I'm Excited!

Sorry for the big Kev reference, but i have several reasons to use it. Firstly, it's holidays, second, it seems like spring has finally decided to show up, and finally i have lots of interesting things planned for the next 5 weeks.

So holidays... well six weeks of not worrying about anything but a 2,000 word essay isn't that bad. Not that the study has been a problem, in fact last week was really interesting and didn't feel that long or hard at all. I showed myself up for the geek / square / swot that I am by always having questions and needing to put thoughts and ideas into the discussion. I think the tone was set on the first day when we did a case study on creating identity, using the National Museum of Australia. Well of course I had to explain some of the history of the museum, the history wars and the controversy. Then when people had questions about the set up, what the museum was doing to address concerns or issues and if they had changed anything I was usually able to answer those. The whole week was great, and reminded me why I have really missed having smaller tutorial type sessions this year. Lectures are all very well, but there hasn't been as much forum for discussion as I might have liked.

So other than uni, well I've been working a bit. Sunday was Mother's day here, and i had to work in the resturant. That was interesting. Thankfully it was a buffet lunch so i didn't have to try and take orders for anything other than drinks, but still, makes me glad that I'm not employed by the resturant usually. Walking to the bus for work on Sunday I didn't need to wear my jacket. That was very exciting, it was mild enough that i was warm in just my singlet, shirt and jumper. Although I had a bit of a laugh to myself when i thought about the situation, I would usually think that 12 or 13 degrees was freezing, here I am thinking it is almost mild and pleasant. i don't want to get too used to this weather! At least it means that spring is finally here. The daffs are out and it is raining most of the time. I guess that's as good as it will get.

I had another Rotary talk today, this time to Leicester, my host club. It was very nice. I was the only speaker, so didn't have to rush through things and was able to take some questions after. i got a really hard question, which thankfully my sponsor district scholarship committe had warned me to expect (thanks Harvey and co.). One of the Rotarians had recently been out to Australia and spent some time in Alice where he got to talking to the locals about the Aboriginal people and heard that they didn't work because it didn't fit with their culture. He asked in essence about whether there was a problem with the aboriginal people or if they were just a part of the outback that most people never encountered. I told him there was a long answer and a short answer and that i would try to do the question justice in a shortish answer. I managed to throw in some of the more hidden facts about the Aboriginal population, the history of the dealings between the colonisers and the aboriginal people, how this has impacted on the current situation and then finished with what is happening and what i would like to see happen, or how i believe some of the issues might be improved. At the end of that, which I'm still not sure was a correct answer, the club applauded. Some of the rotarians said after they had never known the club to applaud and answer before, so I guess I gave a sufficient answer and one that brought some of the many complex and involved issues into a slightly more clearer context for that club.

Anyway, it was really good to finally present to my host club. As i get to know them more I feel more and more comfortable with them. I would like to get a little more invovled, but with everything else i do i doubt i would have time to do it justice. i guess that will just have to wait until i get home and get a slightly more stable job with more regular hours.

So the next few weeks have been planned so that I have a trip away from leicester for a few days each week. I'm going to the peak district for some walking, to Surrey to spend time with a relative there, to Reading to watch some hockey and to Wales visiting some more relatives. I'll keep this updated in between times and there will be lots of photos.

Finally i have to include on this that I had a lovely call this morning from my younger sister. Again the first time i have spoken to the squirt since i left australia. She mentioned that she had finally started reading my blog, so I teased her that the only reason i got a call was because she wanted a mention on it just like i had mentioned my older sister. So here it is, both sisters now mentioned. Bet that's the end of the calls.

almost like working!

Uni this week is madness. We have classes every day from 9:30 until 5:30, other than thursday when we have a field trip to London, leaving here at 8am and not getting back until 7:30ish. This isn't what being a student is all about! I'm meant to be able to sleep until 10 most days and only attend three hours class at most each day. hahaha, i've just read that again - it is funny how easily i have fallen back into the student lifestyle. Love the sleep ins and not having to do too much. Just as well that this week is a session of really interesting lectures on making histories within museums, and mostly working with a lecturer who I think is fabulous. She is really passionate about the subject, but has done enough work in museums to be practical in her approaches. So today went really quickly, despite having 6.5 hours of classes.

