have yet to find them. That is a project for the upcoming month.

I've fallen in love with the winding streets of Norwich. They are picturesque and exactly the type of scenic backdrop I was hoping for before arriving in Norwich. A few friends and I discovered a tiny place to have tea called The Britons Arms. It is small, quiet and homey with a small selection of teas, coffee and homemade baked goods. I go there every two weeks or so with a friend or by myself to enjoy some quiet time away from campus. 

And now to answer my own question: What do I do with a five day weekend? Well I've been exploring, and I would like to explore more, although it takes all of fifteen minutes to walk across all of Norwich. However November 6-10 three friends and I will be boarding a plane and heading to Dublin for 4 nights. I am trying to plan to meet up with a couple friends in Bologna, Italy the weekend of November 14, and I'm considering a trip to Berlin for late November. When you have six hours of class a week, the possibilities are endless!

I do need, however, to remember to escape campus once in awhile. It is very easy to not leave the University Village (my residence) for five days straight between the days I do actually have class. Now is the time to take advantage of being on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, and I have every intention of doing so!

-ZMG