Holidays start next week. I've been planning all sorts of things to spend what little spare cash i have. Musicals, theatre trips, visits to friends, explorations of other parts of the country... and museums of course. Ah what fun, 5 weeks without a single lecture, only one 2,000 word essay to do and maybe some reading for the dissertation if i feel energetic. I do like being a student. Not that I'm bragging or rubbing it in (much). For all those feeling jealous right now, think of me in July and August when I'll be working full time for free. I won't be quite so pleased with myself then.

Look at Moie

well we've now finished the group project. big sigh of relief. i'm really happy with what we finally produced, but it took so much time. I can't believe how much i thought about it during the last two weeks. the last two days were really intense. I volunteered to be one of the two editors ... 6 hours later the two of us were a little gaga. The light relief came from our project title ... 'Look At Me'. Thankfully, Dave the other editor has seen Kath and Kim, so didn't think i was totally loopy when i came out with 'Look at Moie, Kimmy, look at Moie'. Funny how many quotes we could remember between the two of us. Maybe it would have been shorter session if we hadn't been killing ourselves over kath and kim so often. Friday was also a marathon session, the whole group met at 11:30 and then finally finished at about 5:30. Dave and I decided to introduce the whole group to the delights of Kath and Kim ... it doesn't work so well if you haven't seen it. ah well, we laughed.

As we had the start of this week free to prepare for our oral exam I decided to go to London for two days. I thought it was a good chance to explore some of the smaller museums. Monday I went to the Museum of Garden History and the IWM (not a small museum but one i hadn't seen before). The Museum of Garden History is in an abandoned church, it was going to be pulled down when someone pointed out that the tomb for the Tradescants, and Bligh, were in the graveyard. So instead it was turned into a museum focussing on the Tradescants and their influence on British Gardens. It has been very well supported by Lady Salisbury who restored the gardens at Hatfield House to their Tudor and Stuart style, using the notes of John Tradescant the Elder. This support was very obvious as almost every text panel had some mention of Hatfield House or Lady Salisbury. It was quite interesting, looking at how garden design has changed, and what sort of plants were introduced into England. I'm well aware of all the things introduced into Australia and the damage some of those plants have caused, but it hadn't really occurred to me that England has also been shaped by introduced species. I guess because most of them were introduced so long ago, they seem like they are natives. It was great finding out a little bit more about the Tradescants as I have become very interested in them, especially once i found out that it was their collection of oddities that started the Ashmolean Museum.


Bligh's Tomb



The Knot Garden at the Museum


The Tradescant Family Tomb

The IWM was impressive, as it should be. I didn't have a lot of time for exploring, but looked through the children's war exhibition and the holocaust exhibition. Both were very well designed, very interesting information and cleverly put together, but I was disappointed that neither really tried to bring the history into contemporary society. Both of these exhibitions were looking at things that have shaped and continue to influence current society - the mass evacuation of children from London and other industrial cities, and the holocaust. However both exhibitions seemed to just end with the end of the war and leave it there. The Holocaust exhibition had a reflection section where survivors spoke about how they told people they were survivors, and reactions, but very little on the impacts of the events, other genocides that have occurred since, etc. It was very much as if these things occured in the past and have no bearing on us now, except we should know about them. It could have been so much more.

Tuesday i went to the Sir John Soane Museum and the Geffrye Museum. These are more design and architect based museums and both very different. The Soane Museum is the house of Soane as he left it when he died. It was so crowded! He taught architecture to students and so had the back part of his house dedicated to study of classical design. it was filled with casts and marbles with barely room to move. I'm afraid my first thought was to wonder how many of the marbles had been looted. How cynical I have become about the trade in artifacts. It was also interesting to note that there were no females as part of the interpretative staff. all the floor staff were older men, all seeming to have come from the same mold. The house was interesting, just to see how over the top it looked and to see all the fantastic books Soane collected.

The Geffrye was mostly closed for refurbishment, only the 19th and 20th century rooms were open. So it was a very quick visit, and i didn't manage to get out into the garden. However now that i know where it is and how to get to it I'll head back later in the year when more should be open.

I had mixed hockey training last night, and I actually got to coach the guys. I was the only girl there to start with, a few others turned up, but by that stage I had got most of the guys doing a drill to make them play wide. I got really frustrated on the weekend how they insisted on playing everything up the middle, so all of last night I made them do stuff playing wide. It was great to take over, yell at the guys, but also get a training session happening where we all worked really hard and got warm. I had to take off my jumper i was running around so much - it's been a while since a training session got me that warm. I might have to take over more often.

This morning i did another Rotary presentation, to the Leicester DeMontford club. They are a breakfast club, so the meeting was at 7:30am! They gave me and Beyza a bit of a ribbing about the student life, even more so when they found out that my only lecture today is at 3:30 this afternoon and Beyza has nothing today. They were really friendly and welcoming, but the meeting was a bit rushed as they needed to get to work.

i have my oral exam tomorrow morning, I'm going to talk about a little museum in WA the No 1 Pump Station Museum. I'm really not that worried about it, which in some ways is worrying in itself as the rest of the class seem to be very nervous and concerned. I'm not sure if i've missed something vital, or if i'm just lucky not to get nervous about speaking things. Anyway, I'll know tomorrow if i've made a mistake or not. Next week is the special option lectures, then holidays. Looking forward to that, and I promise I'll get my cameras out a whole lot more and once again fill this blog up with images.

Bristol, snow, phonecalls

I went to Bristol on Friday for a work placement interview. I'll be doing my work placement at the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, working with the fundraising and sponsorship department. It should be really interesting, it is a little more administration based than most work placements, but I really want to get some more experience in museum administation, and I don't know of any museum that isn't trying to raise more money for its programs and exhibitions, so it should be really good work experience. Now I just need to find cheap accomodation in Bristol for 8 weeks. The placement is over summer and there are lots of festivals and such like happening in and around Bristol during that time, so it should be great. I'm also looking forward to spending summer next to the water - it isn't quite Sydney harbour, but it's better than nothing.

The trip to Bristol was almost 3 hours by train, made worse by the fact that the train from Birmingham was delayed by about half and hour. I was at the museum for almost 4 hours, than a 3 hour train ride back again. Nice way to take up a whole day. Thankfully i had a really good novel to read.

Yesterday it finally snowed! It wasn't cold enough for it to settle, and it only snowed for about half an hour before turning to sleet - but it snowed! I was stuck inside the whole time in a group project meeting, but i was at least able to gaze out the window and watch it fall. The flakes were a decent size and it looked really pretty falling. A whole lot nicer than the rain we have had all day today. I imagine that will be the last snow i see for this winter - the bluebells and snowdrops are coming through, so nature is saying that it is warming up, even if i don't agree. Hurry up spring, I want to feel warm again and stop wearing layers of clothing.

My big sister called this morning. It was so nice to chat to her. We haven't spoken to each other since i moved over here. 6 months without gossiping to my sister! We chatted for an hour, her husband told her that the call wasn't to be too expensive - what a big meanie! I'm trying to convince her to get broadband so we can chat over Skype, as I have missed chatting to her. Mum and Dad give me news about each of my siblings when i chat to them, but it isn't the same. Hopefully we'll be able to chat a little more regularly now that she knows about the cheap half hours Telstra offer.

Other than that, things are going along pretty well. Working on the group project and starting to think about what to do with my Easter Holidays. Hoping to head to scotland to see the European Women's Club Cup, but other than that i think it will be catching up with relatives and hopefully fitting in a little bit of travel around the UK. Can't believe that I haven't got to scotland or wales yet. There is so much i want to see, and my time here is just flying by. Too many museums and historic sites and not nearly enough time - isn't it always the way.